African Wood & Lumber Inc. (AW&L) harvests, processes and exports West African tropical timber under full legal chain of custody — working hand in hand with the forest communities of River Cess and Grand Bassa Counties.
African Wood & Lumber Inc. is a Liberian-registered forestry and timber company headquartered in Congo Town, Monrovia. We operate community forest concessions under agreements approved by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), with every tree, log and shipment registered in Liberia's national LiberTrace chain-of-custody system and verified by SGS.
Our business spans the full timber value chain: pre-harvest enumeration and stock survey, felling and extraction under the Code of Harvesting Practices, log-yard management, export of round logs, sawn timber for local and international markets — and, next, on-site sawmilling, kiln drying and biochar production for a zero-waste forest economy.
Legal name — African Wood & Lumber Inc.
HQ — GIMS Compound, Sophie Community, Congo Town, Monrovia, Liberia
Operations — Grand Bassa & River Cess Counties
Export port — Buchanan, Liberia
Compliance — FDA · SGS QUALIFOR · LiberTrace · EU–Liberia VPA framework
Markets — Asia & Europe (export), Liberia (domestic)
AW&L is founded in Monrovia by Cesare Colombo, building on decades of European timber-trade experience. The company signs social agreements with four forest communities and secures FDA-approved contracts over the Marblee & Karblee Community Forest (Grand Bassa) and the Gbarsaw & Dorbor Community Forest (River Cess).
Stock surveys, felling and log registration go live in LiberTrace. AW&L completes its first major round-log export shipments from Buchanan to international buyers in Europe and Asia, with SGS inspection of every log.
Operations expand with the Geblo forest area, enumeration of thousands of standing trees, and a growing customer base across China, Southeast Asia and Europe. Development of the integrated sawmill investment plan begins.
AW&L signs a 10,000 m³ round-log contract (FOB Buchanan) with Wenzhou Luxing Timber Trade Co., covering twelve species including Doussié, Iroko, Tali, Azobé and Bilinga — anchoring production for 2025–26.
Launch of TracePro, AW&L's own digital CoC platform mirroring LiberTrace from stock survey to export permit. Fundraising underway for the sawmill, kiln-drying and biochar projects — the next chapter: processing in Liberia, for Liberia.
Five active business lines, all connected to the core forest concession operation and tracked end-to-end.
Pre-harvest enumeration, block mapping, felling and extraction in the MK, GD and Geblo forest areas — under FDA Annual Operation Plans and the Code of Harvesting Practices.
ActiveSGS-inspected export logs shipped FOB Buchanan to Asia and Europe. Current stock of 1,100+ tagged logs across 40+ species, visible live in the Client Area.
Active · primary revenueBoards and planks cut to Liberian market specification, supplying domestic construction and supporting local value addition.
ActiveOur in-house chain-of-custody platform: tag-level tracking from standing tree to export permit, aligned with LiberTrace and SGS procedures, offline-first for forest conditions.
Live prototypeAW&L is investing to move up the value chain — processing timber in-country, creating jobs, and turning residues into carbon-negative products.
An industrial sawline (YSDMILL 1300XLH band mill, edger, multi-rip and sharpening shop) producing FAS-grade sawnwood for European hardwood importers, with SGS milling chain of custody and recovery-rate tracking. Target: 2,500 m³/month output.
Fundraising — US$1.5MKiln capacity to reach the 8–12% moisture content required by FAS export specifications, unlocking premium European markets and higher-margin dried sawnwood.
PlannedHardwood railway sleepers cut to Chinese railway standards from dense species such as Azobé — a high-volume product line under commercial discussion with railway contractors.
Commercial stagePyrolysis of sawmill residues and forest offcuts into certified biochar (EBC/IBI), generating carbon removal credits under Verra VM0044 — a third revenue stream from the same forest, with zero additional harvesting.
PlanningEvery AW&L log carries a barcode tag registered in LiberTrace, Liberia's national traceability system operated with SGS. Our operations sit inside the EU–Liberia Voluntary Partnership Agreement framework, and our community agreements return real value to the people who own the forest.
AW&L is raising US$1.5M (30% equity available) to build the Phase 1 sawmill and processing complex in Liberia. The investment case combines contracted round-log revenue, high-margin FAS sawnwood for Europe, railway sleepers for Asia, and biochar carbon credits — all on top of an operating, revenue-generating forest business.
A detailed 5-year financial model, equipment list and business plan presentation are available to qualified investors under NDA. Figures above are management projections, not guarantees.
— 5-year integrated financial model (logs, sawnwood, sleepers, biochar)
— Sawmill equipment specification & three-line layout
— FDA approvals, SGS procedures & compliance matrix
— Community agreements & social impact framework
— Offtake context: 2025 Wenzhou contract & EU buyer pipeline
African Wood & Lumber Inc.
GIMS Compound, Sophie Community
Congo Town, Monrovia, Liberia
Email: info@africanwood.net
Web: africanwood.net
Export port: Buchanan, Liberia
Cesare Colombo
Founder & CEO
Liberia / Italy
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