Engineer to Start Self-Sustaining Book Publisher in Haiti

Ron Moore (72), a traveling engineer and a resident of Forest Lake, Indianapolis, following his graduation from Purdue University started his international travel career in the Dominican Republic. After working there with Peace Corp for three years, he went to Bolivia on a USAID program for two years. The next twenty years he had worked with Johnson Filtration Systems as the Director of Latin American operations, but worked worldwide with designing and installing sanitary systems for his company and had met the natives of some 60 countries. In 1995, he started his own White Bear Lake-based sewer and water business 'Hidrocare Inc.' Since 2008, he has made over 15 trips to Haiti and started learning Creole.

ADVERTISEMENT


He candidly expresses that no other nation touched his heart like the Haitians. He has decided to spend his retirement days on improving the lives of Haitians, one of the poorest communities in the world. Through the nonprofit 'Compassion International' he has sponsored the education of 11 Haitian youths. He runs a nonprofit engineering organization named 'Haitian Advanced Learning Opportunities', or HALO where he has employed 350 Haitians all over the country. Ninety percent of HALO fund comes from his own savings. He is never happy with a Band-aid solution; so has planned to launch a self-sustaining publishing company that will distribute educational and spiritual books in Haiti in the most common native language, Creole. Presently Haiti has a literacy rate of 55%; 79% of the populations are unemployed. The book, published by Moore will educate them in a way so that they can support themselves and become nation building citizens.

He has made a 30 page business plan for raising $30,000 for printing equipment which would be installed at a rented building in Port-au-Prince. There will be a sales force to sell his publication to the schools at a price within the reach of all. Recently, Baker Publishing has agreed to publish HALO's books in Haiti. The first title of several best selling inspirational and educational books is "7 Simple Choices for a Better Tomorrow". The projected sales figure for the first year is $50,000 to $55,000 with a target net profit between $17,000 to $18,000. If he gets good support from Eagle Books within November, can start his venture from January next year.

Reply to this article

Read more: book, business, Business & Finance

« Chinese entrepreneurs see great opportunities in Haiti | Main | Haitian Ban on Dominican Products to Drive up Prices »

Return to Articles List

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

E-mail (required, will not be published)

Subject: Engineer to Start Self-Sustaining Book Publisher in Haiti edit

» »

Our objective is to share with you news and information about Haiti and the people of Haiti. Traditions, habits and the way we were  or  grew are alive in this site. We highly recommend that you Subscribe to our Newsletter and also share with us some of the things that are memorable and made us unique people.