From Yola to Freetown: Adamawa’s Bincike Goes Regional With Sierra Leone Incorporation

In a statement on its official Facebook page, the organisation said it is now registered in the Republic of Sierra Leone as Bincike SL Limited by Guarantee, after nine months of operations in the West African country.

According to the statement, the Certificate of Incorporation was issued on October 19, 2026, by Sierra Leone’s National Investment Board, under Company Number SL191026BINCI32448.

This is a big step in our regional expansion. We thank everyone who supported this journey,

The registration comes barely six weeks after Bincike unveiled a five-year strategic plan in Yola, signalling that the organisation’s ambitions now reach well beyond Adamawa.

Registration as a company limited by guarantee is a structure commonly used by non-profit and development organisations. It has no shareholders, and any surplus is reinvested in the organisation’s objectives rather than paid out as profit.

Incorporation allows Bincike to operate in Sierra Leone as a legally recognised local entity, rather than as a foreign organisation working informally. In practice, that typically enables an organisation to open local bank accounts, sign agreements with government agencies and partners, hire staff and apply for grants in its own name.

The statement did not give details of Bincike’s activities in Sierra Leone over the past nine months, the location of its office or the programmes it plans to run there.

The organisation’s name comes from the Hausa word bincike, meaning research or investigation, a fitting label for a group that says it designs its interventions around evidence and data.

Bincike International is led by its founder and Executive Director, Dr Elisha Bello. Before establishing the organisation, Bello worked in security and humanitarian roles. He served as Country Safety and Security Advisor with Norwegian Church Aid and as a security risk manager with Idmibok International before becoming Counter Wildlife Trafficking Advisor with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Calabar.

That mix of humanitarian, security and conservation experience is reflected in Bincike’s work. The organisation operates across 13 thematic areas, including livelihoods and economic empowerment, protection and social reintegration, gender equality, peacebuilding, public health, climate change and counter wildlife trafficking.

Its Director of Innovation and Strategy is Jimiruna Leonard.

Bincike’s best-known project is OneDelegate, a mobile application launched in Yola on September 11, 2026, in partnership with the Adamawa State Government.

The app connects trained artisans, including plumbers, electricians, carpenters, gas suppliers and waste collectors, with residents who need their services. Artisans are verified before they are listed. After each job, customers can rate the artisan, and artisans can also review customers.

Bincike framed the platform as a response to insecurity, not just unemployment. Bello said an internal review had found that many young people who completed skills training programmes still had no job or reliable income, a gap he warned could leave them open to recruitment by gangs, bandits and kidnappers.

The launch came as security forces in Adamawa continued raids on suspected hideouts of the Shilla gangs, a criminal network that operates largely in the Yola metropolis.

We are linking them with those who need their services in the state, and we plan to scale it up in other states as well,

To reach people without smartphones or internet access, Bincike said it plans to add a USSD option and a telephone-based service called OneDelegate Hop. It also intends to work with institutions that run skills training programmes so that their graduates, including internally displaced persons, can be certified and registered on the platform free of charge.

The Gazette News Nigeria reported at the time that the app would start in Yola before expanding across Adamawa and eventually to other states.

The Adamawa State Government backed the project. Usman Saleh, Director of the Donor Department at the State Planning Commission, represented the government at the launch and commended the organisation, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

Bincike’s work also reaches into national policy debates.

In August 2026, the organisation called on the Federal Government to revoke illegally issued mining permits in Nigeria’s protected areas and prosecute those involved in unlawful mining. It alleged that illegal mining had encroached on sensitive sites, including Cross River National Park and Gashaka Gumti National Park, which straddle Adamawa and Taraba states.

Bello warned that illegal mining was taking place with little regard for environmental rules, human rights or worker safety, and raised concerns about child labour and links between illegal mining and insecurity in rural communities. The organisation said endangered species such as the Cross River gorilla, forest elephants and chimpanzees were at risk.

Bincike has not explained publicly why it chose Sierra Leone as its first foreign base.

The country shares many of the challenges the organisation targets in Nigeria, including youth unemployment, the need to link skills training to livelihoods, and pressure on forests and wildlife. Both countries are members of ECOWAS, whose rules on free movement make it easier for organisations and professionals to work across West African borders.

The organisation has not said whether it plans to introduce OneDelegate or its other programmes in Sierra Leone, or which countries may follow.

For a development organisation founded in Adamawa, registering in another country is a significant milestone. Many local groups in the Northeast operate only within their state, relying on international NGOs for regional reach.

Bincike’s challenge now will be to show that a model built around local data and local problems in Yola can travel. Its Sierra Leone entity gives it the legal footing to try. Its results there will show whether an Adamawa organisation can become a genuinely regional player.

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Recommend Story 0 Share: About the author Vangawa Bolgent Editor-in-Chief Abuja, Nigeria

Vangawa Bolgent Editor-in-Chief & Journalist | The Gazette News Nigeria Vangawa Bolgent is a Nigerian journalist, editor, and human-centred storyteller with more than a decade… Read full bio →

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