Noriyasu Okayama has been working in Laos for more than six years, helping out at a factory that manufactures and promotes the use of wheelchairs in that country.

Okayama, 43, oversees a dozen Laotian administrative staff and craftsmen at the factory, which provides disabled people with 400 custom-made wheelchairs a year. Run by the Laotian government with financial assistance from Japan, the factory is the only one of its kind in Laos.

Okayama plunged into assisting developing nations immediately after graduating from university.

After being involved in a number of projects, including one to boost rural development in Nepal, he decided to direct his energy toward welfare causes.

He came to Laos after responding to an advertisement posted by a private organization that was looking for people to help manage the wheelchair factory.

Okayama knew nothing about making wheelchairs at the time, but he soon became familiar with the ins and outs of the factory's business, and at the same time gained a new level of awareness of handicapped people's complex needs.

Okayama one day saw a child sitting awkwardly in a wheelchair that was far too big. The sight convinced him that "merely handing out [standardized] support is no good."

Every wheelchair made at the factory now is customized according to the intended user's physique and disability.

Japan has extended about 20 million yen in annual support to the factory, but this assistance will end in May. Okayama is busily helping the factory become financially independent by that time, and his ideas include selling advertising space on wheelchairs.

"I want the Laotian staff to get a sense of achievement by running the wheelchair factory by themselves," Okayama said.