Liberia Entrepreneurial and Asset Development (LEAD) intern Karen Bulthuis shares the story of one LEAD member using his business to create jobs and improve the community. The other week I sat down across from Anthony Kollie. Mr. Kollie is a LEAD client, and had come for an interview in order to participate in a new mentoring project being set up between LEAD and Partners Worldwide. Mr. Kollie owns and runs a pharmacy on the outskirts of Gbarnga, and is in the process of building a medical clinic on the same land. What’s so special about Mr. Kollie is how he combines business and mission. Mr. Kollie is a real entrepreneur, seeing opportunities to expanding his business, employ more people and serve the community at the same time. He is quick to point to LEAD’s training as instrumental in allowing him to bring his business to the next level. “When my wife and I heard that LEAD was in the business of helping business owners to become their own entrepreneurs, we became interested and joined LEAD and were trained for six months. And from that point on, through LEAD, we have grown so much more. Because the idea that I have now for my business, it was not there when I first started. Because it was business as usual… buy goods, sell them… that’s all. But now, I know how to analyze my own information. I’m able to know when to buy and how to buy, and when to establish what I want to do and all that. So the planning aspect has developed because LEAD trained me to do so.” Mr. Kollie and his wife started their business from scratch, following the war. He and his wife and children had been displaced during the war, and were finally able to move back to Gbarnga, capital of Bong County, in 2005. At that time, Mr. Kollie and his wife dreamed of going into business because they owned land, and wanted to be self-employed. “The land we have now is truly ours. It is not something we are leasing or borrowing from someone. My parents acquired it, and they gave it to me, so that I could develop it… and the only dream I had was to put something there, to make them feel proud of me. So I chose a medicine store, because I’m a medical professional.” Determiner Medical Store officially opened for business on April 27, 2007, and eight months later Mr. Kollie and his wife joined LEAD. After completing the training, Mr. Kollie took a loan from LEAD. “And that loan, I promised to LEAD in my business plan, would be used towards our dream to not just continue as a medicine store because we envision helping other people to have work. And we want to expand our facility in a way that will be more useful to the community than just taking cash in exchange for goods. We wanted to put our profession to work. And this was all part of the decision to expand to a bigger level.” As the clinic is being built, Mr. Kollie’s has been approved by the county medical director to operate a fully licensed clinic, and he has also contracted a doctor from the Hospital where both Mr. Kollie and his wife were trained as nurses – to come and work in the clinic for the first year. After the clinic is operational, Mr. Kollie plans to go back to school himself, to become a physician’s assistant, or perhaps even a doctor. For more on LEAD, please visit their website. To give, please enter "LEAD" in the special instructions line on the donation page. Partners Worldwide Homepage