Still on the just concluded Fullah Cultural Festival which was organised by the Western Area Fullah Youths Association of Sierraleone and attended by Fulbe Africa members. We now bring you a tribute to Bailor Barrie

 by:

©️Alhaji U. N'jai 

The Spirit of Bailor Barrie - A Tribute 

 At the #NationalFullahCulturalFestival I gave a tribute to late Businessman/Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Barrie aka  Bailor Barrie and learnt a thing or two about a creative genius with little formal Western Education, but able to build a multi-million dollar international industry that span automotive dealership, diamonds, rice, consumer goods import-export, hotel chains, and so on. All of this from humble beginnings at Badembaia-Sokurala, Kabala, Koinadugu District. He was the first man to use helicopters as air taxis in Sierra Leone.  At a time when our intellectual and academic discus is shifting towards entrepreneurship and leadership, Bailor Barrie may have just been 30 to 40 years ahead of his time. Like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bailor Barrie exemplifies academic success does not readily translate to entrepreneurial or innovative success; In other words, entrepreneurial success is not dependent on huge academic achievements.  Despite the litany of business programs, academics has never been a prerequisite for entrepreneurship or innovation. Entrepreneurship is largely based on risk taking; Risk taking is the epistemology for innovation and entrepreneurship, and succesful academics are less likely to take risk. So the Spirit of Bailor Barrie is worth emulating to nurture young entrepreneurs, build our economies, and extricate us from morass of  economic stagnation. So as we continue on the path of heavy academic education push, we must also nurture the little Bailor Barries in our midst. Yes, den say Bailor Barrie u say Davidson Nicol; Instead of Bailor Barrie or Davidson Nicol adage,

I believe both must be nurtured in our schools and integrated to create a new generation of forward thinkers and transformational citizens. We need academics with entrepreneurial or innovative minds to transform our society, in the same manner of nurturing entrepreneurs with an academic spirit    to promote research, development and sustainability of the business. #Jata #Meejoh #ThePeoplesScientist