Dallas entrepreneur builds a business ... in Iraq

Thursday July 29, 2004
Interview by GARY REAVES / WFAA-TV Channel 8 – Dallas, TX

Iraq continues to be a dangerous place for outsiders - particularly Americans.

However, they haven't scared off Dallas businessman Chris Exline.

In 1987, he graduated from SMU with a degree in history - but now he's making history in Baghdad.

Exline goes to Iraq every month, and stays a week at a time.

"I really don't worry," Exline said. "If you are worried, that's probably not the place to go."

He got the idea to open his Baghdad branch office in the very first days of the war, when he saw all the looting on television.

"I just said, 'wow, any furniture that was there isn't there now,' so after being starved by sanctions, people would need furniture," he said. "I figured no one would want to buy it - they'd rather rent it."

Type "Iraq furniture rental" into an Internet search, and up pops his company's Web site. He lined up his first Iraq client, a man named Usaid, by simply going from one Baghdad door to another.

"From that we got started," he said. "We've now supplied furniture for 100s of homes - for almost a dozen customers."

These days, he flies in on chartered Russian planes. Exline, a Christian, survives by being careful and prayerful.

"I had a mortar land 50 feet from my door one night; the next night, a mortar landed and broke my window," Exline said. "I don't worry about anything ... worrying is a sin."

Exline does make one concession to the dangers of Iraq: he won't let any of his American employees work there. He has 15 Iraqis on the payroll, and their hard work inspires him.

"I see it as a model for the Middle East, because you have 23 million liberated entrepreneurs who understand that the greatest American export is our free enterprise system," he said.

With that, he was headed back. He plans to open two more showrooms in Iraq before the end of next year.