Idris Elba recently shared some big plans for his mother and father’s homeland of Ghana and Sierra Leone. The British actor told CNN that he wants to build a “smart eco-city” on Sherbro Island, located near Sierra Leone in West Africa. Elba said the revamped eco-friendly island, which will provide power to residents using wind and solar, will also make tourism more attractive.
“At some junction, my business partner Siaka Stevens, who is the grandson of the former president [of the same name who served from 1971 to 1985], said: ‘Look, someone needs to cultivate Sherbro Island for tourism.’ That was seven years ago,” Elba told CNN. “Where we are now is that we partnered with the government to figure out a plan of how we can bring in tourism. Well, it started as tourism – now we’re building a smart, eco dynamic city.”