WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Many may see investing in post-civil war Liberia as a high risk investment to be avoided, but not Henrique Caine, a Liberian national of the Washington, DC area who sees it as a risk worth taking and the potential for significant returns. Caine is a Community Development Investment Professional, and has worked for U.S. firms such as Fannie Mae, E*TRADE FINANCIAL, Enterprise Foundation, and Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. Now he says with "faith in God and some cautious ambition," he is giving up the regularity of the bi-weekly paycheck, bonuses, company stock and other usual trappings of the office cube to invest in Africa -- Liberia for now. After months of pitching his investment idea to financial institutions and anyone who would listen, with debt and equity financing and following what he calls the entrepreneurial spirit, his U.S. based company, LACHAMCO International, and its Liberian affiliate is investing in construction equipment to help repair Liberia's infrastructure. To mitigate exposure to post-war market risks, he applied for insurance from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) -- an agency of the U.S. Government that provides political risk insurance and financing for U.S. investors overseas.

After the downfall of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor in 2003, Caine who had lived in the U.S. for nearly two decades returned to Liberia and after several return trips, is initiating an investment that would help to create jobs in a war ravaged country where the United Nations has put the unemployment rate at eighty-percent. His first investment, however, was personal. He hired a crew of local skilled tradesmen to complete his mother's house, which she started in the late eighties but abandoned because of the civil war. After the five bedrooms concrete structure sat dilapidated for nearly two decades, it will now serve as start-up offices for Caine's business. "At least we have somewhere to begin," he says. Under the protection of 15,000 UN Peacekeepers, the current Government of Liberia, headed by Africa's first democratically elected female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is encouraging investment in Liberia and has instituted a zero tolerance for corruption policy, duty free shipping privileges, and other incentives.

With experience in the flow of capital to communities for revitalization, and with degrees from Canisius College and New York University, Caine is taking his knowledge and business acumen to help a nation devastated by years of instability, strife and war. Most analysts agree that the only way to maintain the current peace in Liberia is through a robust economic recovery program. "The government cannot solve all problems, and for us who were fortunate to escape the war and gain knowledge and experience, we have a duty to contribute and not sit on the sidelines." Caine believes doing business in Liberia should include strategies that minimize investor risks leading to profitable returns, while still achieving positive human development and socio-economic impact. "That's community and economic development," says Caine.

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Source: LACHAMCO International

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