stephanie ruhle: it has been five years since haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake. >> we lived one of the worst moments in our history. it was an armageddon-like situation. stephanie: the government says the country is moving forward. that haiti is open for business. >> we want to do more. we want to attract more businesses. that will change an entire region in terms of job creation. maybe what we are doing today will show the government that they need to come here and help the people to have roads, to have electricity, to have running water. stephanie: there are people living in the streets, and the country still has horrible infrastructure problems. >> when you come in and look at the situation, haiti is closed for business. stephanie: but some say there

are huge opportunities to be had. >> if you invest here, the returns would be very, very good. stephanie: can private investment save haiti? >> we have a beautiful people. and we would like for them to be able to benefit from what god has given us in haiti. today, they are not. ♪ stephanie: haiti. most likely, the name sparks an image in your mind, and it is probably not a good one. even before the magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked the country on january 12, 2010, life in haiti was pretty bleak. founded by former slaves in 1804, haiti has suffered through a series of oppressive governments, including the notorious duvalier, father and son presidents.

according to the world bank, most haitians survive on less than $2.50 a day. it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. the earthquake pushed the country to the very brink. fmr. prime minister lamothe: five years ago, we lived one of the worst moments in our history. all the public administration was knocked down. we had over 200,000 people that passed away. it was an armageddon-like situation. stephanie: the haitian government was unprepared and unable to do much but ask for international help. fmr. prime minister lamothe: after the earthquake, it was mostly humanitarian emergency relief. it was a question of getting to the victims and providing them with water, shelter, blankets. once that was taken care of, now we have to go to the nationbuilding. ♪ stephanie: half a decade has passed. the rubble has been cleared. most of the aid agencies have gone home. haiti has a

democratically-elected president. and the country has a new slogan. "haiti is open for business." fmr. prime minister lamothe: why do we say the country is open for business? because a lot of investors are looking around the caribbean to invest. stephanie: laurent lamothe was appointed prime minister in 2012. a former telecommunications ceo, lamothe set out to transform haiti's image. from a poor, aid-dependent country to a land of lucrative opportunities. what industries should come here then? if you were to say, this is a business that would thrive in haiti, what is it? fmr. prime minister lamothe: manufacturing, for example. we are one of the top 5 t-shirt manufacturers. i do not know if you knew that. we have over 1000 construction sites around the country. over 70% is hiring local

workers. in terms of tourism attraction, we see attractions with large investors coming in. the marriott will open its doors. stephanie: the marriott hotel is being funded by an irish billionaire who calls himself haiti's number one salesperson. denis o'brien: well, we are investing $45 million. we will probably lose money for the first six to nine months and then we will turn a profit. so, we will get a good return on investment here. no problem. stephanie: the marriott is in downtown port-au-prince, right next door to denis o'brien's company headquarters. digicel, haiti's major mobile carrier. digicel operates in 33 countries. but haiti is its largest market, accounting for roughly 1/3 of its 12.8 million customers. stephanie: when you got here in 2006, what made you think this would be a good place to invest? o'brien: well, we did not do that much due diligence. we just drove around in a taxi, and we were watching, you know, looking at people, and none of them had a phone. then we said to ourselves, that is the opportunity. so we spent a lot of money -- probably about $1 billion or $2

billion -- so far on infrastructure here in this country for telecoms. stephanie: when you speak to american ceos, and you try to sell them on haiti, and they say to you, "look at the track record. it does not make sense. that country has problems right, left, and center." what do you sell them? o'brien: i just tell them my own experience. so we are the largest foreign direct investor in the country. we have had absolutely no issues . so our experience is the example for everybody else. ♪ stephanie: o'brien is also investing in haiti's children. o'brien: we just finished this program where we have built 150 schools. stephanie: so that is philanthropy, not business. o'brien: well, it is investing

in a country and not robbing the place. and doing something very, very impactful. bravo. bravo. stephanie: tell me, what are we seeing here? o'brien: that is our competitor. stephanie: from the helipad on the roof of the digicel building, it is easy to believe that haiti is open for business. but it is hard to ignore the view in the street not far from digicel's gates. stephanie: what is this, people buy ice here? jean bernard: so people get ice -- stephanie: how much would a piece of ice like that cost? jean bernard: 100 gourde, which is like $2.50. a piece of ice in the house is a luxury. stephanie: when i am walking

down the street, and someone says $2 to buy a block of ice because no one has refrigeration in their home, it makes me think people are not being given a fair living wage. o'brien: you know, everywhere in the world, people work for a wage, ok? if they are not happy with the wage, they do not work. most of the time. in this case, people feel, for the first time, if they come and work for a company like us, you get very well-paid.

another setback for the people. change comes slow in haiti. up, what happens when a multimillion dollar their that.y -- beer company as time goes by, we see this program is going to advance us more.

stephanie: every country has

its national drink, and haiti is no exception. rene hooft graafland: beer is a very local product. you see that in all countries. so the closer you are to the consumers, the better it is. stephanie: rene hooft graafland is the cfo of heineken. the dutch brewing company has owned a small part of the brasserie nationale d'haiti, or, as it's known locally, brana, since the early 1970's. haiti's only beer, prestige, is brewed here, and so is a popular non-alcoholic malt beverage called malta h. the earthquake knocked the brewery off-line for two months. that is when heineken upped its stake in brana to nearly 100%. hooft graafland: after the earthquake, this brewery needed a lot of investments and reinvestments. and the owners at that time were not prepared or not capable of putting that money up front. and then we said, this is for us. a good way to step in. stephanie: hooft graafland was in haiti this past december to reopen the brewery after a $100

million renovation. this new production line churns out 20,000 bottles of prestige an hour. the plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. it's a capital investment heineken is hoping will pay off in the long term. right now, haitians don't buy a lot of beer or soft drinks. they simply don't have the disposable income. which is why heineken is making another kind of investment. in people. an hour's drive from the brana brewery, the countryside is covered in a crop that resembles corn with oversized tufts. all right, so show me how you harvest. this is sorghum, a grain that has been grown and eaten in haiti for almost a century. and you serve this to your family?

how do you prepare it? telusmon apres-diece: i mill it, i clean it, i cook it like any other food. and then i separate it plate by plate to my family. stephanie: but sorghum is no longer going just to these farmers' dinner plates. since the earthquake, heineken has invested $3.4 million into a program to teach small farmers better ways to grow and store their sorghum. these farmers say in the last year, their crop yield has doubled. now they are able to sell part of their crop to heineken's brana factory to make malta h. michel monnin: at the long term, we hope to reduce the maximum of importation and creating this new local solution with this local market and a local supply chain. stephanie: who is the buyer of the drink? monnin: haitians. the peasants themselves. stephanie: so it would make sense, if they become more productive, then they can afford the drink. monnin: exactly. stephanie: full circle. full circle. jean enock: i used to plant in a scattered way. but now i use just two or three seeds per hole because of the new information.

stephanie: farmer jean enock says his biggest expense now is hiring enough men to help him pick his 12 acres of sorghum by hand. are you worried that brana could take advantage of you? you are becoming almost like an employee to brana. before, you were your own independent farmer. telusmon apres-diece: no. now we have a system. we are following procedures we learned. it's good. the system is giving us a better harvest. i plant less and harvest more. stephanie: why would you want to give your business, your livelihood, away to a company that, three years ago, you didn't even know who they were? apres-diece: everything is done according to procedure. and we see the procedure as better. as time goes by, we see that this program is going to advance us more. stephanie: do you like the malt beverage that sorghum makes? jean enock: yes. it makes our heart happy. it makes our heart happy when we drink it. stephanie: heineken's brana buys the grains directly from the farmers and ships it back to the

port-au-prince brewery. monnin: you don't need to take a donkey and go for miles to try and sell your sorghum. we'll come and get it right here. stephanie: brana gets all of its sorghum from haitian farmers. 300 tons since the program started. and sells over 100,000 bottles of malta h every day. heineken is betting its investment in local farmers will boost sales even higher. hooft graafland: they are all pieces of one big puzzle. ultimately, we need to get this economy going. farmers who earn more money will be consumers at the other side. stephanie: so if the farmers make more money, they drink more beer? hooft graafland: not only drink more beer, they will use more soap, they will buy more soup, they will buy stuff. so this will be a bigger market when the economy is getting better. stephanie: coming up --

>> every job is important. and i will fight for every job that i can create. stephanie: can the textile industry save haiti with jobs? ♪ ♪ stephanie: this is canaan. a slum to the north of haiti's capital, port-au-prince. it was empty before the earthquake.

♪ stephanie: this is canaan. a slum to the north of haiti's capital, port-au-prince. it was empty before the earthquake. now, about 100,000 people live here in makeshift shelters. in the bible, canaan is the place chosen by god for the israelites. but life in haiti's canaan is grim. charles henri baker: maybe what we are doing today will show the government that they need to come here and help the people of canaan. to have roads.

to have electricity. to have running water. stephanie: charles henri baker is a haitian politician. he has run for president two times and lost. he says canaan proves haiti is still struggling. stephanie: baker is also a successful businessman. his company, pb apparel, makes uniforms and medical scrubs for the u.s. market in a massive factory in port-au-prince. the president and the current administration want us to believe that haiti is open for business. is it? baker: no. we have the most expensive port in the nation, in the world. my labor is getting more expensive. my rent is more expensive. my banking fees are more expensive. stephanie: according to the world bank, difficult access to permits, credit, and electricity

make haiti one of the hardest countries to do business in. baker: when you come in and you look at the situation, haiti is closed for business. it is not open for business. stephanie: textiles, like the uniforms produced in baker's factory, make up 90% of haiti's exports. and almost all go directly to the united states. haitian textile manufacturers account for 10% of gdp and employ over 36,000 people. baker: right after the earthquake, the first thought that came to our mind -- we had 990 employees. how do we help them? i borrowed $120,000 from my customers. and bought food. stephanie: baker estimates that each of his employees supports another 10 people. if his workers sat idle, thousands were at risk. so baker opened his factory doors one week after the earthquake. baker: these are the realities of this country. so every job is important, and i will fight for every job that i

can create. stephanie: the earthquake caused an estimated $38 million in damage to haiti's apparel industry. rep. charlie rangel: when there is a crisis, the world looks to us. stephanie: the united states tried to revive the textile industry by passing the hope and help acts just four months after the disaster. they allowed for the duty-free import of some haitian products to the u.s. do you believe the hope and help act has worked? baker: the way we thought it would help, no. it has created about 10,000 jobs. it should have created 100,000 to 200,000 jobs within a five year period. and this has not happened. stephanie: research shows about 28,000 jobs were created by the hope and help acts. and, while that is not enough for baker, it is enough to keep some in the apparel industry optimistic. richard coles: the international community, including the united states leading the efforts, have done a lot of efforts. it is like seeds that have been planted and we start seeing the fruits coming out. stephanie: richard coles owns

multiwear, a factory were 2,000 people make hane's t-shirts. coles: haiti is the most competitive source for the apparel industry. if you take cost, we are the most competitive, from far, especially with hope-help. there are some garments that are exempt 35% duties, which makes us unbeatable. stephanie: still, it is a relatively low cost and motivated labor force that makes haiti so attractive. minimum wage is about $5.00 a day. ask people on the street what they need most, and you will likely hear "jobs." can we even ask the question is minimum wage fair here? or is the first thing we need to focus on just getting all these people jobs? coles: it's a very sensitive question. you do not want to have people working on sewing machines that are just survivors. when they go out, they barely have money in their pockets. you want them to be consumers. it is about the industry being more productive and paying people much more than minimum wage. stephanie: coles says he pays

his workers twice the minimum wage. where do you actually see haiti in five years? realistic. coles: if we are smart enough to work -- i am not talking politics, i am talking haiti. i think haiti will be, in five years, on the right track for success. stephanie: is haiti smart enough to do that? coles: haiti is getting mature. i have faith. stephanie: bringing a divided country together may prove to be haiti's biggest challenge. but, if there is one thing everyone can agree on, it's that haiti is not yet capitalizing on its potential. baker: haiti is a beautiful country. we have a beautiful people. and we'd like for them to be able to benefit from what god has given us in haiti. today, they are not. stephanie: coming up, using haiti's pristine beaches to attract tourism and investors. ♪

♪ stephanie: immediately following the earthquake, what did this look like here? gary philoctete: devastated. a lot of rubble. this is how we started here. cleaning rubble. so that people could transition back to their communities. stephanie: about 100,000 people had been living in this 2 square mile area of port-au-prince, called delmas 32, when their poorly-constructed homes collapsed in the earthquake. today, the jp haitian relief organization, known as j/p hro, is rebuilding the neighborhood. the actor, sean penn, founded j/p hro just days after the earthquake hit in 2010. philoctete: our mission is to save lives and build a sustainable program with the haitian people quickly and effectively. we will continue to build the program with the haitian people. not for them, but with them.

stephanie: the haitian government and the world bank had given nearly $9 million to fund the relocation and construction program. so far, over 5,000 families have been placed in new homes. philoctete: this is a model that can be replicated. we ensure that we have good contractors from the private sector to help the construction and we ensure that people in the community participate in the process. stephanie: the project also acts as a kind of trade school. local haitians are taught construction skills they can turn into jobs. 2/3 of haiti's workforce is unemployed or underemployed. and while the redevelopment projects like the j/p hro program will create some jobs, the government is betting tourism will be the country's golden ticket. ♪ stephanie villedrouin: the

president, when he took power, he said, we don't want more aid, we want investment. therefore, we actually invested in sectors as tourism that can bring revenues to the country. stephanie: stephanie villedrouin is haiti's tourism minister. it is her job to get the global hospitality industry to develop the country's coastline into a tourist destinations. she's focused on a tiny island 6.5 miles off the coast, where the government wants investors to create luxury resorts. villedrouin: ile-a-vache is where we started some tourism projects. so we are building a runway airport, a port, and a main road. stephanie: until the airport is built, the only way to get to ile-a-vache is by boat or helicopter. the government has spent $40 million developing the island. so far, no foreign investors have signed on. but carnival is investing in a different haitian island. the world's largest cruise line intends to develop a $70 million

port on tortuga island, off haiti's northern coast. villedrouin: carnival is one of our biggest achievement. they are going to be starting building in 2015. they are going to create jobs right away on the first phase of construction. stephanie: the deal with carnival has the potential to bring over 600,000 tourists to haiti annually. you have the most extraordinary beaches and mountains and waterfalls. but i wouldn't feel comfortable being in a country where i know there's areas, that if i didn't have a handler, a fixer, i couldn't get out. villedrouin: well, in each country, there is the bad neighborhood and the good neighborhoods. you are going to bring your

visitors, you can tell them this is the areas they can have access without any problems. now we have the specialized police department for tourism, and they are mostly all around. they are in front of hotels, they are in different parts where normally usually tourists go. stephanie: to help us navigate through the streets in towns of haiti, we hired a local entrepreneur. this is bayard jean bernard. bayard jean bernard: ok guys, so welcome to haiti. stephanie: jean bernard was our fixer. he is a local who speaks the language and helps foreign journalists move around the country. jean bernard was a student at haiti's only film school when the quake hit. he and his classmates went out into the street and started filming the carnage. they posted the images on the internet. jean bernard: we need to say that there is a problem here, we need help. stephanie: news organizations covering the quake started

hiring jean bernard to take them around haiti. jean bernard: i started to work like a fixer. more jobs came out, and i met more journalists. stephanie: five years after the quake, the president's campaign is "haiti is open for business." you believe it? jean bernard: i don't know if the business is here already, but haiti is open itself. they want business to come. haitians, they need jobs. stephanie: but jean bernard says what haiti needs most isn't business or jobs. haiti needs love. jean barnard: if you've never had love, you cannot give love to people. and haitians have a love problem. some haitians don't want to see the other haitians rise up, but this is a small mentality. once we get out of this, the country will rise up.

stephanie: haiti's needs are obvious. to turn the country around, the government must stabilize. investors must not exploit a poor population for profit. and the international community cannot forget about haiti until the next disaster. lasting change will require much

carol: with the right ingredients -- speed, quality, leadership -- steve: good morning. carol: chipotle has reinvented the fast food business. steve: monte: i believe that we could change fast food culture. carol: serving food with integrity has produced big profit. and those competitors are following suit. changing the way america eats. steve: we are really passionate about feeding our customers really great food.