He started his first business venture as a street vendor with capital of just
$200 but two decades later Fomba Trawally has become one of Liberia's most
prominent businessmen.
Like many in his country,
Trawally fled Liberia in 1989 to escape the West African country's ruinous civil
war. He found refuge in The Gambia but in December 1991 Trawally decided it was
time to return to his native country.
Once back in the capital
Monrovia, the former refugee quickly realized he could capitalize on a need for
one product: rubber flip-flops.
"So in the process of that, they
don't take their shoes and they walk with their bare feet. And the $200 that I
brought from Gambia, I decided to invest that into the slippers."
That initial investment in rubber
flip-flops made quick returns. Trawally's business grew steadily and by 2005 the
self-made businessman owned three retail stores selling items such as paper
products and cosmetics imported from all over the world.
With an entrepreneurial spirit,
Trawally next set his sights on making the transition from being an importer to
becoming a manufacturer. Thus, in 2010 he launched National Toiletries
Incorporated, Liberia's first paper and toiletry product manufacturing
company.
"I figured out that our
population is about four million," he says. "Out of the four million, no one is
producing paper -- everybody is going out to bring the paper to import. Even if
two million people buy from me by day, I feel that it's something like we'll
grow the economy of this country."
The company's factory became
operational earlier this year, producing four different kinds of products: baby
diapers, paper towels, napkins and toilet paper.
With sales having so far reached
more than $600,000, Trawally says his plans are to double the factory's capacity
by the end of next year.
"Since I started this company
with $200 I feel like other people can make it too," says Trawally.
"I do not hire family; I
personally find citizens, some who have never seen such a machine in their life
and I train them and watch them improve. I believe if I can do it, so can they
and that's what's gratifying."
Yet, running a manufacturing
business in Liberia -- a country torn apart by a civil war that left an
estimated 250,000 people dead and destroyed much of its infrastructure and
economy -- is not without big challenges.
"Number one, we don't have the
power or energy in our country at this time -- we're running on a generator,"
says Trawally. "You tell anyone that I'm running a factory as big as this only
on a generator, they'll tell you that you are crazy," he adds.
Unreliable power and poor
infrastructure, coupled with high energy costs and a lack of skilled labor, are
all major problems for entrepreneurs doing business in Liberia.
But there is one business area
Trawally is not concerned about.
"For the challenge of
distribution," he says, "I don't have a problem with that."
"One supermarket in Liberia,
Harbel supermarket, they are the number one customer to me -- they don't buy
tissue from anyone beside me," adds Trawally. "And out of all the other small
shops and centers I already have over 1,500 members."
Looking ahead, Trawally says his
next goal is to expand the business outside Liberia.
"I would like to see myself
outside of the country," he says. "I want to get other countries in Africa and
export to Europe and to American markets. That is my dream."
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