Speeding in his car between the capital Tripoli and the Mediterranean coastal town of Al-Khoms, carrying three or four passengers a time, Mohammed Khaled is one of Libya's new breed of entrepreneurs.
The 23-year-old prefers his informal taxi service that can earn him 15 Libyan dinars ($11) or so on each one-way trip to the unpredictable and much lower wages of the oil-producing North African country's dominant and failing public sector.
"I don't want to work for government companies or administration. Sometimes you don't get paid for three or four months. I prefer working as a free businessman," he said.
His next goal is to trade in his Japanese vehicle for an American car after the United States relaxed its sanctions on Libya in late April as a reward for Tripoli's decision in December to scrap weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Libya's international rehabilitation has been accompanied by a drive at home to transform the economy from the socialist principles of Muammar Gaddafi's "Green Book" to what the Libyan leader now says could be some sort of "popular capitalism".
But the transformation, including selling 360 small to large state enterprises, promises to be tough. Most Libyans, unlike Khaled, are still employed by the state, even if many supplement their incomes with second jobs.
State wages may be low - averaging $200 or so a month, some experts say - but many workers will lose even those jobs if Libya attracts local and foreign investors to streamline what even officials admit are faltering state firms.
"We are going to privatise a number of public enterprise companies...The most important thing is how to find jobs for the workers who may be out of work after privatisation," Central Bank Governor Ahmed Menesi told Reuters in an interview.
It is a challenge in a country where diplomats say unemployment and underemployment are already growing problems. At the same, Libya still hosts a large workforce of migrant workers although residents say they do jobs most Libyans shun.
But Libya, with 5.5 million people, is in a better position than many countries which have made the transformation.
A member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), it has oil reserves of 36 billion barrels that could double or triple as the country boosts exploration, promising the government a steady stream of revenues.
Western diplomats say the economy could also benefit from a "peace dividend" if funds are diverted from its scrapped WMD programmes, although they say Tripoli is drawing up a shopping list of conventional arms that could squander the savings.
Libya is also trying to cash in on a wave of foreign interest as it has emerged from years of isolation. Prior to the relaxation of US sanctions, UN sanctions were scrapped after Libya took responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing.
"Libya is serious about making the country a place to attract foreign investment," said Rajab Shalgabu, chairman of the Libyan Foreign Investment Board, told a Tripoli business conference with a strong turnout of 400 delegates.
The government has implemented several reforms to make Libya more attractive, including creating a single exchange rate instead of tiered rates and updating its foreign investment code. The economy has been picking up. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report last year that growth was expected to be 5.6 percent in 2003 after a small contraction in 2002.
But the IMF attributed the economic bounce to an oil price surge and said sustainable growth required "a drastic reduction in the dominant role of the public sector".
Despite the surge of foreign interest, experts say most of it is focused on the oil industry, which has a poor reputation for creating jobs.
Would-be investors, meanwhile, complain of reels of red tape, a tortuous negotiations process even in the high-priority oil sector and say some basic investment guarantees, such as independent arbitration in commercial disputes, are missing.
After years of highly centralised government, investors say middle management has little power or will to take decisions. Experts say the government will also have to do more to reassure sceptical local investors that their funds are safe.
Tripoli began timid reforms some years ago, which led to a recent boom in small shops, turning the once rather soulless capital into a livelier if still slightly scruffy city.
"Some ministers want to make the pace of economic change quite fast, and some are saying let's be careful because if you go too fast there will be some consequences for that," British Trade Minister Mike O'Brien said in Tripoli in April.
The country is pinning many of its hopes on developing the tourist industry, which experts say has the capacity to absorb many of the country's large number of young people.
Sandwiched between Tunisia and Egypt, two popular tourist destinations, Libya receives only a trickle of visitors to its wealth of ancient sites and long Mediterranean coastline.
But experts say some key infrastructure needs overhauling, including ageing airports, before Libya can attract visitors in any numbers. It is also starting from a very low base. Tripoli boasts only one hotel of international five-star quality.
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