The National Congress of British West Africa was founded in 1920 by Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford of Gold Coast (Ghana) and Dr Akinwande Savage of Nigeria. It was founded as a political organization representing the interests of the educated elite in the British West African colonies. Although the organisation included representatives from other British West African colonies such as Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Gambia, the founding meeting and much of its initial leadership were based in the Gold Coast.