Designing for
Belonging

Building the science of opportunity design — how to structure culture, incentives, institutions, and infrastructure so that people in constrained settings can innovate, discover, and build for their communities.

Knowledge / Impact / Scale

We start from what people actually know and have lived — not from what has been imposed on them. We build knowledge from that ground, rigorously, because we owe our communities accuracy.

Then we make sure that knowledge doesn't stay in journals. It becomes how people actually live. Lived experience becomes rigorous inquiry, rigorous inquiry becomes real impact, and impact returns to the lives it came from — transformed.

The sacred text is lived experience. The method is rigorous inquiry. The congregation is everyone who believes you can build from truth rather than from power.

We are children of this world, just like everyone else.

Thesis

Development is a spiral,
not a line

Growth is not linear — ever climbing upward, singularly, with no reference to past, present, future, or who is beside, below, or above you. It is concentric. A spiral.

Sierra Leone in 2026 occupies the same angular position on the spiral that the United States did during its industrial awakening — and vice versa: the United States in 2026, with its almost tribal political divisions, sits at the same position as Sierra Leone now. The radius is different. The phase is the same.

At every turn, the same human needs: the desire to belong, to build something for your people, to experiment without fear, to have your curiosity taken seriously. Patriotism, pride, community — these aren't soft variables. They are the deepest infrastructure of economic development.

The Spiral

Same phase,
different radius

Economies at different scales pass through the same phases at different moments. Smart intervention recognises the phase, not the radius.

Operating System

Knowledge / Impact / Scale

Knowledge

Rigorous field ethnography and experiments that advance theory on innovation governance and opportunity design in constrained settings.

Impact

Beyond the study site. Community partnerships, national adoption, regional rollout, continental institutions. The research becomes the program.

Scale

The trajectory of handwashing, cash transfers, behavioural economics. Ideas that started as research and became how the world works.

Portfolio

Six experiments, one question

What happens when you design for cultivation instead of extraction — when you build the culture, context, and scaffolding for people to flourish?

01

Innovation Architecture

Contextual infrastructure for SMEs to innovate
In field

Knowledge

RCT with AIDE in Sierra Leone. Learning architecture vs competition. Tests Manso (2011) + Edmondson (1999).
DreamTop-5 publication. The Bloom et al. (2013) of innovation policy.

Impact

Pilot in Bo / Freetown. SLOIC extension. Implementation manual complete.
DreamSME innovation zones across multiple countries. Y Combinator meets SEZ meets industrial hubs.

Scale

IGC partnership developing.
Dream"Innovation practices" enters the vocabulary the way microfinance did.
02

Freedom Grants

Sparking ambition in African science through trust-based funding
In field

Knowledge

Embedded experiment at AFC 2026. Does unrestricted funding change who applies and what they propose? DCE on the dollar value of autonomy.
DreamAER paper. The Azoulay et al. (2011) for the Global South.

Impact

Conference organised. Reviewer infrastructure built.
DreamAfrican research councils adopt trust-based funding tracks.

Scale

AFC becoming annual.
DreamGlobal science funding shifts toward trust-based models.
03

Valley of Death

Innovating for food security by bridging the science-market gap
In field

Knowledge

Both-sides survey at AFSTA 2026. Mapping misalignment between plant science and seed company needs.
DreamNature / Science paper redefining agricultural technology transfer.

Impact

Survey deployed across Africa. French translation complete.
DreamIntegrated African seed markets. Permanent demand signal channel.

Scale

AFSTA network engaged.
Dream$5B+ in annual agricultural R&D flowing more effectively. Food security measurably improved.
04

Speed of Science

Maximising the speed and impact of African scientific research at scale
Design

Knowledge

With African Academy of Sciences. Principal-agent misalignment in grant management.
DreamRedefines the "missing middle" — governance friction, not funding gaps.

Impact

Framework in development.
DreamAAS / Wellcome / IDRC redesign post-award support. "Grant velocity" as standard metric.

Scale

Early conversations.
DreamExisting money works. Output rises because friction falls.
05

Mispriced Ventures

Increasing accuracy in non-familiar venture evaluation
Analysis

Knowledge

How analogies in pitches shape evaluation. When do they help vs hurt?
DreamManagement Science paper. "Analogical bias" as recognised evaluation failure.

Impact

Analysis underway.
DreamA fund investing where pattern bias creates mispricing. Foundational businesses — funded.

Scale

Multi-country data.
DreamEvaluators globally trained to distinguish unfamiliarity from poor quality.
06

Belonging Builds Economies

Culturally anchored entrepreneurship for durable ventures and economies
Pilot

Knowledge

RCT embedded in Cotton Tree restoration. Cultural anchoring as catalyst for economic agency.
DreamTop journal: cultural anchoring causally increases entrepreneurial durability. Belonging gets empirical foundation.

Impact

Restoration underway. Local partners engaged.
DreamCultural entrepreneurship programs across the continent and beyond. Heritage as development infrastructure.

Scale

Implementation designed.
Dream"Culturally anchored entrepreneurship" as a recognised field. 10+ city network.
The People
'Leke Jegede
Co-founder

Institutional architecture, opportunity design, field experiments. Lagos-born, Freetown-raised. USL / LSE / HBS.

Vernon Hastings-Spaine
Co-founder

Cotton Tree restoration, heritage programming, culturally anchored entrepreneurship. Founder/Principal, Object Do. USL.

Hilary Mahar
Co-founder

Media, global partnerships, adoption strategy. Former Director of Innovation, Microsoft.