Succeeding, Part 7 of 10

Jonathan pondered how best to invest this money. He conducted a survey of taxi drivers, asking them how business was. “60 percent of the taxi owners I interviewed said it would be good to get into the business, but 38 percent told me that if I bought a car and gave it to someone else to drive, the likelihood of it surviving would be zero,” Jonathan said. It is common practice in Liberia for someone to purchase a taxi and pay others to drive passengers. But this is risky; stories abound of taxis and their temporary drivers “disappearing.” Quotes on taxi bumpers serve a purpose—if your driver takes off, a friend in Ganta who knows your taxi by its quote can tell you if he sees it in the interior. Liberia is small enough that this system works. In early 2007 Jonathan’s rear license plate was stolen. A few weeks after the incident, a friend in Gbarnga called to tell him he had seen the license plate on a different taxi in Bong.

Satisfied with the results from his survey, Jonathan purchased a car using his savings supplemented by a small loan from a Fulani friend. He spray painted it yellow, registered it with TX plates, and started driving it himself. “I never dreamed of driving a taxi,” Jonathan once told me, with the same intonation as a recent lottery winner. “I’m proud of myself because I’m not too proud to refuse to do anything,” Jonathan said. “Someone like me with a bachelor’s degree wouldn’t drive a taxi.”

It is this humility, this willing-to-do-what-it-takes attitude, which has helped Jonathan reach the middle class in an informal caste system that is typically harder to ascend than a ladder with foam rungs.

Jonathan’s break came on March 16, 2006. He remembers the exact date and refers to it as “that fateful day.” He was heading out toward the airport highway when he saw four white people trying to hail a cab. He pulled over and drove them to town. When they asked what to pay for the ride, Jonathan asked for whatever they thought would satisfy him. They gave him $5, enough, and got his cell phone number. The previous taxi that had pulled over, they told him, had demanded $20. They appreciated his honesty and continued to use his taxi services for the duration of their stay in Monrovia.

From this single encounter, Jonathan’s name and reputation spread. Word of mouth, which is the only effective form of advertising in Liberia, worked to his benefit. For the next two years he drove on an ad hoc basis for NGO workers, UN civilian staff, visiting academics, pro bono lawyers, authors, and consultants. He even had a stint serving as a research assistant to a professor from Harvard.

Jonathan has an unparalleled reputation for being reliable. In the nine months he drove for me, his car never broke down and never ran out of fuel, an impressive feat in a city with deep potholes and fuel shortages.