Over 20 years ago, Billionaire Robert Johnson started the Black Entertainment Television network after taking a $15,000 bank loan; in 2001, Johnson sold the network to Viacom for $3 billion. With a little bit of luck, one of the richest men in the world will be hoping to rub some of his magic on Liberia.

Johnson, 59, will lead a group of African-American leaders to Liberia to facilitate at least $30 million of direct investments in the country's infrastructure, health, education and agriculture, according to a statement from the Charlotte Bobcats.

The statement said the delegation, which will include U.S. leaders in education, health, law and business, also will seek to establish a permanent interest group of African-Americans to reignite the historical ties between African-Americans and Liberians and advocate on behalf of Liberia for greater support from the United States government and the U.S. business community.

'Commitment to Liberia'

"I had the privilege of meeting with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and I am anxious to work with President Clinton's Global Initiative to support President Johnson-Sirleaf's leadership of Liberia as it recovers from more than 10 years of civil war," Johnson says. "The goal of our commitment is for Liberia to become an economic and social success that will benefit all Liberians."

Johnson's delegation will form the basis of an organization whose goals are as follows: 1. To establish a permanent interest group of African Americans to re-ignite the long-term historical ties between African Americans and the people of Liberia; 2. To form a permanent organization headed by African Americans to advocate on behalf of Liberia for greater support from the United States government and the US business community; and to further awaken African American interest in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the statement, among those participating with Johnson in the announcement were: Debra Lee, CEO of Black Entertainment Television; Clarence Avant, recording industry executive; Ciceley Tyson, actress; Jeffrey Wright, actor; Rodney Slater, former Transportation Secretary, and Chris Tucker, actor.

Speaking Wednesday as a panelist at the opening of the 2nd Annual Clinton Global Initiative Conference in New York, Sirleaf, last week called on foreign investors to come to Liberia and partner with the government in utilizing the country's abundant natural resources.

Sirleaf said that with peace now prevailing in Liberia, investors are welcomed to invest and join in partnership with the country. The Liberian leader said at the conference, attended by global leaders, including many Heads of State and Government, as well as heads of major international corporations, that Liberia was endowed with abundant natural resources, including timber, diamonds, iron ore, and rubber

Sirleaf said the Liberian Government was putting into place the necessary

laws and regulations that are "investor-friendly." The measures the President added would ensure that business practices meet international standards and inspire confidence.

Sirleaf indicated that her government, with the support of Liberia's international partners, is instituting plans aimed at poverty reduction through skill development and job creation.

The Liberian leader said her government's poverty reduction program is focused on meeting the needs of young people through vocational training and other programs, as well as developing the capacity of women.

The President also said that other aspects of the government's poverty reduction program take into consideration the involvement of people in the communities and villages in identifying their development needs so as to ensure sustainability.

Johnson's visit is the first of several high-profile visits to Liberia, according to National Investment Commission (NIC) Chairman Richard Tolbert. Mr. Tolbert told Star Radio recently that there is a promising investment climate for Liberia, adding that a lot of institutions have expressed interest in investing in the country.

Mr. Tolbert said government is currently working toward translating the interests of the institutions into concrete results. The NIC Chairman also dismissed allegations that he resigned his position and left the country over opinion differences about government's policy on rice.

Johnson, who started the nation's first network for African Americans 25 years ago, retired at the end of last year. He is also the founder of RLJ Cos., which provides strategic investment to a diverse portfolio of companies in the financial services, real estate, hospitality/restaurant, professional sports, film production, gaming and recording industries.

The company's core businesses include RLJ Development, a privately held hotel real estate investment company, and RLJ Urban Lodging Fund, a private equity real estate fund, which have more than $1 billion in combined assets; RLJ Asset Management Group; RLJ Equity Partners, a private equity fund formed in partnership with The Carlyle Group; and the Charlotte Bobcats and Charlotte Sting.

BET is the top-rated network among its target audience of African Americans ages 18 to 34; its overall audience remains relatively small, averaging about 543,000 viewers in prime time this year. But that's more than double the audience it had before Viacom bought it.

In 1980, Johnson founded BET, a cable television company tailored to African Americans that now reaches 75 million households in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. He sold it for $3 billion in 2000 to Viacom, parent company of CBS, MTV, VH-1 and UPN, although he retains the title of Chairman and CEO.

Johnson became the first African-American owner of a major sports franchise in 2002 when he paid $300 million to bring a new National Basketball Association expansion team, the Bobcats, to Charlotte, N.C., beginning with the 2004-2005 season. He also owns the WNBA's Charlotte Sting.

The entrepreneurial drive to create BET arose from a fear that someone else would do it first, said Johnson. If that had happened, "I would have hated myself for the rest of my life. To be honest, the entrepreneurial path I traveled came about most of all because I never really liked the idea of working for anybody. I just didn't like taking instruction."

Twice Johnson worked for others. His first job was a paper route in his hometown of Freeport, Ill. He didn't like getting up early and wound up dumping the papers in a garbage can. Later he worked at a battery factory where he was required to continually sweep black pitch from under a conveyor belt. "It seemed a waste of my time," remembered Johnson. "If I could sweep every hour or so, the rest of the hour I could talk to the young women working on the line." His supervisor didn't see it that way and insisted he sweep continuously. The two parted ways.