The Freetown Business School was founded in February 2017 by three senior Sierra Leonean Professionals, Christine Sesay, Alfred Akibo-Betts and Violet Asgill; whose educational background and training are a combination of pre- civil war Sierra Leone educational system and international training. Together we have over 40 years’ experience of working in the Private and Public Sectors in Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom (UK), and other parts of the world. We have held and worked in a number of high profile jobs and projects in Sierra Leone. Our experiences combined with research has demonstrated to us that one of the major difficulties organisations face in Sierra Leone today is the lack of trained and experienced people resources who have sufficient experience and exposure to develop organisations effectively, and successfully implement change to meet the growing global demands.
As Sierra Leonean Professionals, we believe that with the right training, exposure and opportunity to network, Sierra Leonean Professionals and Entrepreneurs can be a very powerful force in the development of our economy and in effect our country.
Our research shows that most organisations provide some form of training to their staff. It also shows that most Training, Learning and Development activities are not planned and therefore produces very little results. In addition, the lack of effective management structures and little or no budgets also means that Learning and Development activities are ad-hoc and often seen as a personal opportunity instead of as an organisational advantage.
Management Schools in Sierra Leone usually focus on producing students with high academic qualifications in certain sectors who are set out with little or no practical skills to run and develop organisations. This has led to a number of other inherent issues causing in some cases friction in organisations among Sierra Leoneans from the diaspora with experience but lack of local knowledge, and home grown Sierra Leoneans with local knowledge but lack experience and relevant exposure in management.
Our experiences also show that most high profile organisations and Government organisations turn to Regional and International Business Schools which are very expensive; and these investments do not always necessarily benefit the organisations.
Our passion for development in Sierra Leone and our keen desire to address some of the issues organisations face with local talent and the difficulties our Entrepreneurs face brought the Freetown Business School to fruition.
Our joint efforts at the Freetown Business School will ensure that we address some of the issues we face with local content, and as such effectively contribute to the sustainable development of Sierra Leone through our people resources.
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