What has been your professional background before taking up the chairmanship of the NIC?
I have worked in the business environment. I had an accountant firm in America; my first profession is accountant. I got my undergraduate degree in accounting and I worked over six years for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA, as fiscal officer. After working with the State of Massachusetts, I decided to go to graduate school and during my time at graduate school, I decided to expand my horizons by being a teacher. I started being a business teacher in High School, the public schools in Providence, Rhode Island, the smallest state in the union, in the North Eastern part of the US. I taught there for over five years, and at the same time running my accountant firm, doing taxes. I decided to go pursue my doctorate in Human Resources Management. So, my last professional job before coming to Liberia to join my colleagues in reshaping the economic destiny of our country was being a teacher, and presently I am also a lecturer at the University of Liberia, in the College of Business and Public Administration. I have worked both as an entrepreneur, starting my own business, and being a teacher for public schools. Therefore I have covered all areas before joining the Government to work as Chairman of the National Investment Commission.
What brought you back to the country?
Basically, Liberia is our country, and we cannot look at our country from the spectacles that problems that have developed in our country are from the past, but rather, we all Liberians have a part to play, in ensuring that we can help to make our country better. At this time of national reconstruction, Liberia is in dire need of those who are educated to come and help to shape the destiny of our country. We have a perfect opportunity now, especially after seven years of war, where most of our institutions are destroyed; there is a need for all talents to come back and see how we can develop the country and set a course not only for us but for our posterity, that they can say yes our fathers and our fore fathers laid the foundation that we can enjoy today, and this is why I was willing to come back home, to make my contribution, to be remembered by the historians as part of the process.
So you are advising Liberians to go back to their country and work for the future?
We are encouraging Liberians, those who are prepared to contribute - meaningfully - to come home and join us in rebuilding the economy of our country.
Could you please give us a brief historical background of this institution, what were the main reasons for its creation and what have been its most significant achievements?
The NIC was created by an act of the national legislature in 1979, and I am the seventh chairman of this commission. The basic function of this commission is to encourage investors and to promote investment activities in the Republic of Liberia. Prior to us taking over the leadership of this commission, there was a tendency for some agencies of Government and Ministries to usurp the function of the NIC. As a result, it created bottlenecks for prospective investors that were coming in our country. These investors had to go from one agency of government to another, and at the end of the day they felt very reluctant, and had to go back. So when we took over this commission we introduced what is known as the "one stop shopping place" for all investment activities. That means prospective investors coming into our country do not need to go from one Ministry or agency of government to another. All they have to do is come directly to the NIC and we work directly with them by ensuring that all licenses, permits and certificates that are needed by these prospective investors to enhance the productivity of their investment are taken cared of speedily. Again, prior to us taking over the leadership, it took prospective investors one or two months to process all of these papers, but since we took over the leadership of the NIC, we have done it expeditiously and it takes between seven to fourteen days for them to process all of the documents, receive the required permits, incentives to be able to operate smoothly, without any form of hindrance.
What makes Liberia a unique destination for doing business and attracting investment as compared with other West African countries?
Liberia is one of the few countries after a war where you have an enabling environment. That means you can move about freely, I do not have to tell you, you have been here for probably a week or so and you can move about, go anywhere, stay out as late as you want to, and there is no restrictions to your travels in Liberia. Secondly, the enabling environment that our government has created shows that no business in our country can ever be nationalized. Once a business is a legitimate business registered by the government, the business is and remains legitimate.
And what makes it even better to invest in our economy, unlike neighboring countries, there is a free flow of capital. If you invest your money here, and have a hundred million dollars, there are no restrictions; you can take out your hundred million dollars through the port of entrance or the port of exit in our country. You do not have to declare your dividends to anybody, you can take away your money, and that is not done in most countries in our region. Liberia is one of the few countries. Another element that we do provide, is incentives, in the form of tax breaks. For example you want to build a factory, we give you up to 100% tax exemption on your machineries and spare parts for up to five or ten years, depending on the circumstances. We provide long-term leases for land because Liberia is a very unique country in the sense that only people of Negro descent can own land, but even at that we have means by which those who are not Negroes or those who are not of Negro descent can lease land for a longer period of time. We can lease land to you for 20 years, 25 years, with the option to renew for another 25 years. We make exception to few cases when the investor intends to invest huge sum of money, we give him corporate breaks, you do not have to pay corporate income tax for several years until you can recover your initial investment, and even now we have worked on a revised code that is now pending before our national legislature for ratification and we are providing incentives, more incentives to those who are willing to start their investment outside the capital city, in the counties to provide jobs opportunities to the people in those areas. So, if we have given you 80% or 90% tax exemption on machineries, maybe someone who agrees to invest in another political subdivision of the country we provide more incentives for that person, as a means of encouraging that person to go and create jobs for the people that live outside of Monrovia. These are encouraging signs, and quite recently, our government initiated a policy that is known as the Strategic Windows Investment Policy. This replaces what we used to refer to as the "Open door policy". The Open door policy did not provide incentives for Liberian entrepreneurs, so now we are trying to encourage Liberians to become entrepreneurs, through the Strategic Windows Investment Policy, that any investment that would be placed in our country, Liberians should have the opportunity to own share, minimum 25% share. That is a means of encouraging Liberians to become business people and entrepreneurs. Also, through this Strategic Windows Investment Policy, every investment is stratified. If you are coming to invest ten million dollars, your incentives would be different from one who is coming to invest two million dollars or one million dollars. We can not provide you with the same incentives that are provided to an investor who is investing less than one million dollar. Stratification in our investment will be done through this Strategic Windows Investment Policy.
Could you elaborate on the joint-venture policies?
The issue of joint ventures is covered especially through our Strategic Windows Investment Policy. Foreign investors can own up to 75% of the investment he wants to bring in, even 80%. But what we are encouraging initially is that you must allocate up to 25% for Liberian participation into the business. We are not saying that you are forced, you are not forced, but it is a way of encouragement for the foreign investors. It is advantageous for the foreign investor because if you are investing in a foreign country, and you have nationals of that country participating, they have a stake in it, they will ensure that this particular business is successful. Unlike just bringing your money and not have someone from that country participating into the investment.
How successful have you been in attracting foreign investment?
We have been very successful from the standpoint that our country just graduated from seven years of war. After any war, there is a tendency for people to be afraid to come and invest in a country that experienced such calamity. However, we make it clear to them that Liberia, unlike other countries, provides an enabling environment. Liberians are very hospitable people, we have a very cheap labor compared with other countries in our region, and we have skilled manpower in our country. So these are things I would say to foreign investors and not forgetting the untapped resources that we have in our country, and prospective investors have been very responsive. If you visit Buchanan, you will see one of the biggest companies operating presently in Liberia, the Oriental Timber Corporation; we have other companies in other parts of the country, into logging, into all sectors of our economy. We have the Freedom Gold, an American owned company; we just signed the agreement and they are going to put in millions and millions of dollars that will create a multitude of jobs for our people. All in all, the economy is moving gradually, although there is a tendency for people to want things to happen instantaneously but it is a gradual process. We are not looking at quantity, but quality. The type of investors that would come in, and be long lasting, and would provide the kind of environment we need for our citizens. We do not want investors coming in and giving our citizens peanuts, we want equitable distribution of the wealth that they are getting from our country, to enable our citizens to have a better living standard for themselves and for their children. | President Taylor just declared after his visit to France on his press statement, "Liberians have to experience patience". Would you say that foreign investors have also to experience patience?
Yes, we expect foreign investors to exercise patience for one thing, they might expect things to move very fast, but it takes time because they have to remember most of our people have been unemployed for a long period of time, and they have to help to retrain the people; that is part of patience, they have to retrain especially now that technology has changed and continues to change on a daily basis. If you are bringing in sophisticated equipment, you do not expect someone who has not work for 3 years, 4 years or 7 years or who has not been privileged to use that kind of technology to just come and start using the technology. So the patience comes in whereby you have to retrain the work force to be able to use the kind of technology that you have provided.
You mentioned the fact that Liberia has an untapped potential. However, in which precise sector would you like to attract foreign investors?
For now, all sectors are important in our economy, but initially the agro-based sector is not too capital intensive, and that is the sector I would like to see people coming more and more into. The mining sector is a sector that we try to encourage but you know as well as I do, that it is very capital intensive. It takes a longer time for growth in that particular sector. But in the agro-based sector, you will create mass employment for the people, the capital will be limited; therefore, we try to encourage people to go in the agro-based sector. The Tourism industry, I think as you move around in our country, there is a need for Tourism. We have fine beaches, about 350 miles of coastal line that has been untapped and Liberia could be the tourist industry of Africa, because we can rebuild this place that would promote Tourism. When you go across the bridge of Monrovia, you see a vast area that stands to be developed. We want to encourage people in the Tourism industry to come here. Even in the Health industry, the Educational sector, all of these sectors are sectors that we try to encourage people to come in, the Telecommunications and Energy sectors as well. These are sectors where, when people come in and begin to operate, it will bring quick economic growth.
As you mentioned at the beginning of the interview, the NIC has been created to encourage as well as to promote investment opportunities in Liberia. What measures have been taken in that respect, particularly from the promotional point of view?
We do have a brochure informing prospective investors about the vast opportunities that exist in our country. NIC was placed on the Internet; we are accessible to the world on the Internet, we have an e-mail, but these are all merchandising news to mobilize investment resources for our country. As chairman I traveled extensively, I just came back from South Africa; I have been to Europe on numerous occasions. My new frontier now is to go to Asia, where we can best encourage Asian investors to come and capitalize on investment opportunities that we have here. In a sense we are trying to follow globalization, and through globalization, technology is very important. We get ourselves on the Internet, e-mails, and even though at time it is difficult because we have our own constraints. I think you can see the lack of constant flow of electricity, it makes it difficult at times but we do our best to reach out to the wider world for them to know the vast opportunities that Liberia provides in terms of investment opportunities.
Asian countries have always had a significant role in Liberia. In which areas do you think their experience would be most valuable to Liberia?
We are looking more at fisheries. There is a need for companies to come from Asia that are into the fishing industry. We need people that are into sugar making, they could build a sugar plant here, we had one here before; it was run by the Japanese.
We want them to come and look into forestry, the logging industry among other sectors. Tourism also, you know most Asian countries are very good at promoting tourism, and the kind of cordiality that they have, we want them to bring that here and blend it with our own cordiality.
I would like to tackle one question, which is the privatization issue. When do you expect the privatization process to be enhanced and implemented?
I am a very strong supporter of privatization in our government and this society, because I strongly believe that monopoly is a distortion and through privatization we will be able to get the best from investors. A government, as you know, is too bureaucratic, it cannot provide the kind of services that the consumers need. Through privatization, consumers will get the kind of services that they need, and in our drive to push for privatization, the Government started the Venture Capital Scheme. That is for us to empower our own people to start their businesses, providing them with loans; through that, they will be empowered and some of these parastatals that are not very functional, can get into joint ventures with foreign investors and run them successfully. So privatization is something that we are looking forward to, but you know privatization has many steps. The privatization Act has to be passed, which of course the Government is working on, and in privatization there is something that we refer to as remuneration, because if you have a privatization committee, those that are on the committee will have to be paid. So these are things that will have to be worked out to make a privatization committee much more functional. We have to draw the line of its functions; it has to be almost parallel to that of the NIC and the Economic Council. These are issues that we are looking at and we believe that our Government is moving strongly towards privatization. We believe it is the way forward.
What should be the first among the 3 or 4 institutions to be privatized?
It would not be a good approach for me to start naming parastatals that should be privatized, but I think there is a need for us to look at the Energy sector, and other sectors that would be of good to the consumers, for privatization. I want to believe that there is a need for us to critically look at most of the parastatals with the hope of privatizing them.
Has Liberia discovered some oil?
Yes, we have. As we speak we completed seismic studies and there is a huge reservoir of oil in our country.
What has been your most rewarding and challenging experience as Chairman of the NIC?
Being able to develop the Venture Capital Scheme and to see that we can empower Liberians to become entrepreneurs because in all countries around the world, it is through the small and medium enterprises that empowerment can come about, and you can create a bulk of new jobs to alleviate unemployment in the society. I feel very comfortable and can point at that and say yes through the Venture Capital Scheme, ten years from now we can sit back and say, yes Liberians are going to control the economic destiny for themselves, and that they do not have to look up to expatriates to handle the economy.
What would be your message to our readers?
What I would like to tell you readers is that Liberia is indeed a free country. Liberia believes in the rule of law, Liberia is a country that continues to provide an enabling environment for foreign investment and we would like you to visit us. Our Government is committed to realism. To invest you do not have to move from one agency of Government to another, it is done through what we have established as the "One stop shopping center". Come and everything will be taken care of through the NIC and we will provide you with all opportunities that you need to invest in our country. |
NATIONAL INVESTMENT COMMISSION (NIC)