130
acres in Bo District
$150M
Innovation Investment Fund target
$1.4M
African Development Bank grant
200+
startups SMIRA will prepare
Who we are
Where Sierra Leone’s founders, communities, investors and government meet.
Fɛlei is the Government of Sierra Leone’s platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, led by the Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation. We are not a real estate project. We connect talent, capital and policy.
We run programmes on the ground today, we are building a national innovation investment fund, and we are developing the 130-acre Special Economic Zone for Technology in Bo District as the place where it all comes together.
What we do
Six ways we work.
01
Community Solvathons
Two days where residents, innovators and technical experts define a local problem together and co-design a solution ready to pilot.
Learn more →02
Founder community
TIE2 Meetups take the conversation about building a business into the districts, led by founders who have done the work.
Learn more →03
Investment readiness
SMIRA prepares startups for market entry and investment with training, mentorship and introductions to investors.
Learn more →04
Innovation Investment Fund
A national blended-finance fund targeting $150 million over five years to back enterprises that scale.
Learn more →05
The Tech City
130 acres at Jombohun, Bo District: a BPO hub, labs, homes, a school and a medical centre already under way.
Learn more →06
Partnerships & policy
A Ministerial Steering Committee, the national advisory council, and partners from the African Development Bank to Orange Foundation.
Learn more →On the ground
The work happens in communities, not in a brochure.
From the first Solvathon in Bo to the Kroo Bay edition, residents set the problem and innovators build with them, not for them.
“Yesterday, Kroo Bay listened. Today, it built.”
Problem-definition day, Community Solvathon, Kroo Bay.
Innovators present a plastic waste recycling process to residents.
Community voices shape the solutions that get piloted.
News & updates
What’s happening.
Call for exhibitors
Waste Management & HealthTech Spotlight: show your solution to the public, partners and government
8 September 2026 · Freetown
Read more →
Community Solvathon
Yesterday, Kroo Bay listened. Today, it built.
August 2026 · Kroo Bay
Read more →
The Tech City
Orange Foundation turns the sod on a school and medical centre at Fɛlei
29 May 2026 · Bo
Read more →Partners and institutions we work with
Ministry of Communication, Technology & Innovation
African Development Bank
Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project
Orange Foundation
Nomadic Minds
Pegasus Tech Ventures
Huawei
UNCITRAL
Get involved
Are you building something?
Founders, community groups, investors and partners: tell us what you are working on and we will point you to the right programme.