Isaiah Teah sets his cell to speakerphone and leans in to make himself heard more clearly. Outside, workers shovel sand off the back of a dump truck as he prepares to begin his second mentoring phone call.
“The plan of the business is to grow large and be able to serve the public and then have branches at strategic areas where I will be able to do my business better. I have a few questions for you and I have some things that I have trouble with in the business and I need you to please help me, to give me some ideas, because there are some things that I apply but that are still not easy for me.”
On the other end of the line sit Don Teitsma, Isaiah’s mentor, and Theo Ndawillie, the mentoring coordinator for LEAD’s Grand Rapids affiliate. Don, a business owner of five years, is eager to put his business experience to work in a mentoring relationship.
“When the mentoring opportunity came up, I thought this would be a good fit. It only makes sense that we can help business owners over there get established and get a profitable business going. I realize that the different cultures may present some challenges but I am very open to learn myself and explore ideas that may work over there in Liberia. This is really a great mission challenge to allow the power of God to work in the lives over there and here.”
Isaiah owns Creative Joinery, a furniture company and cement block factory. Isaiah joined LEAD in 2007 and completed its 12 week business training course. “Oh I learned a lot of things and it is what I am now applying. I learned how to save. I learned how to manage my workers; to manage them to perform. I also learned how to talk to customers, and how to use business strategies to get into the market.”
In 2008 Isaiah used a loan from LEAD to purchase a cement block making machine and he now competes with Liberia’s largest block manufacturer. He has been able to attract plenty of customers, most recently through a contract with a Chinese company building low-income housing for the Liberian government.
As his business expands, Isaiah struggles to meet his cash flow needs because of the increased demand for his blocks. “If you check the book of Malachi chapter 3:8, the bible says that we should pay tithes and offerings and that God will open the door to heaven and bring down blessings. I do that frequently but sometimes I catch difficulties because sometimes I see more customers coming and I will then need more money to produce. I can be tempted by the devil to put that money into the block business to get more blocks to build the business up. So I’m praying; I want to use your strategies that you are using because if I do that I believe God will bring this business to the highest level. “
Isaiah is one of several clients participating in LEAD’s new mentoring program. Started in July, this program is connecting LEAD’s strongest entrepreneurs with North American businesspeople in mentoring relationships. These non-financial relationships give North American businesspeople the opportunity to use their business skills and experience to directly affect the lives of businesspeople in the developing world through encouragement, prayer and business advice, and provide some of Liberia’s most exciting entrepreneurs a person to bounce ideas off of and to grow alongside them in friendship.
Through bi-weekly phone calls, spontaneous emails and a weeklong in-county visit, mentors and mentees are able to develop a strong rapport. Members of LEAD’s mentoring program appreciate tapping into a wealth of insights and business experience that would not otherwise be available to them. Mama Sallie, a member of the program and owner of Paulma’s Restaurant and Guesthouse in Gbarnga is building a strong relationship with her mentors George and Monique Stevens and is now reporting increased profits of $50US per day.
Meanwhile, as Isaiah begins his mentoring relationship, he looks forward to building his mentoring relationship with Don. “As mentor, I want to ask you what strategies you are using to overcome these things so that I myself will be able to apply them. Mentor me so that I can be honorable to God because he is the one who has given me this opportunity.”
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