Word: kroeker
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...Russell Kroeker, a 28-year-old U.S. electrical engineer from Richboro, Pa., has overcome all such hurdles to be come the fastest-rising entrepreneur in Malawi, the nation created in 1964 from the British protectorate of Nyasaland...
After spending a student summer in Nyasaland in 1962, Kroeker wrote Prime Minister Hastings Banda to offer his services to the government-run radio station. When Banda accepted, Kroeker headed back with his hi-fi set, a homemade motor bike and 200 lbs. of spare radio parts. Three years ago, with $32,000 in locally raised capital, he founded the Nzeru Radio...
Since then, Nzeru-the word means "wisdom" in the Chichewa language-has produced 35,000 radios of Kroeker's design, and employment has grown to more than 50. In 1968, the company earned about $60,000 on sales of $210,000-a modest sum by Western standards but a considerable feat for an African enterprise. Nzeru has just introduced a portable model that, together with a new radio-phonograph, promises to increase sales...
...Kroeker has also produced a phonograph record called Ufa Wa Mtedza (Peanut Flour); its rock songs were composed and sung by Peace Corpsman Jack Allison, who dispenses health hints musically. Sample lyric: "Keep away the flies from your baby's eyes." When not at work, Kroeker, the only U.S. businessman in Malawi, relaxes by climbing nearby Mt. Mlanje (9,843 ft.) or spending time with his Malawian wife and three daughters. Though he hopes to turn Nzeru over to Malawian management "possibly within two years," he plans to stay on. He is thinking of diversifying into other products...
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