Dr David Moinina Sengeh
Chief Minister
Republic of Sierra Leone
Dr. David Moinina Sengeh serves as the Chief Minister and the Chief Innovation Officer of the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone. As Chief Minister, his role is to serve as adviser to the President and Vice President, and to work with the other Ministries, Departments and Agencies to deliver on the Government’s agenda. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Sengeh served as Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education from 2019 to 2023.
Internationally, Dr. Sengeh serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board for UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report and is a member of the executive committee of the Board of the Global Partnership for Education. He also serves as co-chair of the technical committee for UNESCO’s High-Level Steering Committee for Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education and served as chair of the advisory board for the 2022 Transforming Education Summit.
Dr. Sengeh has been recognized as a senior TED Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Obama Foundation Africa Leader, a National Geographic Explorer and in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology. Prior to joining the Sierra Leone Government in 2018, Dr. Sengeh was a Research Manager at IBM Research Africa, leading a healthcare team that designed and implemented AI-enabled systems for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease.
Dr. Sengeh obtained his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Biomechatronics where he developed award-winning technology for human augmentation in designing comfortable prosthetic interfaces.
He attained his bachelor’s degree in Engineering Sciences from Harvard College. Prior to university he attended the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Flekke, Norway and the Prince of Wales Secondary School in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Dr. Sengeh holds several patents and has published academic and popular articles across the fields of education, healthcare and augmentation, and artificial intelligence. He has spoken to audiences globally on topics related to digital governance, education, youth innovation and inclusion, prosthetics design, the fourth industrial revolution and more.
His first book “Radical Inclusion” was published by MacMillan as part of Melinda French Gates and Flatiron Books’ Moment of Lift Books in May 2023.
Outside of his work duties, Dr. Sengeh is a husband, father of three, afrobeat rapper, clothing designer and sports enthusiast.
