Editor's note:Journal Staff Writer Philip Marcelo is spending two weeks in Liberia this August to report on that country's progress 10 years after the end of a devastating civil war. This is the latest installment of an online and print series called "Rebuilding Liberia: The R.I. Connection." The project is funded by the International Center for Journalists, in Washington.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - With his Grateful Dead t-shirt and cargo shorts, James Brenner doesn't exactly fit the mold of a titan of industry.
Then again, this is Liberia, one of the poorest countries on a very impoverished continent.
The former Providence resident, who served as a vice chairman on U.S. Senator John Kerry's campaign for president in 2004, has been working in the country for almost as long as it's been stable after nearly 15 years of civil war.
He offered a whirlwind introduction to the country when I touched down Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, Brenner and his business partner, Powell Holly, gave me a tour of Ecohomes Liberia, the housing development they're building on about 300 acres leased from the Liberian government.
The mostly flat, scrubby land is not far from the country's international airport, the massive Firestone rubber plantation and a Liberian army base where we'd later have a meal.
Brenner and Holly say the area is prime for investment, as center city Monrovia is already congested and its immediate suburbs have been well-developed.
Indeed, on the drive there, they point a handful of Chinese and Nigerian-built housing developments sprouting up along the way.
Jump starting the housing market, Brenner explains, has been a key focus of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's administration as the country recovers.
Brenner and Holly, who met while working in banking and finance in Ghana, have been planning the project since 2007, the year after Sirleaf took office. But it took until March of 2012 for construction to start in earnest.
Today nine houses are complete. Electricity lines and a power house have been built. Underground water pipes have been laid for hot and cold water, a rarity in Liberian homes.
In about a month, the company, which employs about 45 Liberian tradesman, hopes to break ground on another batch of two dozen or so homes.
It's taken far more capital and an uncountable number of frustrations and unforeseen roadblocks to get to this point, Brenner says.
"Look, sub-Saharan Africa in general is a very hard place to do business," Brenner said. "It's been painfully slow. This has been 100 times more difficult than we thought it would be."
But neither he nor Holly say the experience has discouraged them.
They expect to get a return on their investment, which includes significant financing from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a federal lending agency that helps U.S. businesses invest in emerging markets.
The houses are priced to sell at roughly $34,000 for the starter home (a one-bedroom) and up to $59,000 for the largest, a three-bedroom.
Those are relatively high-priced for Liberian homes, Brenner acknowledges. But the company is betting that Liberians living abroad will see the value in a solid, newly constructed home.
Brenner says Ecohomes has set its sights on a critical milestone: selling its first residence. "All the hard stuff's over.," he said as our visit ended. "Now's the fun part."