Essex County College Connects Business Leaders with West African Nation

Essex County College hosted New Jersey business leaders and officials from Sierra Leone at a business summit to connect state businesses with the West African nation.

“We are delighted to serve as the catalyst in bringing the regional business community and a nation eager to set up commerce with them,” said ECC Interim President Gale E. Gibson. 

She also announced plans to establish a study abroad program between ECC and Sierra Leone’s Fourah Bay College at the Sept. 23 summit. 

More than 100 attended the event, including ECC officials, the Sierra Leone delegation, business leaders, and elected officials, according to college officials.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma did not attend the meeting, but sent a large delegation which included ministers encompassing a number of governmental areas in which business could connect. His minister of information  and communications, Alhaji Alpha Abubakarr Kanu, served as keynote speaker.

The entrepreneurs, with their specific proposals in hand, had the opportunity to network with the Sierra Leone delegation on a wide range of planned businesses, according to a college spokesperson. The government officials were prepared to discuss such areas as business development, energy, communications, technology, investment banking, transportation, and even mining and steel.

In his address to the audience, Kanu outlined how Sierra Leone expects to continue its upward economic trend. 

“To grow, you need a skilled workforce, and that requires an educated workforce,” Kanu said. “The challenges we face today is to encourage the youth to learn a trade. Education is needed to change their lives.”