In many Liberian yards, the moringa tree stands unassumingly, its branches shedding leaves that sweepers dutifully toss onto compost heaps. Yet in those same leaves lies a potent source of nutrition—and, as Sandra Perkins-Lighe has proven, a pathway to prosperity. Her company, Zaag Natural, began as a personal quest to shed postpartum weight and evolved into a thriving enterprise that now supplies 38 sales points across three counties. Her story is uplifting, but it is also a call to action. Liberia’s policymakers, financiers, and consumers must recognize that supporting home-grown agripreneurs like Sandra is not merely a feel-good gesture: it is an economic imperative.
A lesson in value addition
Sandra’s journey exposes the most obvious truth about Liberia’s agriculture sector: we export potential instead of value. Moringa grows easily in our climate, yet most of what is harvested is sold raw—if it is harvested at all. By drying, grinding, and blending the leaves into tea bags and powders, Sandra multiplied the crop’s market price many times over. In one stroke she improved household incomes for 35 leaf suppliers, created jobs in processing and distribution, and introduced a nutrient-dense product to health-conscious consumers. Imagine the economic ripple if value addition became the rule rather than the exception for other crops—cassava, ginger, cocoa, oil palm.
Training matters as much as capital
Zaag Natural’s breakthrough came not just from a USD 40,000 grant via the UNDP Growth Accelerator, but from the six-month business development course that accompanied it. Sandra learned to track cash flow, manage inventory, and plan for expansion. Too often, conversations about entrepreneurship fixate on money alone. In reality, poor bookkeeping and weak management sink start-ups as quickly as an empty bank account. That lesson must shape how donors, banks, and the Government of Liberia design support programs. Grants and credit lines should be paired with robust mentorship and financial-literacy modules, particularly for women, who disproportionately shoulder childcare and household duties that restrict their time for formal training.
The certification bottleneck
Zaag Natural’s next hurdle is one shared by every Liberian business that hopes to export “organic” products: certification does not exist locally and securing it abroad is prohibitively expensive. Until the Ministry of Agriculture collaborates with regional or international bodies to set up an accredited testing facility on home soil, Liberian agripreneurs will remain locked out of high-value global markets. The same goes for packaging. Sandra still imports customized sachets from China, a process that adds months to production cycles and costs dearly in both dollars and carbon footprint. A modest public-private investment in a domestic flexible-packaging plant would pay for itself by unlocking thousands of agro-processing jobs.
Renewable energy as business insurance
One quiet but crucial decision Sandra made was to install a 24-hour solar system to shield her production line from Liberia’s chronic power outages. In doing so she not only increased efficiency; she demonstrated how renewable energy can de-risk small manufacturing. The Rural Renewable Energy Agency, commercial banks, and development partners should consider tailored financing—low-interest loans or lease-to-own schemes—for solar installations tied directly to productive ventures. Energy security is enterprise security.
Why gender-lens investing matters
Sandra’s success also underscores the dividends of backing women entrepreneurs. Studies from across the continent consistently find that women reinvest up to 90 percent of their income in their families and communities. By purchasing moringa leaves from households—many headed by women—Zaag Natural strengthens local food security and school attendance at the same time it scales commercially. Liberia’s banking sector should not need a moral argument to lend to women-led businesses; the economic case is compelling enough.
A role for consumers
None of the above can thrive without demand. Liberians often equate “imported” with “high quality,” yet Sandra’s moringa tea now sits on supermarket shelves beside foreign brands—and often sells out first. Every packet we choose to place in our shopping baskets signals to retailers and investors that value-added Liberian products deserve space on the shelf and funding in the ledger.
The way forward
• Establish an organic-certification bureau within Liberia in partnership with ECOWAS and the African Organisation for Standardisation.
• Create a matching-grant facility for local packaging manufacturers focused on agro-processing needs.
• Scale gender-responsive training that pairs finance with mentorship, modeled after the UNDP Growth Accelerator.
• Expand solar-for-industry financing schemes to insulate small producers from grid instability.
• Launch a nationwide “Buy Liberian First” awareness campaign spotlighting success stories like Zaag Natural.
When Sandra Perkins-Lighe looks back at the kitchen table where she filled her first tea bags, she sees what every entrepreneur sees at the outset: uncertainty, self-doubt, and a mountain of obstacles. What turned her small-batch experiment into a finalist in an international accelerator and a brand on the cusp of global reach was grit—but also a supportive ecosystem that provided training, finance, and market access at the right moments. Liberia can replicate that ecosystem at scale. The leaves are literally falling at our feet; the only question is whether we will gather them.
