Hisham Mackie (born 1969 [1] ) is a Sierra Leonean businessman. He is by far the biggest diamond exporter from Sierra Leone, accounting for 51% of all official Sierra Leone diamond exports [2] [3] Mackie runs H.M Diamond, a company which accounted for 40% of all diamond exports in 2005. [4]
Hisham Mackie was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone on April 6, 1969 to a Sierra Leonean-Lebanese family which has been in the diamond business since 1952. His father, a second generation Sierra Leonean-Lebanese, was among the first diamond dealers licensed by the Sierra Leone government during the early sixties. Mackie did his secondary education at the famous and elite Bo School in Bo and graduated in 1986. After graduating from the Bo School, he went to England where he attended the University of London in 1987. Mackie joined the diamond business in 2002 as an export license holder.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests, a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions which are subdivided into sixteen districts. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president serving a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a secular nation with the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience. Muslims make up about three-quarters of the population, though with an influential Christian minority. Religious tolerance in the West African nation is very high and is generally considered a norm and part of Sierra Leone's cultural identity.
Koidu Town is the capital and largest city of the diamond-rich Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Koidu Town is 124,662 based on the 2015 Sierra Leone national census. Koidu Town is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population, after Freetown, Kenema, Bo and Makeni. Koidu Town is a major urban, business, commercial and diamond trade center. Koidu Town lies approximately 280 miles east of Freetown, and about 60 miles north of Kenema.
Ernest Bai Koroma is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018.
Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Jaiama Nimikor and Sewafe. The district is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone. The population of Kono District is 505,767. Kono District borders Kenema District to the southwest, The Republic of Guinea to the east, Koinadugu District to the northeast and Kailahun District to the southeast. Kono District is divided into fourteen chiefdoms.
Sidique Mansaray is a Sierra Leonean footballer, who currently plays as a striker for the East End Lions in Sierra Leone National Premier League. He is also a regular member of the Leone Stars, Sierra Leone national football team. in 2001, Mansaray scored the only goal as Sierra Leone defeated Nigeria 1-0 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Freetown
Sierra Leone National Premier League is the top professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, one of the major Sierra Leonean banks. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpool are the two biggest and most successful clubs. The National Premier League is controlled by the Sierra Leone Football Association. The season runs from March to July.
Mass media in Sierra Leone began when the first modern printing press in Africa arrived at the start of the 19th century. In the 1860s the country became a journalist hub for Africa with professional travelling to the country from across the continent. At the end of the 19th century the industry went into decline and when radio was introduced in the 1930s this became the primary communication media. Print media is not widely read in Sierra Leone, especially outside Freetown, partially due to the low levels of literacy in the country. In 2008 there were 15 daily newspapers in addition to those published weekly. Among newspaper readership young people are likely to read newspapers weekly and older people daily. The majority of newspapers are privately run and are often critical of the government.
The following list is of events that happened during 2007 in Sierra Leone.
Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007 to March 17, 2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) in the 2007 presidential election, alongside presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma. The APC ticket defeated the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) presidential candidate Solomon Berewa and vice presidential candidate Momodou Koroma. Sam-Sumana took office as vice president on September 17, 2007.
Sia Mary Musa was a Sierra Leonean politician and activist from Koidu-Sefadu, Kono District. She was the mayor of Koidu, and a member of the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).
Jamil Sahid Mohamed Khalil was a Sierra Leonean-Lebanese businessman, diamonds and commodities trader. He attained prominence in the diamond industry across Africa and Antwerp and became an influential figure in the politics of Sierra Leone through his close association with President Siaka Stevens. Jamil also came to dominate other business sectors including fisheries, tourism construction and aviation.
Solomon Yambassu is a Sierra Leonean footballer, who plays for East End Lions in Sierra Leone National Premier League.
Kassim Basma is a multimillionaire Sierra Leonean businessman and the second leading diamond exporter from Sierra Leone, accounting for around 38% of all official Sierra Leone diamond exports. Basma was born in Kono District in Eastern Sierra Leone. He was born into a family of Lebanese descent from the southern Lebanese village of Ain Baal. He is a member of the Basma family, one of the oldest families of Lebanese descent in Sierra Leone.
Mohamed SaccohJames Sesay, better known by his stage name K-Man, is a Sierra Leonean rapper and one of the most famous musicians from Sierra Leone. K-Man is known for his soft rap tone. He rapped mainly in English and the Krio language as well as occasionally in the Madinka language.
For the music label, see Motéma Music.
Khadyjah Fofanah better known by her stage name Khady Black is a Sierra Leonean rastafarian and Roots reggae musician. She is Sierra Leone's first international female reggae artist. Khady Black sings mainly in English, Krio and in her native Mandinka language.
Union Trust Bank (UTB), whose full name is Union Trust Bank Limited, is a commercial bank in Sierra Leone. It is licensed as a "commercial bank" by the Bank of Sierra Leone, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.
India–Sierra Leone relations refers to the international relations that exist between India and Sierra Leone. India maintains a High Commission in Freetown. Sierra Leone does not have a resident diplomatic mission in India. The Sierra Leonean embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates is accredited to India.
Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Barrie, simply referred to as Bailor Barrie or M.B. Barrie was a Sierra Leonean businessman, activist and philanthropist. He hailed from Sierra Leone's northern district of Koinadugu and was a member of the Fula ethnic group of which he later became a well known activist and leader. Barrie became prominent in Sierra Leone's post colonial economic environment in the 1970s as the first Fula to venture into the European-Lebanese dominated import business of motor vehicles. He became very successful in the booming diamond mining and trading industry in the 1970s and 1980s, which established him as one of Sierra Leone's most successful businessmen, even without a standard level of education. Then president of Sierra Leone Siaka Stevens was using Barrie's success to defend himself against critics attacking him for ignoring the country's crumbling educational sector, by claiming that one could be successful like Barrie without any standard level of education.Barrie died in a road accident in 1989 on his way from Kenema, in the eastern part of Sierra Leone.