The_Open_Door_deel1

-366-
There is one foreign-owned company which mentioned the
furtherance of education in Liberia as an explicit goal of its
activities in the country. It is The Liberia Company which for
this purpose even created the "Liberian Educational Foundation".
In conformity with the Revised Statement of Understanding (1949),
as amended (1962), 10$ of The Liberia Company's net income went -
through the Liberian Educational Foundation - to institutions of
higher learning in Liberia, the University of Liberia and
Cuttington College, and to various health projects (see Chapter
4).
In 1947 The Liberia Company started very ambitiously and
idealistically - though not without self-interest - but within
two decades it had become a commercially oriented company which
was hardly distinguishable from the other plantation companies.
A transfer of technology may also be realized through the
purchasing of products supplied by local companies. The onlysignificant
example of foreign companies operating in Liberia
which buy supplies in considerable quantities from a local
supplier is the group of (iron ore) mining companies.
Particularly their needs for fuel and lubricants, explosives, and
cement are largely met by the internal Liberian market but the
three companies supplying the goods are also foreign-owned:
the Liberian Refining Company (L.R.C), the West African
Explosives and Chemicals, Ltd. (Exchem), and the Liberia Cement
Corporation (Cemenco), which are US, Canadian and Lebanese
owned companies respectively (7).
The recruitment policy of the foreign companies and the
Liberianization of their staff
With respect to the foreign companies' recruitment policy for the
hiring of qualified local staff one may distinguish the following
five possibilities:
(1) advertisements in newspapers and/or periodicals
(2) contacts with universities or other relevant institutions
(3) personal contacts of (both expatriate and local) staff
personnel already employed by these companies
(4) political relations
(5) the use of specialized institutions as e.g. publicity firms
An investigation was conducted by the present author which
covered the four main Liberian newspapers during the three-year
period 1975 - 1977 (The Liberian Age, The Liberian Star, The
Liberian Inaugural, and the Sunday Express) (8). It showed that
the total number of foreign companies using advertisements in
these newspapers as a means to recruit local staff was very small
in relation to the total number of foreign companies operating in
the country. Only 18 companies were counted. Of these not even