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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Liberian Enterprises, Ltd...Something That Will Help the People of Liberia
Author:Farmer, Garland R.
Year:1992
Periodical:Liberian Studies Journal
Volume:17
Issue:2
Pages:216-234
Language:English
Geographic term:Liberia
Subjects:private enterprises
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
Abstract:This paper examines Liberian Enterprises, Ltd. (LEL), an experiment that would, sadly, fall short of the high hopes of the beginning, but would still leave a positive mark on the course of foreign investment in Liberia for decades ahead. LEL, a holding company, owned 35 percent of National Iron Ore Company, Ltd. (NIOC), which a few months earlier, in March 1958, had received a concession to the Mano River iron ore deposit. Both companies were thought up and put together by Lansdell K. Christie, whose pioneering enterprise, Liberia Mining Company (LMC), had created the Liberian iron ore industry. A main goal of the Mano project was to set a different course for the Liberian economy, one which would benefit Liberians previously left to one side of the nation's development. An examination of the parcelling out of the 20,000 shares reserved for Liberians shows that self-interest and political reality prevailed in setting aside one-half of these shares for officialdom and in devising the basis on which they were parcelled out. Since Mano was harder, slower and costlier to develop, the first dividend (a paltry sum) was not paid until February 4, 1966. However, more significant than the numbers of shares sold or the amount of dividends paid was the mere fact that a major offering to Liberians had been made and had produced results, albeit later and less than expected. Note.
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