Gold Dirt: A Profile of the Sierra Leone Informal Economy (IV)

Dr. Umaru Bah, CEO

DataWise (SL) Ltd.

@DataWiseSL

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So Gibril came all the way abroad from United Stay to manage the kompanie. Waste Management Kompanie. That was what they called the kompanie. Waste Management. But the kompanie kind of went to waste. So Gibril Wilson, when he came, he wanted to start all over. Clean out the whole mess. Everything. So he changed the name to Masada. And let go of many, many of us push-kiat garbage workers.

But the old Kompanie still owed us wages. And we had nothing to work with because it owned even the push-kiat we used to haul the garbage. So Gibril took sympathy on us and gave us the push-kiats for free. I painted mine, put my name and motto on it. And that’s how I got my own business.

On a Silver Plate: A Profile of the Sierra Leone Informal Economy (III)

Dr. Umaru Bah, CEO

DataWise (SL) Ltd.

@DataWiseSL

Originally Published in Medium on February 10, 2019.

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You get burnt if they catch you with burnt plates of Sierra Leonean artists.

You do not pirate original plates produced by CDSA. That’s the Sierra Leone Compact-Disc Sellers Association. Too much hassle from the police. The CDSA is very powerful. If you burn Salone artists, the police will take you and your merchandise and everything else to the station where you will spend your whole day and money to release yourself, your merchandise and your boombox. Most times, you never get back your merchandise. And you have to start back from zero. And hope the producers loan you back some plates to sell and make enough profit to pay back all those lost plates.