Sierra Leone asks its diaspora to invest at home, not only send money

From Maryland to London, Sierra Leoneans abroad send money home every month. Together it came to about $321 million in 2024, close to 5% of the country's economy, according to World Bank figures. Most of it pays for school fees, rent and family emergencies. Now the government wants to give that same diaspora a way to build something that lasts.

Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh told a conference of Sierra Leoneans abroad in London that a national diaspora finance framework is being drawn up, and that it is a priority within the government's wider plan for paying for development. The conference's full report, published this month, sets out what was promised and what comes next.

• $321msent home by Sierra Leoneans abroad in 2024
• 4.6%of GDP, the share remittances made up that year
• 400+delegates at the diaspora investment conference in London
• 9 daysof Diaspora Week in Freetown, from 28 December

From remittances to investment

The framework now being written sits inside Sierra Leone's Integrated National Financing Framework, the plan that ties the budget to the country's development goals. In April the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Kenyeh Ballay, told a UN financing forum that diaspora finance is one of eleven priority policy areas, next to blended finance, climate finance and raising more tax at home.

At the London conference the Vice President pointed to neighbours who have tried this already, among them Nigeria's diaspora bond and Burkina Faso's patriotic bond, both sold to citizens to fund national projects. Finance ministry officials presented early ideas for a Sierra Leonean diaspora bond to delegates; its terms are still proposals and have not been announced.

The people behind the push

The conference series is the work of Vickie Remoe, a Sierra Leonean media entrepreneur who has spent four years trying to persuade people abroad to put money into businesses at home. She likes to call the diaspora the country's "17th district", alongside the sixteen on the map. Her message in every speech is that the main obstacle is not money but trust: people abroad rarely hear about local businesses that succeed.

New doors already opening

Some of the plumbing is arriving before the framework. In Freetown, the Salone Angel Network has launched as the country's first home-grown network of angel investors, open to members at home and abroad. Its members put their own money into young Sierra Leonean companies and mentor the founders, with monthly pitch sessions to find them.

Come home in December

The next step is a homecoming. Sierra Leone Diaspora Week runs from 28 December 2026 to 5 January 2027, timed for the season when many families fly home anyway.

• 28–29 December: the fifth Sierra Leone Diaspora Investment Conference at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel in Freetown, with business matchmaking and a showcase of local firms.
• 29 December: the first Sierra Leone Diaspora Excellence Awards.
• 30 December: a beach sports day at Bureh Beach, with teams from across the diaspora.
• 4 January: an investment bootcamp on registering a business, tax and getting ready for capital.
• 5 January: tours of farms, food processors and eco-tourism sites outside the capital.