Growing up in a humble neighborhood outside Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, Lehbib Mohamed El Kory was like many youth in town wasn't expecting much from life. But he succeeded in turning his story around through determination and hard work.
Armed with no experience or skills, Lehbib suggested to some friends that they could go into the business of waste collection in their neighborhood. Today, he's the general manager of a company with 132 employees.
"We started with a donkey and a cart," he says, smiling.
After a small service contract with the city council, he registered his business with the Nouakchott Chamber of Commerce, and the company, Agency for Miscellaneous Works (ATD), was born.
From garbage collection, ATD has expanded its activity into cleaning and maintenance services for offices. Its clients included the Banque Populaire de Mauritanie (BPM), which gave him his first loan of $700 to acquire a vehicle and the necessary equipment.
Lehbib attributes his success to his hard work and the support of BPM, which trusted him and helped him with successive loans, without which he would not have been able to develop his business.
In 2017, the African Development Bank supported BPM's efforts by providing $7 million line of credit over five years under its Africa SME Program to support the lending activities of local financial intermediaries.
The program grants standard lines of credit to financial intermediaries who in turn on-lend them to small and medium-sized enterprises. The resources of the line of credit are used by BPM to finance dozens of projects in industry, mining, fishing, trade, transport and services. All of these targeted sectors are reputed to be highly labor intensive. Like other Mauritanian companies, ATD, which has benefited from these credit facilities, has had remarkable success.
Aware of his responsibility as an entrepreneur, Lehbid says he wants to provide livelihood to "as many people as possible while preserving the environment." His success has impacted the community positively by employing women and young people, including those without school diplomas, and teaching them a trade.
"ATD is like a big family," he says as he poses with his employees in front of a company truck.
He adds that the company is driven by the desire to improve the socio-economic well-being of the community than by the profit motive and is always seeking opportunities to consolidate his business.
ATD is now a recognized company in Nouakchott and is financially stable, with its loans almost fully repaid. It is well-equipped with trucks and garbage collection machinery, but what makes Lehbid proud is that it has offered employment to young people and women, and them some dignity.
