00:00:20 – 00:00:31
This is Liberia. After 14 years of war it is one of the poorest countries in the world, but there has been peace now for 10 years and many are coming home to rebuild a once failed state.

00:00:46 – 00:01:28
Basically, the African Development Bank is funding 7 different irrigation projects in Liberia and we are bidding on one of them. We bid 3 out of 7, last week we came in second place by $30,000, the one you went to we won and the other thing is technical
My partner is a civil engineer, London educated. I worked with the Department of Transportation so on the technical part we have a good chance. But this is Africa, or this is Liberia, so...

00:01:29 – 00:01:35
Andrick is a project engineer and partner at Walker Robinson International in Liberia. He grew up in the United States.

00:01:35 – 00:01:54
One bid was for a Central Bank parking lot. I was still in the US but I had a Liberian partner that was doing the demolition. So we actually won the bid on paper but it was taken away from us because of politics.

00:01:56 – 00:02:10
So, actually... and how I partnered up with Norman was because I had no job. I came here, because I won that project and when I got here I found out the Liberian way.

00:02:13 – 00:03:25
Before the bidding process started, it was promised to a particular company, for favors. So, that's just it. It was frustrating. I wanted to back out but I spent my whole life wanting to come back home and build. I’m a writer, I'm a musician but I took up civil engineering at the time the country was in turmoil. So I spent most of my time educating myself to come and do something. Not that I, I enjoy engineering but I would have taken up English or social work or something, not engineering, you know. I spent most of my savings in the preparation, the moving and everything. Because again, I was coming to a job, and not a job as I was going to work for somebody. It was something that I own. There would be profit at the end of the day, whereas in the US you know you have your salary, you have your bonuses and things. This was...I'm a contractor finally in my own land. So maybe I could have planned better, it was out of ignorance, but I survived, you know, I made it.

00:03:27 – 00:03:44
Liberians are leaving the West to seek opportunities back home. They bring along education and experience, their international networks and capital. Those that stayed behind during the war don't seem fit to compete. But coming home is not always easy. Liberia is a challenging place

00:03:52 – 00:04:30
They nearly, armed robbers they attacked me one night. They took my laptop and I had to come here to look for a place. When I got the place here, they robbed me. They took my money and ran away, so I had to come here and say give me the garage. I said okay, don't worry. I came here for something. I took the garage, I transformed the garage, I put the bathroom, everything in the garage and I built the front. Because I believe that what I'm going to do, I will do it. But then, my wife came. You know it's difficult when you are coming from the UK, you can find yourself in this thing.

00:04:32 – 00:04:38
It’s about I think 9 to 10 months now. We started in November last year.

00:04:38 – 00:04:40
How did you learn it?

00:04:41 – 00:04:51
Oh, actually... we taught ourselves how to do it. You need to have the passion, isn't it?
If you don't have passion you can't do this because it's hard.

00:04:57 – 00:05:21
Mr. and Mrs. Hughes problem is not passion. Their problem is access to finance. A loan of more than $500 is hard to come by and those fortunate enough face tough conditions and interest rates of 15-20%. With all ingredients produced locally, Harvest Herbal Soap is one of few truly Liberian products but in the markets it has to compete against cheap chemical soap imported from China.

00:05:25 – 00:05:32
In the same part of Monrovia Mr. Ketter runs Security Equipment and Logistics, a private security company.

00:05:35 – 00:06:34
When the Taylor regime came in to play... you know from talking to people on the ground and seeing the situation on the ground, I felt like it was my duty, or I felt obligated, you know to come to Liberia to help, to turn things around. So I made the attempt to come in as a presidential candidate, but later when I arrived in Africa, in Ghana the whole plan was changed, because that election for that year was canceled. And they canceled the election only to setup an interim government, or transitional government, which I also contested... for the leadership of the transitional government. I didn't win the election, so I decided to come to Liberia and do something else that I could do to make whatever contribution I could make, which was in the security area and that's where I'm at today

00:06:37 – 00:06:43
Mr. Ketter had left Liberia long before the war along with many other "Congos", the descendant of freed slaves.

00:06:45 – 00:07:08
I didn't leave because of the war, we left because of the coup. My mother's boyfriend at the time, my younger brother's father, was one of the men that Doe - the eight men that Doe tied up and assassinated after the President was killed. So, we left.

00:07:11 – 00:07:37
Last year was my first time coming back to Liberia. I came back pursuing a bid. And what I learned we ended up loosing it to "CHICO, or "CICO". CICO got it for $165 million, the project is more than $165 million, the project is more like $190 but if you read the Liberian newspaper you see CICO is now having labor issues with the Liberian government.

00:07:38 – 00:08:17
The internationals aren't competition because nobody... and this is the truth, very few law-abiding companies are interested in doing business in Liberia. If it is not extractive business, if that makes sense. Because of the corruption, because there is no real transparency, because you really don't know why you win or lose outside of if it's World Bank, African Development Bank, you know where there is a mechanism already in place for some form of transparency.

00:08:18 – 00:08:20
Is there a Liberian way of doing business?

00:08:21 – 00:08:21
Yeah

00:08:22 – 00:08:23
What does it look like?

00:08:24 – 00:08:29
What is it... the Liberian way of doing business is you definitely pay to play.

00:08:45 – 00:08:56
Approximately now I have about 45 employees. And I have not been open for a long time, but I have 45 steady employees, and it's steadily growing

00:08:57 – 00:09:26
The highest paid employee I have now makes about $100 a month. And he has the rank of a lieutenant colonel. The lowest employee makes $60 because that's where we start. Some of them are ex-military a few of them are ex-fighters well, but they are just all integrated because some people didn't have any security experience when they started working and then we trained them.

00:09:28 – 00:09:45
We want to still expand the private investigation aspect of our company because… maybe in the near future you will have lot of private investigation firms right now there is no competition. And the demand is very high.

00:09:46 – 00:10:08
You have a lot of expatriates and people coming back from the States and Europe and other countries. They have been there for 15-20 years during the duration of the war and these people own property in Liberia and own valuables. And a lot of times I run into these people. They know, or they have heard that own property somewhere and they cannot locate it, they don't know where to begin.

00:10:14 – 00:10:18
Even after 10 years of peace, security in Liberia remains a big concern.

00:10:22 – 00:10:36
There are still 8,000 UN military and police personnel in the country. The United Nations Mission in Liberia is helping to build the capacity of the local security forces, so these can take over more responsibilities in the future.

00:10:37 – 00:10:58
Liberians seem to be a peaceful people but the wars cost 400,000 lives and atrocities were committed on all sides. The International Criminal Court recently sentenced former president Charles Taylor for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended banning president Johnson-Sirleaf from holding public office.

00:10:59 – 00:11:08
She remains in power and in 2011 awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The security situation does not only depend on UN troop presence.

00:11:12 – 00:11:17
Some minor crimes sometimes, some crimes but mostly everything was okay.

00:11:23 – 00:11:38
Liberia seems safe during the day but thousands of trained fighters are out of work. Only 5% of the population is formally employed, leaving the rest to hustle, to live from day to day in a struggle to survive. Liberian nights can be dangerous.

00:11:40 – 00:12:03
The major problem, or the major threat we have with the night shift, sometimes there are armed robbers. They are in gangs, in groups sometimes 5, 6, 7, sometimes 10 or 15. And these guys are armed with AK47s and pistols and whatnot, so they come to various areas where they can get anything valuable and they just go in there and take what they want.

00:12:04 – 00:12:14
My securities have reported that on a number of occasions they see armed robbers walking around, passing around. They call the police, but the police most of the time they are slow to respond.
00:12:15 – 00:12:22
Yes, it's still a problem. Armed robbery is still a problem. They are isolated incidences but they are still a problem.

00:12:25 – 00:12:31
The local police is taking over responsibilities from the UN but wages are low and corruption is epidemic.

00:12:41 – 00:12:55
Everybody starts to talk about the UN, you know, pulling out, that they will be reducing their troops. Eventually Liberians will have to be responsible to maintain their own security.

00:12:56 – 00:12:58
Do you think that will create opportunities for you?

00:12:59 – 00:13:16
Yes, it will create opportunities for everybody in the private security area, because that is where we will have to take on more responsibility. Police will not have the manpower to deal with all aspects of security so they will depend on the private security to fill in the void.


00:13:17 – 00:13:41
Whereby now, because the UN is here the police has time to do other work but when the UN is not here the police and the AFL will take on the prime responsibility of security in the country. And then you can have the private security doing most of what the police is doing now. You know community policing and things like that. Private security will probably be doing that.

00:13:57 – 00:14:11
The UN is a major economic factor and big employer in Liberia. The economy is otherwise mostly resource based. Rubber, timber, iron ore and palm oil attract foreign investment in the billions. But only few jobs have been created.

00:14:15 – 00:14:37
The first thing that you need for any kind of stability is a middle class. There's no middle class here, there's no means of creating a middle class, there's no discussion or talk about creating a middle class. So, what happens when UNMIL leaves, what happens when all these NGOs leave? The present small middle class that's making a good living off of them is gone.

00:14:38 – 00:14:43
Because you have not created enough work for a lot of people to sustain those businesses.


00:14:49 – 00:14:56
There are so many emerging sectors but one primary sector that I would look at is the agricultural sector.

00:14:57 – 00:15:14
Yeah, because we have the land we have the soil and we have everything that it takes to be successful in agriculture. Even when it comes to the species for those that want to go into animal farming people who want to go into fishery. I mean, people who want to go into crops production.

00:15:15 – 00:15:29
There are so many, from the aquatic end to cash crops and vegetables. We have what it takes to be successful in agriculture because food security now worldwide is a major concern.

00:15:30 – 00:15:40
Even in the sub-region if Liberia is committed to invest into agriculture you can supply Liberia, you can export and even you can supply the international market.

00:15:42 – 00:16:00
Marcus Zarway runs a business service and entrepreneurship development center at the university of Liberia. He trains aspiring entrepreneurs together with two Dutch organizations SPARK and the BiD Network. At one of their events, I met Kpoto, a university student who recently started a farm near Monrovia

00:16:04 – 00:16:07
You know Liberia is a post war country.

00:16:08 – 00:16:26
For now, you will find out that almost everybody from here to there...there is no food. So the only way we can alleviate some of these problems...we cannot keep on dwelling on the subsistence farming, we have to step into the commercial farming. That will help us.

00:16:27 – 00:16:42
Because only if we could produce for the citizens we don't have to rely on other people to import food into our country. Unless Liberia... in Liberia we do not find ourselves in such a society for government to step in you know in helping farmers.

00:16:43 – 00:16:48
That is one of the main reasons you will find out that most of the farmers in Africa or in Liberia are very poor.

00:16:49 – 00:17:02
Because they don't have the opportunity to get such assistance from government. There are no subsidies for farmers in Liberia.

00:17:03 – 00:17:25
One of the difficult aspects for us young people ...to see young men like us in the farming field... especially sometimes we get on campus somebody asks you what course are you doing...probably you tell somebody "I am a farmer" people may just think you are going to the bush.

00:17:26 – 00:17:33
And from our own perspective or from our own point of view, farming does not go in that line

00:17:33 – 00:17:51
In other countries, farmers are highly respected. They are people respected in the society. They are people that in fact live a first class level. These are rich people. But in Liberia people look down on farmers, they are bush people.

00:17:55 – 00:18:08
Not far from Kpoto, Mrs. Urey runs a farm. But they are world's apart. Farm is the biggest life-stock and vegetable farm in the country. It features a resort with swimming pool and the Ureys personal residence.

00:18:13 – 00:18:31
I can tell you... I don't know what the others are saying we had to do a lot of downsizing. Because I can tell you, there are times when I have to use my personal funds you know, to lend to the farm.

00:18:33 – 00:18:39
We don't even bother to go for financing and funding. We just have to make due with what we have.

00:18:42 – 00:18:51
The chairman of the company, Mr. Urey is said to be one of the richest men in the country. He is also suspected of acting as Charles Taylor's money handler during the war.

00:18:56 – 00:19:11
I got this dream... my field is actually I.T. information technology, but I got this from living in southern Africa, because most people live on their farms in southern Africa. So that's where I got that idea from.

00:19:15 – 00:19:24
Yes, during the war most of my time was spent around Africa. I was responsible for many countries in Africa so I traveled a lot.

00:19:25 – 00:19:33
The farm surely has seen better days. Production runs at a minimum and it seems as if most of the produce is in fact consumed by guests at the resort.


00:19:35 – 00:19:39
I don't know why we have never been an entrepreneurial people.

00:19:40 – 00:20:02
We've never been –we’ve have basically worked for government and so I think ... the next generation, the generation right after us that is going to be willing to just make that move. I think we are a bit skeptical at present about doing that.

00:20:03 – 00:20:13
Still, many Liberians aspire to work for government. It is a promising way out of poverty. The political landscape though is highly fragmented and potential for violence remains.

00:20:16 – 00:20:30
It's a political power struggle, and usually...it's expected you know, but more to that I think the representatives of the people should really be in touch with the people.

00:20:31 – 00:20:53
And let them know the real true state of affairs of the country because if it's just the regular common, average Liberian they don't really care about what's going on in the congress in the house or whatnot. The only thing they want to know is that their family is secure that their children go to good schools they get good education and they can sleep in peace at night. They want to know that at the end of the day they will have food to eat.

00:20:53 – 00:21:06
And that's all they are concerned with. But then you have people who have political ambition who go out there and tell people well things are not secure, things could be better things could be this way, and they don't have any idea of how they are going to do it.


00:21:11 – 00:21:24
Liberia is looted from all sides. Corrupt officials, foreign corporations, religious institutions and greedy individuals. Everyone wants to get a share of the nation's wealth and the average Liberian gets left behind.

00:21:30 – 00:21:45
There are some opportunities but there is a lot of room for improvement, there could be more opportunities and we are the ones that make the opportunities available, if we start to look at the whole community rather than just looking at ourselves.

00:21:45 – 00:21:57
You will see that there is a lot of opportunities but a lot of times people look at themselves to, you know, they want to be financially secure and then they can start to look at other people, but then...how long will that take?

00:21:58 - 00:22:09
It might take a whole lifetime, you know, for me I'm not financially secure but as I am trying to get financially secure I try to bring up other people along with me.

00:22:20 – 00:22:28
What is your vision? You said you want to employ as many Liberians as possible. What would you do different about their status or situation?

00:22:28 – 00:22:32
Oh, the pay. The pay, man.

00:22:35 – 00:22:36
You have to pay people, people have to be able to live.

00:22:37 – 00:22:48
It cost me $20,000 to build my house so for $23,000 I have a 3,000 square foot house and the only thing I have to pay for is energy.

00:22:49 – 00:22:53
You understand, so how much money does a person really need?

00:22:54 – 00:23:01
You understand? So if I have a company and I'm doing good, why can't I give to other people? Why can't they do good too for their own families?

00:23:02 – 00:23:11
You know, you got incentives for your children, for your employees children.. as far as school...you know, a college education…

00:23:12 – 00:23:22
a good college education in Liberia is $600-$700 a year tuition… $600-$700 a year tuition.

00:23:23 – 00:23:37
I know people who drink from just casually moving around, they don't drink themselves, but- but they are buying for other people casually drink $600 or $700 a week.

00:23:39 – 00:23:46
So if you have an employee and they are doing well, why can't you have scholarships for their kids to go to college?

00:23:47 – 00:23:54
For school... for high school it's maybe $100...What's a hundred dollars?

00:23:57 – 00:23:59
You know...so that's what I would do different.