Kisimi Kamara (1890–1962) was a village tailor from Sierra Leone who was instrumental in promoting the Mende Kikakui script in the 1920s.
Kisimi Kamara was born in 1890 in the village of Vaama, Pujehun District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone to a Kuranko father and a Mandingo mother.
As a child Kisimi had no access to Western education, where he could have learned English.
[2] Kamara adjusted and developed the script further with help from his brothers, adding more than 150 other syllabic characters.
He popularized the script, travelling widely in Mendeland and becoming a well-known figure, eventually establishing himself as one of the most important chiefs in southern Sierra Leone in the mid 20th century.