Local Entrepreneur Seeks Microloan

Several months ago I blogged about my friend Jonathan Saah’s internet cafe in Monrovia. Unfortunately Jonathan recently was forced to close the cafe because the location wasn’t bringing in enough customers. The high cost of generator fuel didn’t help either.

My friend John Etherton, a Georgia Tech graduate student working with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Liberia, and a fellow blogger, worked with Jonathan to develop a proposal for a loan that would allow him to re-open in a better location and connect with city electricity. The proposal is below. Please forward it to anyone who might be interested in partnering with Jonathan on this project.

(To preempt a question I suspect people will ask, Kiva.org does not yet have a microfinance partner institution in Liberia, meaning that Liberians are not able to post their small business loan requests on the site. If you know of a group in Liberia that meets the qualifications of a microfinance partner institution, listed here, let me know and I can put you in touch with the appropriate person at Kiva.org.)

Jonathan, in his old internet café.

Local Entrepreneur Seeks Microloan
By John Etherton

I’d like to introduce my dear friend Mr. Jonathan Saah. Jonathan is a local Liberian entrepreneur. After the war he saved up enough money to buy a car for use as a taxi. As Jonathan operated the taxi he earned the trust of many in the expat community. So much so, that he began to only drive expats exclusively. This was a big step forward for Jonathan’s taxi service. After a few years Jonathan was able to save up and buy a newer and more reliable car. Because of his hard work, financial wisdom, and respect for the clock, Jonathan is now able to employee another man to drive this car. Currently Jonathan’s day job is working as an IT specialist at Ecobank Liberia. However, still pursues other entrepreneurial ventures.

Jonathan was trained in computer software and networking at Universal Institute of Technology In 2001. Because of this affinity for technology Jonathan opened up an internet café in the back of his home near Newport Street, in Mamba Point, Monrovia in June 2007. The café had a 128Kbps dedicated internet connection, 3 laptops for browsing, a printer, a scanner, and a Vonage voice over IP phone. The internet café attracted many customers, but not enough to recoup the cost of the internet connection and the diesel to run the generator. Jonathan shut down café in November 2007 to prevent any further losses.

Jonathan attributes the businesses lack of success to its location. He was operating the café out of the back of his home. His home is located near the old Ministry of Youth and Sports which is 50 feet from the main road hidden behind other buildings. Thus only people who knew about the café or found out through word of mouth would come by. If the café were on the main road Jonathan believes he would receive far more customers.

To this end, Jonathan has found a vacant store front he can rent to house his café. However, the down payment for the lease is prohibitively expensive for him. Jonathan has looked into taking out a loan from a local bank but has been declined. The local financial institutions in Liberia have yet to take to the micro-lending craze. International micro-finance groups have also yet to move into Liberia. Because of this lack of resources I told Jonathan I’d make a post on my blog about his business and his need for funds. Ideally Jonathan would like a loan of $1,400.00 USD repayable in 12 month with 30% simple interest. So if loaned Jonathan $1,000.00 you’d get $1,300.00 back in 12 months.

If anyone would be interested in making a loan towards this amount to Jonathan or is aware of any other options please contact me at john.etherton@gmail.com. I would be happy to be the liaison between Jonathan and any perspective micro-investors. To talk to Jonathan directly email saahjonathan@yahoo.com, jsaah2001@hotmail.com, or jsaah2001@aol.com. With Jonathan’s income from his taxi service, job at Ecobank, and the internet café, he should have no problem paying off such a loan.

[Jonathan and John worked out a detailed budget, but for formatting reasons I can't post it on my blog. Click here to see the budget from John's blog.]

If you have any more questions please ask john.etherton@gmail.com or saahjonathan@yahoo.com

John