Recent statistics show that Liberia's labor market is dominated by informal economic activity. Only about 18 percent of working-age Liberians are employed in formal wage jobs, while roughly 82 percent work in informal activities or self-employment (LISGIS, 2021). This means that more people earn their incomes from entrepreneurship than from formal employment. Yet, a majority of the population would still prefer to have a full-time job rather than run a small business.
This tension has been an age-old issue in Liberia. People get an education, apply for jobs that do not exist, and become frustrated when employment does not come. The problem is not that there are no opportunities; the problem is that people keep applying the same strategy to the same problem and getting the same results.
So perhaps it is time to begin a different conversation, one that asks, "Where are the opportunities?" instead of "Where are the jobs?"
In 2022, I sat in a lecture session with Mr. Fomba Trawally, CEO of National Toiletries, and listened as he explained how he turned a $200 petty trade into a thriving business.
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No fancy speech.
Just heart and resilience in every word.
He began in the early 1990s by retailing flip-flops, buying from Fulani merchants and selling from a wheelbarrow. After covering his weekly needs, he reinvested the rest of his earnings. As demand grew beyond what local suppliers could meet, he began sourcing from Ivory Coast, and later from China. It was in China that he discovered manufacturing. He transitioned from retailer to manufacturer, producing slippers for wholesale and distribution. Over time, he expanded into other products and built what is now National Toiletries, one of Liberia's leading toiletries manufacturing companies.
His story led me to a simple but powerful analogy: a society is not like a forest.
A forest consists of trees growing together within a fixed ecosystem. Their roots grow downward to access nutrients, while their branches grow upward toward sunlight. While this is a form of movement, their fate is essentially fixed. Trees cannot move out of one forest and into another. They cannot become a different species. They are born as one type of tree, in one place. Regardless of the circumstances of that forest, they grow there, and they die there.
But a society is not a forest.
Development economists describe societies as systems made up of roles, institutions, and opportunities. Roles produce goods and services. Institutions create the rules that organize economic activity. Opportunities represent the pathways through which individuals can enter, move within, and exit roles over time. Unlike trees, individuals are not fixed in one position. People can move.
Roles in society function like loops or ladders.
Loops keep people circulating within the same economic space, dividing limited income and resources. Ladders, on the other hand, are high-growth roles that create new value and open pathways for upward movement. Only when effort is applied to these roles does movement occur.
This insight becomes even more important when we look at the reality of Liberia's labor market. There is a clear mismatch between expectations and opportunity. On the one hand, many people, especially university graduates, prepare for government jobs, office work, or professional roles like doctors, lawyers or engineers. They expect employment in a labor market that cannot absorb them. On the other hand, many who turn to entrepreneurship operate in low-productivity sectors, competing over the same small pool of customers and resources.
The problem, therefore, is not a lack of opportunity but misplaced effort.
In their book Poor Economics, Banerjee and Duflo explain that escaping poverty is as much about aspirations and expectations as it is about income and resources. When people cannot imagine a different future, they do not invest effort toward a different outcome. This creates a cycle where generations remain trapped within the same economic roles (Banerjee & Duflo, 2011).
The choice of placement then becomes a critical strategy for movement. Instead of asking, "What can I do to survive?" people should begin asking, "Where in this society is opportunity expanding?"
For Liberia, sectors with strong potential for job creation and entrepreneurship include agriculture value chains, agro-processing, light manufacturing, and services. These sectors expand when individuals move beyond retailing or raw materials sale into processing, packaging, logistics, and distribution.
Let's consider the agriculture sector.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, close to 40 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and the market due to poor storage, transportation, and processing systems (FAO, 2019). This loss represents opportunity not just inefficiency. Every gap in storage, logistics, and processing is a space where businesses can be built and jobs can be created.
Both theory and evidence show that supportive institutions, infrastructure, and access to finance are critical for entrepreneurship. However, human capacity and effort are equally important. Even in a supportive business environment, hard work in the wrong role will not lead to upward movement.
The education system continues to prepare people to search for jobs rather than to identify opportunities. Yet most Liberians will not enter formal wage employment. They will have to create their own income streams.
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This does not diminish the value of education. On the contrary, higher education can expand a person's capacity to recognize and take advantage of opportunity. A doctor, for example, is not limited to working in an existing hospital. That same knowledge can be used to build health services that meet unmet needs. And this principle applies across professions.
When people begin to look for gaps instead of jobs, they start to see the economy differently. Liberia remains underdeveloped in many sectors, which means there are still significant opportunities for those willing to build, innovate, and create value.
Imagine if Mr. Trawally had accepted his circumstances as fixed. Liberia would not have gained a company that now provides essential products and creates employment for thousands of people.
Many others are making similar moves today. Entrepreneurs such as Mahmud Johnson and Paul Wungko are investing in agriculture and processing, building value chains that did not previously exist.
High-growth positions of influence, expertise, and opportunity are never permanently occupied. They are constantly being filled and refilled by people. The challenge is recognizing where those opportunities exist and positioning oneself to take advantage of them.
A society is not like a forest.
Individual fate is not fixed.
Movement is always possible when effort is applied strategically.
