Mr Cooper is a founding member of Afren plc and has been active in the African natural resources sector for over 25 years.

During the 1980s, he devised and led an initiative to restructure what was, at the time, Liberia's biggest industrial project - an iron ore mining company with capital investment of over $600 million. Mr Cooper also formed Liberia's mining parastatal, whose management, marketing and financing requirements were contracted to Mr Cooper's companies.

Mr Cooper is a founding member and Chairman of the Liberian International Development Foundation.  He is also a Founder and Director of the African's African American Foundation.  Mr Cooper is also a member of the National Advisory Board of WEB Du Bois Institute of African Studies at Harvard University.