Dr. David Moinina Sengeh is Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, and the Chief Innovation Officer for the Government of Sierra Leone. Hon. Minister Dr. David Moinina Sengeh provides strategic and policy leadership for both the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI).

At the time of his appointment by H.E. President Julius Maada Bio in May 2018, Hon. Dr. Sengeh was a Research Manager at IBM Research Africa (in Kenya and South Africa), leading a healthcare team that designed and implemented AI-enabled systems for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease.

Born and raised in Sierra Leone, he completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he developed award-winning inventions and technology for human augmentation designing comfortable prosthetic interfaces. Hon. Dr. Sengeh received his bachelor’s degree at Harvard University in Engineering Sciences in 2010, where his research focused on aerosolized vaccines for tuberculosis.

Hon. Dr. Sengeh is on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology (2013), a Senior TED Fellow, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, on the Wired Smart List 2013, winner of the Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize, an Obama Foundation Leaders: Africa Fellow and most recently, a WEF Young Global Leader.  He has held Fellowship positions at Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and other institutions over the years. He is credited for seeding the development of the innovation ecosystem in Sierra Leone through Global Minimum and the Innovate Salone program, which he co-founded in 2007, and which has supported the innovation and entrepreneurial journeys of thousands of Sierra Leoneans.

He holds several patents and has published academic articles across fields of education, healthcare and augmentation, and artificial intelligence. Hon. Dr. has spoken to audiences globally on topics related to digital governance, education, youth innovation, prosthetics design, fourth industrial revolution and more. He is an afrobeats rapper, designs clothing and regularly plays football.