He served with the previous government of Sierra Leone headed by President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah (1996-2007) in various roles.
In 1990, Kanja Sesay founded and served as the executive director of the Association for Rural Development (ARD).
ARD is currently a leading microcredit finance institution in Sierra Leone and Kanja Sesay, following his departure from formal government service, serves as the chairman of its board of directors.
[1] He has previously served as the chairman of the executive committee of the Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (SLANGO) and a member of the board of directors of Sierra Leone Export and Investment Corporation (SLEDIC) [2] After graduating from university, he taught for several years at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School and Prince of Wales Secondary School in Freetown before launching a career in the field of development as a projects officer at Catholic Relief Services.
He also holds a certificate in Executive Management and Strategic Leadership from Templeton College, University of Oxford (2002); and a Certificate in Counter-Disaster Planning and Management jointly from the Mananga Agricultural Management Centre in Swaziland and the Disaster Preparedness Centre, Royal Military College of Science in Cranfield, England (1988).