David Sengeh

David Sengeh’s interest in designing prostheses stems from his childhood. He grew up in Sierra Leone during the civil war, when amputation was an all-too-common practice employed by the rebels. Post war, Sengeh witnessed those around him struggle with ill-fitting prosthetics that were too uncomfortable to wear.

The 27-year-old Harvard graduate and PhD Candidate at MIT’s Media Lab has channeled these experiences and skills as a transformative technologist to design more comfortable and affordable prosthetic sockets, helping to improve the lives of amputees in Sierra Leone and worldwide. 

Sengeh is also empowering the youth of Sierra Leone to create and implement solutions to challenging issues through his nonprofit Global Minimum Inc. Sengeh and his team at Global Minimum, with support from the Clinton Global Initiative, recently committed to creating innovation labs in schools that will provide tools and leadership to support students’ inventions, creativity and entrepreneurship.

David Sengeh is currently the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Chief Innovation Officer for the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone. He is also a TED Speaker and TED Fellow.

 

Related Articles

Ted Talk 2014

NBC