125 Women Of Impact in the World

It's been exactly one month since three U.S. Magazines (The Daily Beast, Newsweek, and Women in the World) published a list of 125 Women of Impact in the World, in which they featured me and my work in Cameroon - boosting university students in creating business. 

It has been such an honor for me to be listed by these magazines, along with some of my role models such as Oprah Winfrey, Queen Rania of Jordan, and writer Chimamanda Adichie. 


To be honest, I am still very much of a hustler - quite far from attaining my vision (to contribute in a highly-impactful and quantifiable way to job creation, entrepreneurship promotion, and investment in early-stage startups in the Central Africa region, i.e. Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Congo-Brazza, Equatorial Guinea, and Central African Republic). My team and I are still trying to boost youths on the ground to think in a more entrepreneurial mindset and to dare to develop projects and propose business solutions to solve local problems - we are encouraged by the responses we get (from social media : facebook & twitter) and by the variety of projects proposed by some of the students we engage. 

Although this international recognition is an absolute honor, it does not mean I have "reached" the heights of impact as the high-caliber women I have been featured with.  I see it as a recognition of the work we do in Cameroon and equally as a booster to keep pushing, hustling and empowering our peers in Cameroon (and in the near future, other youths in the other central Africa countries). 

Creating an enterprise is a tough challenge; and initiating a new social-enterprise paradigm in a developing country, with a francophone-culture, could be even tougher because as I have blogged about before, among other things, there are very few documented stories of people who have done things similar before. So, with the multiple setbacks I have faced in the past years (and of which I have blogged about before - the frustrations, thefts, and setbacks) and with the many challenges we face on the day-to-day basis, it is refreshing to know we have big champions cheering us, encouraging our efforts and shining some light on what we do. For that, I am infinitely thankful!


 
Follow the link : http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/galleries/2013/03/28/women-in-the-world-125-women-of-impact-photos.html#4809dade-40e0-46ce-875f-abdcf1747290 

The Top-20 Solutionneurs 2013

I'm glad to present the Top-20 social-business that qualified to our "Solutionneurs" 2013 social-business program.
Below is an overview of the projects proposed, and the links that would lead you to view each project idea, and vote for them.

---- Get to know them ---

http://harambecameroun.blogspot.ch/p/2013-solutionneurs.html

View the Top-20 social businesses here, and vote for your favorite project on our facebook project-album. "Like" the project(s) you like the best. If you have anny comments or feedback, do not hesitate to share. (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.593858773958427.1073741826.117639504913692&type=1&l=1cff0d8242)

Opportunity to share experience and ambitions.

It's on the 29th of December, 2012 (a day after our business-seminar in Douala) that Beth - editor at The Next Women Magazine, contacted the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance to request an interview from me, as the theme in January was Africa. I thought it would be a great opportunity to share my experiences and thoughts. So, after submitting my MBA applications early January, and attending the inauguration of the "Water is Life" EWB-Bamendjou project, I responded to their interview questions, which they published on their website 3 weeks ago.

Today, I am surprised at the thousands of people who have read and the hundreds of those who have shared my story on social media.

Some of the things I would have liked to mention/clarify is that:
- Harambe Cameroon does not claim to be the first social enterprise in Cameroon, but the first social entrepreneurship program , i.e. a program to train people (mostly youths) and stimulates them to be social entrepreneurs. We take them from their knowledge of entrepreneurship and we engage them to develop social-businesses in a concerted and strategic way. As I mentioned in the interview, many people in Cameroon are social entrepreneurs without being conscious of it. Harambe-Cameroon, since 2009 consciously engages youths (through our various programs, info-sessions, competitions, and business seminars) to be social entrepreneurs.  
- I also omitted to mention one of the worldwide notable Cameroonian social entrepreneur, Gisele Yitamben, president of ASAFE - mentioned in the Social Entrepreneurship classic How to change the world - social entrepreneurs and the power of new ideas by David Bornstein, 
She is one of the pioneer social entrepreneurs in Cameroon.

With that, I invite you to Click on this link to read the entire interview...

Water is Life_The Genesis_EWB UDel in Bamendjou.

On Monday, January 14th, the Ambassador of the United States of America will be in Bamendjou!!! It will be the official launching of the "Water supply and solar-powered distribution system" project, which has provided access to clean water to about 5,000 people in the village. The project was started in June 2007 by the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) chapter of the University of Delaware (UDel) in collaboration with the community of the village of Bamendjou, Hauts-Plateaux, West, Cameroon.


I remember the beginning of the project like it was yesterday. It was about six years ago, in February 2007, I met with Julie Trick, then the president of the EWB chapter of (UDel), for brunch at the Baltimore Museum of Art to discuss the water-supply project I had emailed to their chapter, and to help them with the logistics of their first trip (in June 2007) to Cameroon.

Actually, the project started a little bit earlier than that. In April 2006, while still a freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), we had the visit of EWB on campus. Out of curiosity, I went to that information session on EWB, their goals, mission, actions, etc. At the end of the presentation, I asked them "What do you do to have EWB come to your community?" They told me "Write a proposal and submit it to an EWB chapter. The project proposal must come, however, from the community in need of engineering solution." I don't think they knew I had digested their words, and in my mind, I was going to tap into the resources EWB had to offer. 

After their visit, I called my dad in Cameroon, and asked him "dad, is there a community need engineers can help us resolve in Cameroon?" He said, of course, there are so many problems, one in particular was the lack of access to clean drinkable water in the village of Bamendjou, specifically in Bakang. This lack of access to clean drinkable water led people to drink infected water, and contract water-borne diseases such as dysentry, typhoid and cholera. I was shocked that in 2006, we still had cases of preventable, yet life-threatening diseases such as those. So, with half-a-dozen of engineer-students, who decided to establish an EWB chapter in WPI, I proposed the project of clean-water-addition in Bamendjou to them. 

In the summer of  2006 I returned to Cameroon, and participated in a conference : African Solutions to African Problems (ASAP), an International Engineers Conference held in Yaounde, Cameroun organized by the Alumni of the Advanced National School of Engineering (ENSPolytech) . We spoke there mainly about the responsibility engineers have to address and solve local problems. Boosted by my interaction with hundreds of engineers, who came from all over Cameroon, but also 8 other African countries, and the EWB from Colorado University; I was challenged to do something that will solve a local problem. During that summer, my father, Mr Toukam (the technical director of his civil engineering company) and I drafted the project proposal for the Bamendjou Water Addition project. That summer though, I received news from the Johns Hopkins University that I was admitted as a transfer student into the school. This academic change halted my initial actions with the EWB-chapter of WPI. 

When I arrived at Hopkins that fall 2006, I looked for the EWB club on campus. I attended one meeting, after which I tried to meet with its president, Maya, to whom I proposed the project in Cameroon. Unfortunately, the Hopkins EWB chapter already had 4 projects at hand (in South Africa, Equator, Honduras, and another country I can't remember). However, Maya told me (something like) : "I know of a new EWB chapter that opened in University of Delaware, they might be looking for a project, I can connect you with their president, and you try to pitch your project to them." And so she did. I introduced myself to Julie, told her about the serious need for the project, she told me she will propose it to their chapter, and they'll get back to me. This was in November 2006, I think. The EWB of UDel got back to me, and we started exchanging via email, and then phone on the details of the project. So in February when Julie and I met for brunch, the meeting was to plan their trip in Cameroon in June 2007. 

I returned to Cameroon end of May 2007, and in early June, when Mathias and I went to pick them at the Douala International Airport, I could not believe it! Somehow, until that point, the project was still a project in my head, and I did not fully grasp that six Americans will embark on this adventure in "Africa" based on an idea I had submitted to them on a piece of paper.

June 2007 : The EWB of UDel team at the Douala International Airport. 

 For five of the six engineers, it was their first trip to Africa. Really, I was amazed that they trusted the importance and viability of the project, to make such leap into a "no-man's-land." That was the beginning of the 6 years project that brought about 28 EWB of UDel engineers (civil, mechanical, environmental, chemical) to Cameroon to setup the water addition project in Bamendjou. 

In Bamendjou, June 2007, after a day of hardwork the EWB team pose with my dad and myself. 

EWB students working with men in Bamendjou.

From then on, I have had more of a facilitator role in the project - helping the engineers with letters of invitation to Cameroon, transportation from the airport, boarding in Yaounde, car-rental for 2 weeks, ensuring room and board for two weeks in the village, and connecting them to the right people in Cameroon. The engineers and the community people have done all the thinking, labor, ground-work, to make this project a reality for 5,000 people in the village.

In addition, Bamendjou and the city of Newarck, Delaware have signed Sister-city agreements to collaborate together in other initiatives and projects.

On Monday, January 14th, 2013, we will officially inaugurate the project, with the Cameroonian government and the American government representative, to illustrate, among other things, the impact that can be made when communities from 2 countries come together to solve human challenges. 

I'm deeply happy by the way this idea on a piece of paper has developed a life of itself, and has been transformed into a life-long, sustainable, scalable and blueprint project for other rural communities in Cameroon and other African countries. 

Academic paper written by Dr Steve Dentel, 4 years after the project (in 2011)

More pictures here : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.503242531062.2014079.29103130&type=1&l=be4d4fb17c

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January 14th, 2013 :
We organized the launching ceremony of the water project in Bamendjou. U.S. Ambassador Jackson and his wife made the trip to Bamendjou; as well as the GiZ, the chief of Bahouan, and notable Cameroonian businessmen and CEOs. 

The ceremony was buoyant! The energy was so positive! The populations prepared gifts they gave to the American Ambassador, then to the Engineers Without Borders; and to my utmost suprise, the M.C called my name on the mic', he said I should get ready to receive my "gift." I got up and stood infront of all the people gathered for the event. My Harambe collegue, Olivier Ekounda (who took 4 days off, to come to the village (and also discover the West region of Cameroon) with me) came up with me. 

 We were wondering what the gift was... and one of the chiefs of Bakang (a village of Bamendjou) opened a large-feather crown. He said, for all I had done to  bring clean water to Bamendjou, Him and the chief of Batoungouong, are giving me the honorary title of "Mah'Fo" (Queen), more specifically "Mah'fo Si" (The Queen God Sent). They explained, because the community cannot reward me materially for this project that has provided access to clean water to about 5,000 people, they give me the title of "Mah'Fo."  To be honest, I don't fully know what being a Mah'fo entails. But, amongst other thing, they told me : now, I can dance with the other queens of the village; and wherever I go (ceremonies in the village or outside) the will always give me a honorary place/seat. They blessed me with a big descendance, so that, as the chief said: "my grand children's children may  harvest the fruits of my good actions." They praised, blessed, and thank me. It was truly humbling!

I had to do a Mah'fo dance, so I just went with the rythm. lol 

Then I posed for a picture with the 2 chiefs and Mayor Mukam :) 

And then with the warm and cheerful Mrs Jackson, wife of the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon.

And finally with my support system, my dearest people who made it to Bamendjou for the ceremony, and who were witnesses to my entitlement as Mah'Fo.  

Charlie Wandji , Mommy, Mrs Jackson, Myself, and Yannick Ngondiep

What more can I say? add? express? I thank God. I thank Him for His amazing Grace and His divine Favor in my life. I thank Him for using me as His instrument of love, joy and warmth. There is still sooo much to be done though, and I am, as usual, on multiple projects (check out my new baby : Solutionneurs). I pray God may keep inspiring me, enlightening me, and using me to initiate and implement more development/impact projects; and more importantly, I hope He uses me to keep motivating my brothers and sisters around the world to do more, to meaningfully impact our societies. 

Three Challenging, Engaging & Empowering initiatives in one month.

I don't know were I found the time and energy, during my first year in Cameroon, to blog as often as I used to ( at least five times a month), on everything and nothing, on my thoughts, reflections and experiences on the ground... Today, 3 years down the line, I get so caught up with activities upon activities that I forget to engrave my thoughts/feedback in my virtual memory!  

This month of August 2012, though,  I initiated and participated in three challenging, enriching and edifying activities that I need to share with you all. 

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1. The first ten days of August Harambe Cameroon and SMEToolkit Cameroon organized Two one-day Seminars (one in Yaounde (Aug. 08) , and one in Douala (Aug.10)) on :

"How to start up a small and medium sized enterprise in Cameroon?"

A 2 minutes video overview of the entrepreneurship training sessions: 

With close to 150 entrepreneurs and project-bearers present in both cities, we trained, informed and stimulated the participants to be more entrepreneurial in Cameroon.

The partnership between Harambe Cameroon team and SME Toolkit Cameroon has been the best of many partnerships I've established in the past two years. It had nothing to do with "Having sight but no vision." We worked in a very collaborative and trustful way. Each party respecting his/her engagements and taking 50% each of responsibilities, liabilities, and rewards. After my 2 years experience with many bitter-taste collaborations, this one was quite refreshing!

In addition, my Harambe team mates, the Harambe-Ambassadors , who have embarked on this social entrepreneurship journey with me, with no pay, no salary, simply believing in our values and mission; were present and active in both cities, and they gave so much of themselves to deliver on 2 successful training seminars.

I was really really proud and happy of each single one of their efforts (as I explained in the video below) 

In this video, I explain the raison d'etre of these seminars and training sessions. 

I was equally honored to have the JournalduCameroon.com -  highly read and renown online newspaper - dedicate an interview on my observations on the need to capitalize on Cameroon's SMEs and entrepreneurs to boost the nation's socio-economic development.  

Find on the Harambe Cameroon website a comprehensive report of the Entrepreneurship days we organized, on "How to start up a business in Cameroon?"

Given the success and positive evaluations of this first edition, by entrepreneurs and SMEs in Cameroon, SMEToolKit-Cameroon and Harambe Cameroon decided to re-edit these Entrepreneurship days in December 2012 - On Friday, the 28th (in Douala) at the Chamber of Commerce. The themes this time will be on Investment in Cameroon, Diaspora Engagement, and Optimizing the performances of one's enterprise. We will connect members of the Diaspora with local Cameroonian entrepreneurs, and we will highlight invest opportunities in various sectors on the ground. 

For more information about this upcoming SMEs/Business seminar, stay tuned on our facebook page. 

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2. In mid-August (from the 15th to the 21st of August) I joined a peer organization (Melting Pot Development) on a humanitarian socio-tourism trip, in 8 towns, cities, and villages of Cameroon; to make donations to orphanages and health centers, while discovering our country. 

After the trip, I shared this note with my friends on the Facebook photo album I created: 

"As a fervent proponent of teaching people how to fish vs giving them fish, I always had a radical view on charity, until I embarked on this Humanitarian Road Trip which transformed my perspective of "giving back" to the community. In one sentence, teaching people how to fish does not exclude giving them fish! They need the food to survive, while you are helping them build their capacities.

That said, If we could take just 5 days out of 365 days of our lives each year, to do something altruistic larger than ourselves, not only will we empower others (with food, donations, clothes; but also with practical workshops, tools to generate revenue, strategic social entrepreneurship planning) and in the process of doing so, revitalize and empower ourselves! Because, as Barack Obama once said, it's only when you hitch your wagon for something larger than yourself that you realize your full potential!"

It was an amayzing and uplifting human adventure with the kids at all the orphanages we visited. Take a look at the pictures of our 5 days road trip.

An international /Pan African channel (VoxAfrica.com)  followed parts of our activities, and featured (among other things) a 5 minutes reportage of our humanitarian trip.
Video

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3. The third initiative I participated in, End-of-August ( August 27th, 2012) was the Young African Leaders' Symposium a the US Embassy of Yaounde. A sequel to the first symposium organized by President Barack Obama in D.C. in 2010. 

The main goal of this symposium was to provide "an opportunity for young Cameroonians who participated in previous YAL and other programs to share their stories with counterparts and highlights the sustained U.S. engagement in developing a sustainable dialogue among youth organizations in Cameroon." 


Nfinyo T. Mabu, youth leader of whom I blogged about in my earliest posts, also 2004 Leadership IVLP  delivered a vibrant and compelling Key note  address to the 40 youth leaders present. (Excerpt) : 

"...I am especially pleased to present this address amongst this special group of Cameroon’s Youth Leaders, who have not only distinguished themselves in their various leadership duties, but have also had sustained commitment to help change lives and build a Cameroon that is indeed a ‘land of promise; land of glory’ as refrained in our National Anthem. How promising and glorious shall our land be if there is inadequate servant leadership that focuses on the growth and welfare of its people?

If we are here today, it is because we have distinguished ourselves as youth leaders who can have visions and actively shape the future of our communities. We are still a distance away from the age when we shall dream dreams, and when the grey of age comes for us to dream, it should be about the legacies we have left for future generations.

The only place to start is where we are. We have to start with what we have, and not with what we don’t have. It is often said opportunity is always where you are and never where you were. To get anywhere, you must launch out from somewhere. So here and now is the time for young Cameroonian and African leaders..."

Later on, Churchill Mambe shared with us his achievement at creating an efficient online job-search engine, Njorku,  ranked by Forbes Africa as one of the 20 Africa start-ups of the year. 

Jacqueline Kamsu, CEO of BeadSpace, shared her story as a struggling single mother who had no dolars to startup a business, but after participating in a skill building seminar in 2011, started producing jewelry with recycled paper (like the earrings she is wearing in the picture - source) , which she has transformed into a money making business. This initiative has opened many doors of opportunities through Women Empowerment and skill building seminars in the U.S , and a heavy investor from the U.K, as well as a dynamic team of employees & trainees in Cameroon. Read more.

The Symposium ended with most of us exchanging with each other and building partnerships for future projects, initiatives and businesses. 

I actually agreed on a collaboration proposed by Romeo Ngaba, leader of an organization called A Better Cameroon, with whom we would launch an anti-corruption video-media campaign in January. In brief, ABC (through its founder, Junior Mekinda, with whom I worked on a project , in 2010, to help sickle cell patients ) has created a Cameroonian young Super Hero whose mission is to fight against corruption and remind citizens of civic actions. It's a project I'm quite excited about because it will revolutionize the way we perceive, interpret and cope with corruption and uncivil acts in our society... stay tuned!  

That's about that for my August month of challenging, engaging and empowering community development and social impact activities. 

The initiatives in the upcoming months are quite exciting!

Here's what I'll be up to (a pre-excuse for my un-blogging/temporary blog-silence during those periods. lol )

- In September :  I'm launching a for-profit with 5 partners ( L'Esquis du Palais) . Yup, I have to live what we preach to the youths/ students we engage at our info-sessions to start businesses to solve local problems. 

- In October: USA-bound - My gurl Salmah Rizvih is getting married, AND I have to visit Business schools and take the GMAT (wish me luck :) ). 

- In November (Bday month!!!)  I return to Cameroon to work on Super Camer (Anti Corruption Campaign) and to  launch my 2nd for-profit venture (with 2 partners and a dozen of  associates) Solutionneurs Consulting (which to be honest I have been doing informally for the past 2 months, cuz I still needed to rally enough capital to start it up as a Limited Liability Company (LLC)) 

- In December: Harambe Cameroon (non for profit) is organizing the 2nd edition of our Entrepreneurship Days, in collaboration with SMEToolkit Cameroon. 

Those are the major initiatives I can think about now. I will try to blog more about each one of those, when the ripe time comes. 

Until then, 

Keep Loving, Keep Giving, Keep Blessing! 

Beijing a boon to Africa? I beg to differ Dambisa Moyo.

Although Dambisa Moyo's analysis of Chinese economic penetration in Africa provides a quite positive view on the impact of China in Africa , I beg to differ on the positivity of the job-creation impact of China in Africa. 

For the past 2 weeks I've been gaining great insight and work experience working with my father’s civil engineering /construction company (CACOCO-BTP) in Cameroon. These past weeks I have spent on the field and in the company’s archives, have made me realize how much local construction companies are a great source of job-creation for hundreds of Cameroonians. 

The current construction site of CACOCO-BTP directly employs close to 400 people, and indirectly (e.g. the carpenters, tile-makers, painters - for the next stage of the construction site) about 600 people; this, for a period of 2 years. Think about the positive economic impact this construction-site has on multiple families across the nation! Many of the construction-site workers, who could have been unemployed for 2 years, now earn a secure source of income, for at least 6 months (depending on the period of  time their services are needed on the construction site).

Another advantage, I realized, local construction  companies bring to the job-creation sector of the economy is the training of (both qualified and unqualified) workers. 

A construction site, like the Camp-SIC Tsinga CACOCO-BTP is currently building does not need 100% qualified labor. Out of the 400 people working on the site, only 10% are permanent qualified staff (chef d'équipe – team leaders), 30% are temporary-qualified staff ( ouvriers qualifiés – qualified laborers) and the remaining 60% are unqualified (manoeuvres - laborers).  

Construction site - 5 R+5 city appartment buildings. 

The “manoeuvre” after 6 months (performing tasks such as turning sand-and-gravel, carrying wood & irons bars, making bricks) can become ouvrier (doing more qualified tasks like building the walls, making the floors, et al). Just like that, workers who may have had no construction skills prior to the construction-project, upgrade their skills as they receive hands-on training, and end their job-experience with a higher skill-set. This is important because on a subsequent construction site, instead of starting as a “laborer”  the worker will start as a  qualified laborer. It makes a significant difference not only for skill-building in a nation with a deficit in vocational/practical training, but it also makes a substantial difference for personal-revenue-gain, in a nation with a 10+ % rate of unemployment.

On a construction-site in Cameroon, a laborer (manoeuvre) earns about $6/day (this may sound insignificant compared to U.S. or developed countries standards, but also compare it to the World Bank’s statistics that the average African lives under $2/day, and that the middle-class person in Africa is ranked as earning $2/day to $20/day; with that in mind, you understand that $6/day gives workers a higher-than-average standard of living). Moreover, the qualified temporary laborer (ouvrier qualifié) earns about $12 a day, and the qualified permanent staff (chef d'equipe) earns about $16 a day.

Now imagine, when our country offers infrastructure-works to Chinese companies (who often than not, I would argue with Dambisa Moyo on this point, import most of their workers from China, to work on construction sites in Cameroon), imagine the subtractive (not to say negative) impact it has on potential local job-owners and on the latter’s households. That’s why when I read Dambisa Moyo’s tone when she states: “And the charge that Chinese companies prefer to ship Chinese employees (and even prisoners) to work in Africa rather than hire local African workers flies in the face of employment data. In countries like my own, Zambia, the ratio of African to Chinese workers has exceeded 13:1 recently...”   I can’t help think of my particular example in Cameroon, which I won’t use as a generality, but which I hope, sheds light on another face of the China-Africa socio-economic-relations’ cube.

Palais-des-sports built 100% by Chinese

Taking my modest observations of Chinese-companies in Cameroon’s infrastructure sector, I must say, 2 of the most known buildings constructed by Chinese companies (Palais des Sports and currently,  “l’Immeuble de la mort”) were and are, entirely built by Chinese workers. Some people might claim that, because it’s a “gift” of the Chinese government to Cameroon, they had to do it all themselves, and deliver the gift fully packed to Cameroon; but, I don’t think it justifies employing 90+ % Chinese labor. 

Japanese offer schools to Cameroon, built by local companies. 

Compare with the Japanese government, for instance, they have been offering school - "gifts" (donations of schools) to Cameroon since 1998, and each school built has been done by a local company (CACOCO-BTP built 40 of these Japanese schools, in 3 main regions of Cameroon).  

"L'Immeuble de la Mort" rennovated by Chinese-company

Other people may claim, arguably so, that Chinese workers do the job faster and cheaper; but, at what human-socio-economic costs?  500 Cameroonians could have been directly employed to build Palais des Sport (and in the process upgrade their skills and standard-of-living), 800 Cameroonians could be currently working on the renovation of “Immeuble de la Mort”  ( article in French ) and in the process generate an additional source of income for themselves and their families.  What is the point of building all these infrastructures anyways?! if the people of the country, are not prioritised as the benefiters of the  infrastructures' realizations? What’s the point of hastily building in 1-year (with 90+ % of Chinese laborers) what could be built perhaps in 2-years (or less), with hundreds of local-jobs created, and many more households economically empowered?!

I can’t help being a tiny bit revolted  at the local-job-creation potential, being wasted with Grand-Chinese-Infrastructure-Realizations.  This problem is more pertinent now, with the finalization, yesterday – Thursday  June 28th, of China’s (through its Ex-Im bank) 451 million dollars loan to Cameroon, to build 135 miles of road between Douala (the economic city) and Yaoundé (the capital).  Following this loan, the government has opened bids for Chinese companies, to come do the road construction work ( the Chinese government might as well bluntly say : "hey Cameroon, we lend you money, so that you may employ our people to do your infrastructure & development work" <--- does this insult some one else's common-sense? ). That, to me, trivializes all the local road-construction companies, who have proven themselves, literally on the ground, and who would recruit hundreds more local staff than Chinese-companies.   

I am not arguing for-or-against Chinese economic partnership in Africa. At this point, we are bound to trade, exchange, and do business together. As Dambisa Moyo rightfully says, “Despite all the scaremongering, China’s motives for investing in Africa are actually quite pure. To satisfy China’s population and prevent a crisis of legitimacy for their rule, leaders in Beijing need to keep economic growth rates high and continue to bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. And to do so, China needs arable land, oil and minerals. Pursuing imperial or colonial ambitions with masses of impoverished people at home would be wholly irrational and out of sync with China’s current strategic thinking.”

My point here is just to raise awareness on the impact our (Cameroon’s) decisions, to accept Chinese-companies in key job-creation sectors – such as infrastructure, has on our socio-economy. I am making no generalization about Africa, simply providing a different view, not based on anecdotes I have heard, but based on hands-on observations and concrete experience on the ground in Cameroon.   

So, is Beijing really a boon to Africa? I can’t affirm it as confidently as Dambisa Moyo. I would rather say, it is a tough-reality we (Africans) must adjust to, analyze critically, and mold to benefit our people within our socio-economic sphere.