About
A platform, not a property.
Fɛlei is the Government of Sierra Leone’s platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, led by the Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation.
Who we are
The connective tissue between government and the people who build.
Sierra Leone has talent, ideas and problems worth solving. What it has lacked is the thread that ties them to capital and policy. Fɛlei is that thread: a national platform that brings founders, communities, investors and government into the same room, and keeps them there until something gets built.
The Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advisory Council put it plainly at its first meeting in February 2026: Fɛlei must be a system-level platform and a pocket of excellence, not a real estate project. That is the standard we hold ourselves to.
Fɛlei was unveiled by His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio at the 2024 Sierra Leone Innovates Tech Summit and sits within the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2024 to 2030.
How we work
Three things at once.
01
Programmes on the ground
Community Solvathons, TIE2 founder meetups, exhibitor spotlights and the SMIRA accelerator. Real problems, real people, solutions ready to pilot.
What we do →02
A national fund
The Sierra Leone Innovation Investment Fund, targeting $150 million over five years, with the African Development Bank already backing the investment portfolio and a startup fund.
Invest →03
A place to grow
The 130-acre Special Economic Zone for Technology in Bo District, where the first sod was turned in May 2026 on a school and a medical centre.
The Tech City →
The name
Fɛlei is a Mende word. In Krio it is fana: a woven sieve.
To make a fana you weave different strands together into a platform you sieve through, to find the best seeds to germinate and grow.
That is the whole idea. A home where different ecosystems of innovators converge, where ideas are nurtured and scaled up into competitive businesses. The strands are the people: communities, founders, investors, partners and government. The weave is stronger than any one of them.
Governance
Who is behind Fɛlei.
Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation
Fɛlei’s sponsor and home. Minister Salima Bah leads the Government of Sierra Leone’s technology and innovation agenda.
Ministerial Steering Committee
Proposed at the April 2026 roundtable with the ministries of Technical and Higher Education, Tourism, Basic Education, Lands, Local Government and Justice.
Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advisory Council
A structured platform for the ministry, the private sector and academia to co-create national strategy. Its first meeting endorsed Fɛlei’s positioning.
African Development Bank
Through the DIGEST project, the Bank funds the feasibility study, the fund’s governance framework and business development support.
Chief Executive Officer
David Manley
David leads the Fɛlei project team under MoCTI. His open letter to potential partners sets out what the platform is for and who it is for.
Read the letter