Idris Elba plans to build a ‘Smart Eco-City’ off the coast of Sierra Leone

March 15, 2024

Idris Elba plans to build a ‘Smart Eco-City’ off the coast of Sierra Leone.

Idris Elba, an African-British actor is planning to leverage technology to benefit his root country in West Africa.

According to CNN, Elba is looking to build a “smart eco-city” on Sherbro Island, an island off the southwestern coast of Sierra Leone. Elba is acquainted with the area as his father was born in the country, and the English actor became a citizen himself after a visit in 2019, per BBC.

The efforts surrounding Sherbro Island are being undertaken through a collaboration between Sherbro Alliance Partners (SAP), a U.K.-registered company, and the Sierra Leone government to improve the area’s economic state, the island’s website mentions. Elba is also co-founder of SAP, spearheading the venture.

• “At some junction, my business partner Siaka Stevens, the grandson of the former president, said, ‘Look, someone needs to cultivate Sherbro Island for tourism.’ That was seven years ago,” Elba explained to CNN. “Where we are now is that we partnered with the government to figure out a plan of how we can bring in tourism. Well, it started as tourism—now we’re building a smart, eco-dynamic city.”

The actor suggests that investments in the “smart eco-city” are not rampant due to the hesitations of some who may not see Africa’s promise, according to the outlet. Nevertheless, Elba has assembled a team to devise an investment framework aimed at reshaping investors’ perspectives and motivating them to support the venture.

• “Obviously, this is Sierra Leone. It’s one of the poorest countries in the world, so investment isn’t rushing through the door,” he said to CNN. “So what we needed to do is understand how to package an investment opportunity around this beautiful island without destroying it, being climate-conscious, and being conscious that there is a youth culture across Africa of the average age of about 20 that wants something.”

He continued, “I’ve suddenly found myself in the middle of trying to figure out how to pull this together, and what I did was get the best-in-class thinkers on how to build a robust investment framework for the international players to look at Africa in a different way. And that’s what Sherbro Island is. That’s a very long-winded way of saying it’s my retirement plan.”

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