Sierra Leone High Commissioner in Accra, Ghana, Her Excellency Francess Virginia Anderson on Thursday 1st December visited the ongoing West Africa Agro Food Trade Show, which is being held at the Accra International Conference Centre.

High commissioner Anderson visits Sierra Leone’s booth at the West Africa Agrofood Conference

During her visit to the fair particularly Sierra Leone’s booth, High Commissioner Anderson met with the country’s representatives of institutions such as the Sierra Leone Local Content Agency, Standards Bureau, Agro processing and Competitiveness Project of the World Bank.

She applauded and congratulated all representatives of Sierra Leone and urged them to always do more in ensuring their products meet the required standards as by so doing Sierra Leone’s Flag will fly high.

She encouraged them to be doing all they could in improving what they do and making sure even their packaging meets international expectation.

As a nation she said, Sierra Leone will continue to do that which is needed in showcasing its quality.

Sierra Leone’s Products displayed at the West Africa Agrofood Conference in Ghana

A total number of 18 Agro processing Local Entrepreneurs also formed part of Sierra Leone’s team. They informed the High Commissioner about the purpose of the fair and how it has been.

According to them, the event brought together 98 exhibitors of 21 countries from Africa, Asia and Europe with a goal of displaying value chain of Agroindustry products and facilities.

Representative of the Agro processing and competitiveness project at the Small Medium Enterprises, Haja Meyers briefed the High Commissioner on how exceptional the entrepreneurs have been, and that they continue to receive support from the Agro prosessing and competitiveness project of the world bank.

She pleaded with the High Commissioner to support them in any way by ensuring they also enter the regional market through the desired networking.

Sierra Leone Local Content Agency Director General, Fodeba Daboh appreciated the High Commissioner for the visit while promising that his Agency and all others working together in the same interest will continue to project Sierra Leone’s local content to Africa and the world at large.

The Director General of Sierra Leone Local Content Agency (SLLCA), Mr. Fodeba Daboh, and other senior government officials recently attended the seventh International Summit & Exhibition for Applied Education and TVET at the Hunan International Convention & Exhibition Center, Changsha in China.

The summit on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, to Friday, August 18, 2023, was hosted by the International Transnational Education Association (ITEA) and co-hosted by the International Cultural Communication Center Malaysia (ICCCM).

The Summit is a joint Development of National Vocational Education Standards and National Qualifications Frameworks collaborative project with The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Cambodia, and Pakistan.

The Sierra Leone delegation comprises the Deputy Minister of Technical and Higher Education Mr. Sarjoh Aziz-Kamara who delivered the keynote address, Chief Technical and Higher Education Officer, Dr Josephous Brimah, the Acting Director of National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Abdul Senesie and the NCTVA representative, Mr Abdul Rahman Sesay.

In his keynote address, the Deputy Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Mr Sarjoh Aziz-Kamara said that His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio’s Big Five changer for sustainable economic development and social process is in line with the objective of this summit. He emphasized that developing middle-level manpower through TVET can help achieve the “Big Five”.

In his address, the Director General of the SLLCA, Mr. Daboh explained that the Agency’s key priority and strategic focus is skills development and strengthening the capacity of local enterprise.

DG Daboh believed that a skilled workforce could create a pool of Sierra Leonean professionals’ workforce ready for immediate use by multinational companies.

He added that the Agency has built and will continue to build a robust network between local firms and their international counterparts.

“It is against that background that we are working diligently with the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education and its affiliate Agencies like NCTVA and Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to develop our middle-level manpower and also to curb the persistent skills mismatch between schools and colleges and employing firms,” DG Daboh added.

He disclosed, “So far, we have developed a scorecard for companies registered in Sierra Leone which makes adherence to Agency laws easy and enticing.