Because of the business

One of my recent projects at LEAD has been to implement a client survey to measure the impact of LEAD’s programs. The staff of LEAD has assisted in distributing and collecting these surveys, but as we try to reach our target number of surveys, I have spent an increasing amount of time in the field, helping the staff administer the survey.

I was in Grand Bassa County a couple weeks ago, surveying LEAD clients by visiting their businesses with our local Education Coordinator, Massa Kamara, when we came upon a LEAD client we hadn’t planned to run into, Mr. Matthew Smith. Because Matthew’s business is mobile: he owns and drives one of Buchanan’s few yellow cabs. Matthew pulled over to greet Massa, and before long he had consented to participate in our survey. So we sat down on broken sidewalk, side by side, and walked through the form together, me writing down the answers as he responded.

His business, named “Matthew’s Transport Service,” reports a business location of “all over town,” with a weekly revenue of $5000 LD (approx. $71 USD). In August 2008, Matthew completed LEAD’s 3-month Nehemiah Empowerment Initiative (NEI) training program, and concurrent savings program. This qualified him for a loan of $900.00 USD, which he invested into much-needed repairs on his car. Matthew also used the loan to implement the most important learning he took from LEAD’s training programs: putting himself and his two employees on a consistent salary. This has allowed Matthew to take care of himself, his two employees, and protect his business assets at the same time.

Matthew was proud of his ability to follow through on this, and said that – in contrast to his former practice of paying himself and employees intermittently from the profits of the car (more in the dry season, less in the rainy season) – the new boundaries and salaries have been good for his business, good for his employees, and good for himself and his family.

The last question on the survey is How many family members are supported in your business? This is a question that never fails to leave me humbled and amazed. Because I am meeting with business owners who are often selling what in Liberia is referred to as “small, small thing”… tables at the market with small packets of spices, peppers, bitterball, cassava… or dry goods like soap, tissue paper, pens, notebooks.

As we walk through the survey, I hear about their businesses: how much they make in a week, how many years they’ve been in business, and how their businesses did or did not survive during the war. And then we are wrapping up, and I learn that this small table at the market, or this booth of used clothing, or this small storage area selling dry cement… this business is supporting a family of 4, or 6, or 8, or sometimes 10 or 12 persons.

So Matthew tells me that in his family, they are 6. And then there are the families of his employees, perhaps another six, and another six. And suddenly this old rickety yellow cab called “Matthew’s Transport Business”, on this random side-street in Buchanan, takes on new level of meaning. 18 people having enough to eat, 18 people with proper homes to live in. A dozen kids who are in school. I am preparing to leave Liberia in a few weeks, and the impression of these families, behind the businesses, will be with me for a long time.

Liberia is a country still deeply traumatized by war, still struggling to restore basic utilities, roads, social infrastructure, schools. Yet amidst the many, many daily struggles Liberians face because of these limitations, entrepreneurship is everywhere. Markets are bustling, roads team with vendors, storefronts are stocked with rice and dry goods and clothing. It can be overwhelming… all that enterprising, all those folks buying and selling, trying to make enough for the day.

But behind all that effort and passionate selling are all the families they are supporting, all those children, all those elderly grandparents. The need to take care of our families is something all of us can relate to, a common need shared across cultures and generations, as true in Africa as it is in North America. The work of LEAD and Partners Worldwide has ripple effects – empower these entrepreneurs, and all these families get taken care of. It’s a powerful reality.

I’m looking at a beat-up yellow taxicab. But I’m seeing three happy families, including a bunch of really cute, smiling Liberian kids. And a proud business owner who’s knows why his business matters.