Living on an island with Idris Elba may be a fantasy, but the British heartthrob is taking steps to make at least the island part of that dream come true.
Elba plans to collaborate with the government of the West African country of Sierra Leone to develop Sherbro Island, a rich coastal paradise. The actor aims to elevate into an economically-friendly smart city where residents and tourists can live and thrive. “It’s a dream, you know, but I work in the make-believe business,” Elba told The Guardian. “Never in my lifetime would I have thought I could build the foundation for a new smart-city. I’m not qualified for that. But I am qualified to dream big.”
Sherbo Island is a small island off the coast of Sierra Leone with over 19 miles of beachfront and is home to about 40,000 locals. According to Elba, the island was historically used as a port for the Transatlantic Slave Trade and was a point of no return where enslaved Africans would be forced to leave the continent for the New World. Plans to develop the island started as a way to bring in tourism. But Elba is dreaming bigger and hoping to change the way Africa is viewed globally.
“It started as tourism. Now we’re building a smart, eco dynamic city.” Elba said in an interview with CNN. “The opportunity.. is to reframe how not only Africans see themselves via telling stories, but the opportunity is to have the world see Africa in a different way. This is such a massive intersection of industries that create jobs and create opportunities. It is an incredible opportunity for engineering, creativity, storytelling and heritage and propaganda.”
Elba’s company, Sherbro Alliance Partners, intends to collaborate closely with the government officials of the country to establish a special economic zone aimed at stimulating growth on the island. The actor was brought into the project by Siaka Stevens, the grandson of the former Sierra Leonean president of the same name. The pair are childhood friends who grew up together in London and used to DJ together.
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Through this partnership, Elba hopes to create a culturally diverse city that blends African tradition and culture with innovative infrastructure and services. The development plans include a partnership with an energy company to build Sierra Leone’s first wind farm on the island, which lacks electricity and is a two-hour ferry trip from the mainland.
Elba has also met with locals and island leadership to consult about their needs for the development and ensure that he maintains the culture and history of the island.
“The character of the island hopefully will remain intact. It’s a beautiful, green part of the world and we don’t want to disturb that,” he said. “It’s about being self-reliant, it’s about bringing an economy that feeds itself and has growth potential. I’m very keen to reframe the way Africa is viewed.”
Cover photo: Idris Elba Set To Create Smart Eco-City Off The Coast of Sierra Leone / Photo credit: Getty Images