The University of Sierra Leone’s Institute of Public Administration & Management (IPAM) and the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI) have agreed to create an Innovation Hub.

Representatives of the two institutions signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding to shared knowledge, and support local innovation and entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone. IPAM has allocated the fifth floor of its new building for the purposes of the innovation hub. Under the agreement, DSTI will organize educational and social programs and activities that will strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sierra Leone. Speaking at the signing of the MoU Vice Chancellor Manu said that DSTI and IPAM had already begun to share knowledge and resources as of last year. Through the relationship with DSTI, IPAM has been able to send faculty to MIT, a global leader for academic research and innovation.

“It is a dream come true,” said the acting Vice Chancellor Foday Sahr, noting that the Hub will offer new opportunities for learning and growth for IPAM students and faculty. He thanked Dr. David Sengeh for initiating the partnership between DSTI and IPAM.
“We hope that this starts as an innovation hub, for IPAM, and university students but will also be for people within the ecosystem,” Dr. Sengeh, Chief Innovation Officer, DSTI added.
He further said: “This will be a space for people to learn state-of-the-art tools like Human-centered design (HCD), business models, business process mapping, and hands-on learning. It is to take the curriculum, that’s at IPAM, the excellence in entrepreneurship and business and Administration and put it into practice.” With this partnership, DSTI will bring hands-on learning back to students and create a space for students to seed ideas and develop prototypes.

The hub is novel because it fosters collaboration between government, academia, the private sector, and local and international partners. Students from MIT, and researchers from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be learning and developing technological solutions in partnership with students and entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone. “In a couple of years, people will be talking about IPAM, as a place where technology, computer science, hands-on learning happens with business management and entrepreneurship in the same way that they talk about MIT,” said Dr. Sengeh.

A delegation of the Ghanaian Armed Forces Command and Staff College has called at State House to pay a courtesy call on His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio.

The visiting team is almost concluding a week-long African Study Tour for Senior Staff Course. The delegation comprised 19 persons with participants mainly Majors, Lieutenant Colonels or their equivalents.

Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Rtd. Colonel Simeon Sheriff, who was chairman of the meeting, said the Ghanaian team was in the country to familiarise with contemporary issues in the sub-region.

He said the theme for this year’s study tour in Sierra Leone was “Fostering an Inclusive and Sustainable Development Agenda for Africa”. The aim was to enhance students’ view on global affairs with emphasis on the African continent and to analyse the factors and potential areas of bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Head of the Ghanaian delegation, Moses Kwado Beick Baffour, said since arrival they had visited and made presentations to different Ministries aligned with Sierra Leone’s development plan, saying that that made matters much easier for students to put Sierra Leone into perspective.

He also said that the visit was a testament of the long standing relationship between the two countries and expressed hope for further collaboration.

In his brief response, President Bio said that he was happy to receive military men in the country, saying that as the sub region was reintegrating there was need for such a visit to learn more about the situation in other countries. He said the nature of the training was very important as it provided inclusive growth and capacity building for military officers.

“We live in a highly interconnected world today, so such an exercise will provide a rich experience in learning about the culture of other countries and why other people do things differently. I find this exercise very important for the world that lies ahead of us. The military is a unique profession and I am very proud of it,” he said.

After Sunday 14th April 2019 the Housemates Salone Competition is being mooted as a very successful event.
The successful winner of the Le100, 000,000 has emerged.
It could be recalled that Wednesday 10th April 2019 was another sad moment for the two unfortunate Housemates who were evicted during a tense event which commenced at 9:00 pm after public voting ended at 8:00 pm.
The ball was in the court of the judges who quantify the cumulative votes of each of the finalists at yesterday’s event at Bintumai Hotel where the grand finale event took place, graced by the crème de la crème and other people from all walks of life.
The Housemates did their best individually to capture the attention of members of the public to get their votes but as it now stands only one has emerged as the lucky winner.
There is indeed no iota of doubt that to a certain extent the Housemates gained from various forms of empowerment platforms. They were taken through various theoretical and physical activities which obviously could have impact on their personalities and change them to become useful citizens in society. Some of them now know how to cook, sing, socialize, speak publicly and definitely the relationships that they have built could be lasting.
The organizers of the 2019 Housemates Salone Contest, Africa Young Voices (AYV) Empire and Africell have both made their mark in staging such a spectacular TV Reality show. Both have once more demonstrated the strong commitment to provide a platform to unlock and tap the potentials of young talents across the country.
Ambassador Anthony Navo Junior, Chief Executive Officer of AYV is held in high esteem for continuing to raise the bar high for the youth from all walks of life. Incontestably, he is an icon in his own right which is why he continues to bag prestigious awards in and out of the country.
Africell has been one of the leading telecommunications companies in the country that has been supporting youthful initiatives and it is poised to continue in that direction.

The National Petroleum (NP) -Sierra Leone Limited is an embodiment of its shareholders, management and entire staff. Being a most successful indigenous business entity that is sustainably thriving to the admiration of many, there is every need for other entrepreneurs to borrow a leaf from it in order to achieve success to the magnitude of what it has so far achieved over the years.
We cannot mince the truth that in the past some Sierra Leoneans have come together to ambitiously set up business entities but lamentably shortly after they came into existence they collapsed and disintegrated. Such could most likely be attributed to poor managerial leadership, individual differences and outright financial misappropriation to the chagrin of certain members who had genuine intensions for those businesses to boom.
Originating years back, when 35 former workers of the erstwhile British Petroleum (BP) company ploughed or invested their end of year benefits into establishing NP, steady steering of the nascent company and prudent managerial guidance catapulted this indigenous business entity to the enviable position it presently occupies.
Today, NP is commendably contributing solidly towards economic development and nation building, providing job opportunities for many not only in Sierra Leone but in some other countries within the West African sub-region.
Equally too, timely payments of taxes to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) has been contributing to revenue generation which the Government is using to fund various development projects to improve standards of living.
If the company is exponentially growing by leaps and bounds, one of the prime factors that have been serving as an engine for that growth could be sheer placing of premium on customer care. Management of NP is very mindful of the fact that their customers must be their number one priority and therefore must be given the right attention they deserve. Optimizing customer satisfaction is key ingredient for any successful business and the leading petroleum company is exactly treading on that path making it endearing to both old and new customers.
NP is admired for its networks both nationally and internationally with the Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate and external oil producing companies which puts it on a better stead to always have dependable supply of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, kerosine and lubricants which are then distributed to all its filling stations country-wide. This pro-activeness on the part of the company is contributing largely towards averting shortage on the market that would obviously lead to negative repercussions.
The company is also better known for offering Sierra Leoneans NP Gas cookers of various sizes which are affordable, safe and very friendly to use. NP Gas could be purchased at all their filling stations across the country.
As it had been established inter alia, serious-minded entrepreneurs who want to set up sound business entities must understudy NP to become au fait with the sound initiatives that were, are being injected that is continually taking the company to the pinnacle of a successful business entity.
NP is indeed worthy of emulation!

A pyramid scheme Qnet it is understood seems to be taking swathes of the country by storm. A Sierra Leonean who is operating a small fleet of Kekeh’s informed that a couple of his riders have been fooled to part with their hard-earned Le6,500,000 which he said is the membership fee to Qnet on the promise that if they successfully recruit more members their reward would increase.
“They are enticed with potential payments in dollars which is conditional on them successfully spreading the word,” he further revealed.
He further said that in the 80’s, a pyramid scheme known as 729 crashed spectacularly in Sierra Leone with people losing their hard earned cash, with some people losing a fortune. It was disclosed that the scheme may be legal in some jurisdictions; but in others it is strictly prohibited.
As a matter of fact it is based on the scheme’s ability to generate sufficient level of membership in order to maintain the cash flow which is then re-distributed. In some parts of the world it is referred to as multi-level marketing, binary tree, pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme.
The scheme seems to be taking hold in Sierra Leone because of the way it is being marketed. Participants are being promised fantastic benefits which may or may not be deliverable.
According to investigations it was found that people are gullible and because of greed and lack of ability to be objective and sceptical, the bulk of people who are sucked into this scheme lack the financial sophistication for them to be able to challenge the assumptions contained in the selling pitch.
They fall for the scheme hook, line and sinker. It is presented as an effortless way to make lots of money in a relatively short period of time. (A fool and his money are soon parted).The product that is being used to generate the sale is rather opaque. None of the participants that this medium contacted was able to produce the dollar receipts they were promised and some were still struggling to entice people to join the scheme.
Some of the questions people are now asking are:
1) Is pyramid selling legal in Sierra Leone?
2) Is there legislation in place to cover this type of financial activity?
3) Are there sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that the promises made by Qnet are valid and legal?
4) Which body has oversight of these types of companies?
5) Are these companies’ accounts open to public scrutiny?
6) Are these companies required by law to provide a prospectus which outlines the objectives of the company?
7) If the subscribers are unable to recruit more members what happens to their membership fees?
8) Is there a cooling-off period? Normally when people are invited to buy a financial product there is usually a 14-day cooling-off period, within which they are entitled to change their mind.
9) Are these types of organisations governed by a code of conduct; be it mandatory or voluntary?
10) Is there an investment Protection Scheme?
11) Is this type of activity covered by any Consumer Protection Scheme?
It was again learnt that another company called Rolling Point Network Limited with similar profile is already operating in Sierra Leone. This time the membership fee is slightly lower around Le1, 000,000 promising massive profits that would be returned to the subscribers. The product in this case is BITCOIN which is claimed to be highly sought and very profitable.
People are getting into debt to fund their membership, while others are selling valuable assets like land, prized possessions, family heirlooms, whilst others exhaust their life savings for this get-rich quick scheme.
Qnet operations are littered with controversy.
As stated in Wikipedia, in Kazakhstan cheating by Qnet has been exposed where people are told about building the network by finding two people. To earn a stable profit, the pyramid up to 7 levels consisting of 64 people need to be reached. It has been calculated mathematically that 87.5 percent do not make a profit.
Qnet is also banned in 8 countries including the US.
The Fatwa council at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah declared that the binary form of transaction adopted by Qnet is prohibited under Sharia law.
Many have expressed the hope that those who are in the corridors of power should take swift and robust action as a matter of priority as the consequences of failure are too profound to contemplate.
QNet, the main subsidiary of the QI Group of Companies, was founded by Vijay Eswaran and Joseph Bismark in Hong Kong in 1998. The company, first known as GoldQuest and QuestNet, made custom-commissioned commemorative coins and later began selling jewellery and watches. In 2000, QNet was the official distributor of the Sydney Olympic Games commemorative coins and was also a distributor.
In a related development on the 10th April 2019 the Bank of Sierra Leone revealed that it has not given license or permitted any business (es) or financial institution (s) to make deposit for the purpose of investing or trading in crypto assets (for example bitcoin) in Sierra Leone.

The Banking Act, 2011 and the Other Financial Services Act, 2001 provide that no person shall engage in banking business, take deposits or issue financial products to the general public unless that person holds a valid licence issued by the Bank of Sierra Leone.

It was reiterated that any person(s) who contravenes the provisions of the said Acts, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine and/or imprisonment.

The Bank of Sierra Leone is advising the public not to place their money as deposit in any business (es) or financial institution (s) that does not hold a valid licence and has not been granted permission by the Bank of Sierra Leone to introduce crypto assets or related products.

It further stated that the following businesses that are taking deposits for the purpose of investing in crypto assets are not licensed by the Bank of Sierra Leone:
1.Rolling Point Network Limited at 3b Lamina Sankoh Street.
2. Wealth Gate Solution Company at 18 ECOWAS Street.

In accordance with the Bank of Sierra Leone Act 2011 and the Other Financial Services Act, 2001, the Bank of Sierra Leone has issued notice to both businesses to discontinue their activities immediately.

The Bank of Sierra Leone is assuring the public of its continued commitment to maintaining financial system stability.
Meanwhile, a press release issued by the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) last week stated that they are investigating the activities of two financial institutions that are suspected of operating illegally in the country and without the proper license. The SLP press release mentioned that the BSL which is the regulatory body for financial institutions in the country had been alerted and that investigations are underway while the two financial institutions have been ordered to stop transaction until further notice.

The leading mobile operator in Sierra Leone, Africell Mobile Company has extended their magnanimity towards the successful outcome of this year’s 90^th anniversary of the Old Bo Boys Association (OBBA), the fraternity of former pupils of the Bo Government Secondary School for Boys.

According to the National Publicity Secretary of OBBA, Cyrus Sheriff, this is not the first time they have received support from the management of Africell. He added that Africell Mobile Company has been very supportive to their school. He went on to say that in marking their 90^th anniversary, Africell Mobile Company has consented to supporting their dinner and award ceremony, which he described as a very important component of their celebrations. He added that the award ceremony itself is geared towards appreciating deserving members of OBBA that are contributing immensely in enhancing the activities of the Association.

“The intervention of Africell Mobile Company towards OBBA is unique,” said Mr. Sheriff, adding that by extension, Africell is supporting their school project. He went on to say that this year they are honouring academic excellence, with celebrated columnist, Dr. Sama Banya to serve as Keynote Speaker. He highlighted other events such as Family Walk, Friday Juma Prayers, Prize Giving Ceremony and Reunion Night that they will be holding to commemorate The Bo School’s 90^th anniversary. He said their activities are geared towards keeping and upholding the tradition of the school.

“The tradition of the school makes OBBA enviable,” he said, and called on well-wishers to patronize them to make the entire celebration a resounding success. Mr. Sheriff also appealed for support towards the infrastructural development of the school.

Africell Mobile Company has supported worthy causes in Sierra Leone over the years.

Brussels, Belgium, April 11, 2019— At a time when Europe’s relationship with Africa is high on foreign policy and developmental agendas and with the European Union beginning to deliver on its 2017 External Investment Plan, targeted at attracting investment and job creation in Africa, the Tony Elumelu Foundation brought together leading stakeholders in the development finance sector, at a case study session in the EU capital, Belgium. The convening demonstrated that Africa also had solutions to bring to the table and platformed the Foundation’s unique approach to catalysing entrepreneurship in scale across the continent.

Themed “A Convening on Africa’s Economic Transformation: A Case Study of the Tony Elumelu Foundation”, the event presented the results of the first five years of the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme a unique programme, which has trained, mentored and seeded 4,470 African entrepreneurs with 3,050 newly announced to receive seed funding, and drawn over 200,000 applications to its 2019 cycle. Tony Elumelu’s $100m investment in entrepreneurial philanthropy was held up as an example of how vital capital could be targeted efficiently and effectively, at African businesses best able to create significant economic and developmental impact.

Opening the event, Mr. Koen Doens, Deputy Director General, DEVCO, EU, said: “Africa needs to create jobs by the millions to match the needs of its exponentially growing population. It will achieve this only if it unleashes a generation of empowered entrepreneurs. The Tony Elumelu Foundation contributes to this massively. The European Union wants to play its part and contribute to this endeavour.”

During an indepth question and answer session with EU-Africa relations expert, Annie Mutamba, Founder, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu CON, highlighted the growing interest in the Tony Elumelu Foundation and its unique approach, while welcoming a new type of intervention in Africa. “We very much believe in collaboration, mutual respect and a shared commitment to transform Africa. Africa is ready but we need to do this through the right sustainable manner, that enables our people to become self-reliant, and independent, instead of perpetuating dependency. We need to implement practical solutions on ground through entrepreneurship, which empower people economically and addresses issues of extremism, migration, and insecurity.”

Minister Phillippe De Backer, Minister for Digital Agenda, Telecommunications and Post, Belgium, also commented: “There is an increasing desire in Europe to engage Africa, including its grassroots in a structure and targeted approach with the right processes. The Tony Elumelu Foundation offers this platform.”

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which last month in March announced 3,050 selected entrepreneurs for its 2019 cycle, continues to grow in scale, ambition and impact, and now actively leverages technology to support entrepreneurs through TEF Connect – a digital hub designed to link entrepreneurs across Africa, and which already has 500,000 users.

On the Foundation’s future plans, he stated: “We want to make sure that we impact more, reach more, touch more lives and get more women involved. We want to see more Northern Africa participation. We would like to reach 10,000 a year, with support from partners to empower additional entrepreneurs. We want to eradicate poverty and create wealth in a sustainable way. Ultimately, \we want a larger and broader entrepreneurship ecosystem, that supports young Africans, and we want to deepen our engagement with government to create the enabling environment to support these Africans to succeed – the right investment climate, training, education, access to capital and most importantly creating the right investment culture.”

Other dignitaries at the event included: Carl Michiels, Director, European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM); Bruno Wenn, Former CEO/Chairman at DEG-German Investment and Development Company, and Advisory Board Member, Tony Elumelu Foundation; Mr Viwanou Gnanssougou, Assistant Secretary General, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) at the European Council of the European Union, and Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Birthday Greetings

Happy Birthday Greetings goes to you Amin Kef (Ranger), the Publisher and Managing Editor of the fastest growing newspaper in town, The Calabash Newspaper and also a renown blogger.

As you celebrate another Natal Day on Friday 12th April 2019, May God Almighty grant you all your heart desires and blessings. We hope you will continue to make meaningful contributions to humanity.

We also wish you celebrate many more birthdays to come.

Have a blast!

From your family members, your dearest & nearest, Staff of The Calabash Newspaper, The Times Newspaper and your numerous friends here and abroad.

A pyramid scheme Qnet it was understood seems to be taking swathes of the country by storm. A sierra Leonean who is operating a small fleet of Kekeh’s informed that a couple of his riders have been fooled to part with their hard earned Le6,500,000 which he said is the membership fee to Qnet on the promise that if they successfully recruited more members their rewards would increase. “They are enticed with potential payments in dollars which is conditional on them successfully spreading the word,” he further revealed.
He furthered that in the 80’s, a pyramid scheme known as 729 crashed spectacularly in Sierra Leone with people losing their hard earned cash, some people losing a fortune. It was disclosed that the scheme may be legal in some jurisdictions; in others it is strictly prohibited.
As a matter of fact it is based on the scheme’s ability to generate sufficient level of membership in order to maintain the cash inflow part of which is then redistributed. In some parts of the world it is referred to as multi-level marketing, binary tree, pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme.
The scheme seems to be taking hold in Sierra Leone because of the way it is being marketed. Participants are being promised fantastic benefits which may or may not be deliverable.
According to investigations it was found out that people are gullible and because of greed and lack of ability to be objective and sceptical. The bulk of people who are sucked into this scheme lack the financial sophistication for them to be able to challenge the assumptions contained in the selling pitch.
They fall for the scheme hook, line and sinker. It is presented as an effortless way to make lots of money in a relatively short period of time. (A fool and his money are soon parted).The product that is being used to generate the sale is rather opaque. None of the participants that this medium contacted were able to produce the dollar receipts they were promised and some were still struggling to entice people to join the scheme.
Some of the questions people are now asking are:
1) Is pyramid selling legal in Sierra Leone?
2) Is there legislation in place to cover this type of financial activity?
3) Are there sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that the promises made by Qnet are valid and legal?
4) Which body has oversight of these types of companies?
5) Are these companies accounts open to public scrutiny?
6) Are these companies required by law to provide a prospectus which outlines the objectives of the company?
7) If the subscribers are unable to recruit more members what happens to their membership fees?
8) Is there a cooling off period? Normally when people are invited to buy a financial product there is usually around a 14 day cooling period, within which they are entitled to change their mind.
9) Are these types of organisations governed by a code of conduct be it mandatory or voluntary?
10) Is there an investment Protection Scheme?
11) Is this type of activity covered by any Consumer Protection Scheme?
It was again learnt that another company called Rolling Point Network Limited with similar profile is already operating in Sierra Leone. This time the membership fee is slightly lower around Le1, 000,000 promising massive profits that would be returned to the subscribers. The product in this case is BITCOIN which is claimed to be highly sought after and very profitable.
People are getting into debt to fund their membership, others are selling valuable assets like land, prized possessions, family silver whilst others exhaust their life savings for this get-rich quick scheme.
Qnet operations are littered with controversy.
As stated in Wikipedia, in Kazakhstan cheating by Qnet has been exposed where people are told about building the network by finding two people. To earn a stable profit, the pyramid up to 7 levels consisting of 64 people need to be reached. It has been calculated mathematically that 87.5 percent do not make a profit.
Qnet is also banned in 8 countries including the US.
The Fatwa council at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah declared that the binary form of transaction adopted by Qnet is prohibited under Sharia law.
Many have expressed the hope that those who are in the corridors of power should take swift and robust action as a matter of priority as the consequences of failure are too profound to contemplate. .
QNet, the main subsidiary of the QI Group of Companies, was founded by Vijay Eswaran and Joseph Bismark in Hong Kong in 1998. The company, first known as GoldQuest and QuestNet, made custom-commissioned commemorative coins and later began selling jewelry and watches. In 2000, QNet was the official distributor of the Sydney Olympic Games commemorative coins and was also a distributor
In a related development on the 10th April 2019 the Bank of Sierra Leone revealed that it has not license or permit any business(es) or financial institution(s) to take deposit for the purpose of investing or trading in cryptoassets (for example bitcoin) in Sierra Leone.

The Banking Act, 2011 and the Other Financial Services Act, 2001 provide that no person shall engage in banking business, take deposits or issue financial products to the general public unless that person holds a valid licence issued by the Bank of Sierra Leone.

It was reiterated that any person(s) who contravenes the provisions of the said Acts, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine and/or imprisonment.

The Bank of Sierra Leone is advising the public not to place their money as deposit in any business(es) or financial institution(s) that does not hold a valid licence and has not been granted permission by the Bank of Sierra Leone to introduce cryptoassets or related products.

It further stated that the following businesses that are taking deposits for the purpose of investing in cryptoassets are not licensed by the Bank of Sierra Leone:
1.Rolling Point Network Limited at 3b Lamina Sankoh Street.
2. Wealth Gate Solution Company at 18 Ecowas Street.

In accordance with the Bank of Sierra Leone Act 2011 and the Other Financial Services Act, 2001, the Bank of Sierra Leone has issued notice to both businesses to discontinue their activities immediately.

The Bank of Sierra Leone is assuring the public of its continued commitment to maintaining financial system stability.