LEAD clients: The story of Mr. Kollie

Last Thursday I sat down at Daniel Weetol’s desk at the LEAD Bong County office, across from Anthony Kollie. Mr. Kollie is a LEAD client, and had come for an interview in order to participate in a new mentoring project being set up between LEAD and Partners Worldwide. Mr. Kollie owns and runs a medicine store (pharmacy) on the outskirts of Gbarnga.

I had stopped by his business that morning with Daniel, and there had been a backup of customers waiting not just for their prescriptions, but for the chance to talk briefly with Mr. Kollie, about their ailments and the best medicine and so forth. So we arranged that when Mr. Kollie’s wife arrived in the late afternoon, to relieve him from his shift, he would come by the office so I could sit and talk with him awhile.

Before we left the store, Daniel had walked me around to the back of the store. On the wall facing the main road “Determined Medical Store” had been painted in huge, dancing script, onto a white wall. It was surrounded by paintings of gigantic, colorful pills, floating around the words. Behind the small building, the foundation for the clinic had been laid, and the flattened land was punctuated by huge piles of grey cement blocks. This is the beginnings of a clinic, which is being built from the profits of the pharmacy.

What’s so special about Mr. Kollie is how he combines business and mission. Mr. Kollie is a real entrepreneur, seeing opportunities to expanding his business, employ more people and serve the community at the same time. He is quick to point to LEAD’s training as instrumental in allowing him to bring his business to the next level.

“When my wife and I heard that LEAD was in the business of helping business owners to become their own entrepreneurs, we became interested and joined LEAD and were trained for six months. And from that point on, through LEAD, we have grown so much more. Because the idea that I have now for my business, it was not there when I first started. Because it was business as usual… buy goods, sell them… that’s all. But now, I know how to analyze my own information. I’m able to know when to buy and how to buy, and when to establish what I want to do and all that. So the planning aspect has developed because LEAD trained me to do so.”

Mr. Kollie and his wife started their business from scratch, following the war. He and his wife and children had been displaced during the war, and were finally able to move back to Gbarnga, capital of Bong County, in 2005. At that time, Mr. Kollie and his wife dreamed of going into business because they owned land, and wanted to be self-employed. “The land we have now is truly ours. It is not something we are leasing or borrowing from someone. My parents acquired it, and they gave it to me, so that I could develop it… and the only dream I had was to put something there, to make them feel proud of me. So I chose a medicine store, because I’m a medical professional.”

Determined Medical Store officially opened for business on April 27, 2007, and eight months later Mr. Kollie and his wife joined LEAD. After completing the training, Mr. Kollie took a loan from LEAD. “And that loan, I promised to LEAD in my business plan, would be used towards our dream to not just continue as a medicine store. Because we envision helping other people to have work. And we want to expand our facility in a way that will be more useful to the community than just taking cash in exchange for goods. We wanted to put our profession to work. And this was all part of the decision to expand to a bigger level.”

As the clinic is being built, Mr. Kollie’s has been approval by the county medical director to operate a fully licensed clinic, and he has also contracted a doctor from Phebe Hospital – located just outside Gbarnga, where both Mr. Kollie and his wife were trained as nurses – to come and work in the clinic for the first year. After the clinic is operational, Mr. Kollie plans to go back to school himself, to become a physician’s assistant, or perhaps even a doctor.

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As I have worked at LEAD the last five months, I have met hundreds of clients. I have been to graduations and loan disbursements and helped out with a number of the trainings. Most of my work has largely been based in the office, focusing on the February conference, getting LEAD’s new website up and running (which you can visit here), computer training with the staff and a bunch of other projects. But the stories of our clients, those are the heart and soul of the work. LEAD can have a tremendous impact on the businesses of our clients. When I have the privilege of spending an hour someone like Mr. Kollie, who has been able to take the opportunities around him and generate a profitable business which is impacting his family, his employees, and his community, it is a humbling and inspiring experience.

Every time I attend a LEAD graduation, which is about once a month or so, I am listed in the program under “Remarks.” I remember when Renita Reed gave me a headsup about this, my second day in Liberia and moments before the Grand Bassa County NEI graduation ceremony began… “Oh, just so you know, you’ll be expected to give remarks. Just say… whatever you are inspired to say.”

I’ve got my graduation remarks a little more organized now than they were on that day... And what I end up saying is, first of all, that I want to offer encouragement to each of them, our clients, as they develop their businesses. The work they are doing is very important, not just for their own families and their employees, but also for Liberia, for the economy of their country as it continues to recover from the war.

And then I get to bring them greetings from North America, and tell them how many folks back home are on their team, rooting for them... from the staff and donor network of Partners Worldwide, to LEAD North American, a partner of LEAD since it was founded in 2005, and finally all the friends, family and communities who have supported LEAD through supporting me.

LEAD currently has about 800 clients in 3 of Liberia’s 15 counties, with a 4th county being added next month. We have two training programs, and a third program being launched this year, focusing on agriculture. There are plenty of challenges as LEAD is growing so quickly, and tries to keep up with the tremendous need for entrepreneurship training and microfinance. But everytime I sit down with a client, to hear their story about the struggles behind them, their current joys and challenges, and their vision for the future of their business, I am reminded how important this work is, what a difference it can make.

We are in the business of empowering people like Mr. Kollie who have the vision, determination, persistence, and leadership to build up businesses that will be profitable and sustainable. It is inspiring to see that unfold, and LEAD gets to be the one walking alongside, watching it happen, cheering our clients on.