The theme for June 6th’s pitch night was “Social Entrepreneurship”. With many social, cultural and environmental issues affecting Sierra Leone, this month’s night was about solving some of these pressing issues, through 4 inspiring social entrepreneurs; Sheku Kamara of Briquette Making Enterprise, Noellen Barber of Nianda Agriculture and Trading Company, Mohamed El Tayyib-Bah of Trees4Prosperity and Nigel Hyde of Home Leone.
The cosy and interactive audience made up of 50+ attendees included the GEN SL team, sponsors of Freetown Pitch Night, the guest speaker, executives of companies and organisations, young professionals and students.
Guest speaker Dr. Derrin Smith, Counsellor for Commercial & Economic Affairs, US Embassy, Freetown, spoke about the Economic and Commercial Section of the US Embassy, it’s activities and the US’s transition from AID to Private investment in Sierra Leone.
What a better way is there to share ideas, contacts, information and resources with so many interesting people, than with food and drinks? The Freetown Pitch Night gives its audience such an opportunity to network at the end of the event, so most attendees were reluctant to leave early.
The four (4) pitches were as follows:
Briquette Making Enterprise
Sheku’s Briquettes is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution to deforestation and indiscriminate disposal of waste in Sierra Leone. Located in Makeni, the Briquette Making Enterprise has made good progress since it started operations in 2013:
- Acquiring a machine in 2014
- Acquiring a tricycle in 2016
- Starting door to door sales in 2017
- Registering and opening an account in 2017
- Sales increase from 400 briquettes in 2013 to 20,000 briquettes in 2018
Sheku Kamara
shekambriquettes2013@gmail.com
+232 88 304 551
+232 79 704 641
Nianda Agriculture and Trading Company
With $15m worth of onions imported into Sierra Leone annually Nianda Seeds, a major promoter of onions in Sierra Leone, sees an opportunity to support and train vegetable farmers (especially women and young people) to improve yield and increase income. Nianda Seeds uses market principles and forces to meet poverty alleviation, the first goal of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The company operates as the sole distributor of hybrid vegetable seeds and seedlings to smallholder farmers and businesses countywide and has introduced onion farming in Kailahun, Kenema and Moyamba.
Noellen Barber
an228@yahoo.com
+232 76 743 055
+232 88 686 488
Trees4Prosperity
Deforestation → Drought → Concrete jungle → Environmental degradation are environmental issues Trees4Prosperity wants to solve by the nursing of millions of trees. These trees include acacia, neem, tectona and moringa, with 80,000 seeds nursed at the Kent site so far. Neem and moringa, with their unique properties, would not only make the city greener but also add aesthetic value. Trees4Prosperity’s solution also has a youth and community employment component to it.
Mohamed El Tayyib-Bah
www.trees4prosperitysl.org
+232 79 515 007
Home Leone
After years of research of slums in Freetown, Home Leone developed a solution to relocate 2000 people from these slums to the pilot “Destiny Village’ (25 acres near 4 Mile, Newton). The relocation has six (6) pillars:
- Housing – 350 x 2 or 3 bedrooms
- Businesses = Sustainability
- Education & Schooling
- Healthcare
- Power
- Water & Sanitation
Home Leone is an enabling social enterprise, a movement and builder of homes and infrastructure.
Nigel Hyde
nigel.hyde@homeleone.org
+232 80 740 333
+44 7 961 576 769
Report Written by Davephine Tholley
I have a dream! Definitely not Martin Luther king Jnr! but Nigel Hyde. Since 2003, together with his team has impacted Sierra Leone in various ways starting with the construction of the city of rest to the Saint George’s old people’s home.