Philanthropist ‘Baide’ keeping hopes alive
Philanthropist and Businessman, Amadu Kassim Jah is keeping the hopes of children alive by giving away millions of Leones in different forms of support to vulnerable children in Sierra Leone. His support over the last six years has been geared towards empowering vulnerable children to continue with their education.
Baide as he is commonly known in his native land of Gbinti, say he has a passion for giving.
“Since I returned in 2017 from the US, I have been giving back to my home in Gbinti. I have supported vulnerable children mostly orphans to continue with schooling through cash support and support with educational materials” Jah said.
He said giving back has been so important to him that he had to scale it up this year and include children in the Western Area. This year alone Jah and his company has given more than Le500million in charity work and over Le1billion last year.
“In preparation for the new school year I have already ordered 1,650 bags with books and other school materials. 650 of these will be shared among vulnerable children in my church 1000 in the name of the company to other children,” Jah said.
Free Quality Education is one of the flagship programs of the government, but massive enrollment as a result of the program has also come with constrain for government and parents to adequately provide the necessary school materials for children. Jah’s support has been crucial to helping so many.
Jah is the Chief Executive Officer of the JMan Group of Companies. Some of the philanthropy has also been in his company’s name, promoting good corporate culture of giving back.
His philanthropic work doesn’t just stop with children. In his home town of Gbinti he has been supporting teachers to stay in classrooms and continue to teach.
“Last year, I helped one of the schools in my hometown Gbinti by paying the salary of some of the volunteer teachers for the rest of the year,” Baide said.
He said this academic year he is gearing up to the same. For a man who has given so much he seems modest, he said: “I don’t usually talk about how much I give, I am just led by the spirit to give back because it is important and makes a lot of impact to so many.”
His passion for business has also seen him mobilize young people in his area and provide seed money for business ideas.
“In 2021, my wife and I gave Le 50 million to young people at IMAAT, where I stay. We gave them to support their business ideas with the hope of repayment, so we could support more. Even though none of them paid back, but we are happy some are independent now and we are willing to help more,” he said.
Jah said his passion to give back is inspired by his faith and his late mother who struggled to put him and his siblings through school.
