#20 - JULY 5, 2010 = 365th Day in Kmer: ONE YEAR REFLECTION... Experiences + Lessons learned

It's been a year since I wrote my ONE-YEAR reflection of my coming back to Cameroon. Today (July 5th, 2011) marks the 2nd year of being back in Kmer. I must say, most of the analysis I made last year are still valid one year later. Harambe-Cameroon has certainly evolved - we've mobilized a fan base of 3640 people on our facebook page - in 3 weeks - and we have successfully engaged teams of university students to propose project solutions to solve local problems (the Best project - selected from the competition process gets $6 000 seed funding). This year, we also received the Ministry of Higher Education's recommendation to all 6 state universities of Cameroon, so we may implement Harambe Clubs in each university (to be done starting this October) - as such, have access to a minimum of 50 000 students, and a maximum of 300 000 students. In addition we have constructed a data base of 25 000 students we can contact via sms/phone call (think how gr8 this could be for your visibility, or to sell a product/service/idea to that target group?). There are many more things that have helped us progress this 2nd year. 

Yet, some of the key issues I underlined in my One-Year Reflections are still current : We still need a database of stories of entrepreneurs from Cameroon/Africa (those who succeeded/ those who didn't), in order to make the journey easier for those coming after us, and basically to stop our collective sense of individuality - where each person (knowingly, but often with much ignorance) thinks they would "invent the wheel." Yet if we shared our experiences, we will give others a stepping stone from which to start, that way, that way the next generation will work on inventing cars vs wheels (dunno if you get my analogy here?) Basically, Africans need to share their tales of success + failures, plus the inside tips, to those thriving to work on the continent, to facilitate people's lives! That's partly why I keep blogging. Although I don't blog much about my experiences & hurdles anymore ('cause I honestly feel like my first year of blogging was a lot of (sometimes) whining, (often) complaining, (but mostly) highlighting so much of the local realities, that I don't need to repeat myself...Or perhaps, it's simply that spending 2 years here, have numbed me to some of the craziness happening around here. Or maybe my critical eye, and sharp observation have just decreased! I don't know the exact reason. Let's say it's all  of the above.) Still I try to keep you all updated with what's going on.

Let me stop here before the intro becomes twice as long as the blogpost in question. lol.

Read on... 

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After an entire year spent in Cameroon (July 5^th 2010 would be the 365^th day), trying to gain work experience and explore the “realities on the ground”; primarily, trying to establish my NGO (Harambe-Cameroon - that seeks to engage a generation of young entrepreneurs and problem-solvers), I have A LOT to reflect on, to scream about, to laugh out loud and cry aside, to learn and most importantly to share. (so get ready for the read, this might be one of my longest blogpost!)

I have come to realize that people here rarely share their experiences, whether of success or failure. And so many neophytes, as myself, engage on frequently-traveled-roads, and fall in the same pot holes our predecessors fell into. Hence, many reinvent the wheel or refight already-fought battles. U know, in Cameroon it’s not like in the US where thousands of people have written books about their life, challenges, experiences, and expertise – books that serve to educate and inspire people who might have similar situations or ambitions. In the US, a young person trying to start his business can “google”/”amazon”/or “Barnes&Noble” a book on their topic of interest. My point here is not to compare US and Cameroon, but to demonstrate the need to have a bank of stories of personal endeavors from which people can learn from, in order to, amongst other things, not fall in the same pitfalls as many.

For example, if at the beginning of my endeavor I was told to consider the following things I underwent, things might have been less physically and emotionally arduous:

-  In order to have your association legalized, you have to prepare an extra 25.000FCFA ($50) to pay the officer so they can give you a receipt in 2 weeks vs 3months (another way for the officer to say “never will you get your receipt, if you don’t motivate me).

-          I wish I had been told, when you invite journalists to your event, no matter how interesting, and community-rewarding your project is, you must plan at least 10.000FCFA($20) for each journalist (not each press organ), i.e. the reporter must have his dough, and the cameraman as well. If you fail to roll with the flow, the journalists who come to your event may intentionally publish a negative report of how your event went. (you don’t want that now, do you?)

-     I wish I had also been told that some government agencies might verbally promise you their utmost support, but leave you stranded the very moment you are soliciting their help. Or that government agents might be reluctant to engage in an activity that’s theoretically in their realm of interest.

-     If only I had known it would be the person I trusted with my money that would embezzle me (yes, I’ve been embezzled like our government), and plunge me into this $1,200 debt that I’m having headaches paying off!?

I tell you, I have had many mouth-drop, you’re-not-serious moments! Revolted, disgusted, angry at this system… you don’t agree with some practices, e.g. paying the journalists to cover your event, but what can you do? Either you pay the price of not having any media coverage (which was the lowlight of 2 of our events, not because I was deliberately protesting against paying the journalists, but because, I hoped they would be attracted to our cause, but they could care less!); or you use that 4^th power (the media), plan in advance the 10thou u will give each media you invite, and you have your event broadcasted across the nation!

Cameroon, oh Cameroon! It’s certainly not a land for naïve, weak-of-mind, or impatient people. To survive in this society, you must be a fusion of:

   A Warrior (Persevere through each battle to win the War)

       + Hustler (have a Drive that will keep you moving)   

       + Optimist (despite how dire the situation may look, the best is always yet to come).

You also need, in Nfinyo Mabu’s words “an ounce of faith, a teaspoon of hard work, and an overdose of prayer.”

I will add to that, you need A Sense of Humour + Adventure. If not, I tell you, you will be pissed all day, all the time… whether it’s by the taximan squeezing you in the front seat of a cab with a boy stinking fish, like he’d taken a bath in fish-water (that happened to me yesterday); or by college students who can’t shut up for one minute to listen to the information you want to give them about a competition that will serve them good! Or a man twice your age (yes, exactly twice my age) that would SERIOUSLY (I stress on the serious part), tell you (not even ask) he wants you to be his SECOND wife, like it’s an honor; granted, he is a multimillionaire… I actually laughed it off, like “u’re kidding! Come on! U’re kidding”, and he was dead serious! Come on now, why should I trade my blank-check for a red check that would only bring me additional problems! Uh uh! I’d rather have my young boy who has nothing, but great ambition, drive and a dream on a piece of paper, than commit to someone who has already lived his life and will take me as a trophy-wife (That’d be the tragedy of my life!).

Back to my point, most times I am shaking my head and laughing things off, cuz  if I take most of these things seriously or personally ... hmmm… then by now I’d be either planning my trip back to the US,  or be a bitter negative and suicidal B****!  Real talk. This society can deflate your hype and energy so quickly! It can turn you into a sour negative person so easily! Today I understand the thousands of Cameroonian who came back with a positive will to help advance our nation, gave it a try, saw how difficult it gets, balanced the odds between staying and leaving, understandably chose the latter, and went back to their host-country with little remorse.

Unfortunately, many people don’t share their stories. Granted, many are not asked to share! Still, the successful people around seem to have become rich and successful overnight. Those who weren’t successful just fade out… It’s still a mystery to most Cameroonian how some of the wealthiest men in the nation have become who they are today; whether it’s Fotso Victor, Kadji de Fotso, Paul Fokam Kamogne, Group Fadil, etc. Yet, when you ask each one of them a question pertaining to a problem you are going through, they will tell you they went through the exact same thing, and even accurately predict what you might be going through in the near future.

That’s what I discovered when I complained to my aunt&uncle who own a very  successful IT company in Douala (CREATIVE), about managing people in my team. They told me “it’s the same thing in our company! You are frequently negotiating with people you pay, to correctly do the job they are employed to do!” Another uncle told me “Staffing is the number one problem in Cameroon!” My dad, general manager, for the past 25 years of his construction company (CACOCO-BTP), told me “After 25years i still have human resources problems!" That said, it's a problem that certainly will not end from one day to the other.  

And recently, I spoke to 2 civil society leaders, who went through similar and even worse challenges with establishing their NGOs in Cameroon. For example I told one of them I had about $1200 (600.000CFA) of debt to pay (how I got into debts, I explain it below), he told me when he started 4 years ago, he borrowed up till $10,000 (5.000.000CFA) and still has $2.000 to pay...Their stories and experiences did not erase my problems, but it helped me rationalize and have the right mindset to tackle them.

 

I am actually thinking about making a little documentary in which I will interview 5-6 people in the Civil Society, in Business, and Politics, who have gone through hell and back. In my documentary, each actor will explicitly and in-details explain the challenges they went through, and how they managed to pull through. Again, their narratives might not prevent all the problems someone might face when establishing their organization (there will always be issues that come up), but it will help people be more mindful of potential obstacles, avoid some holes here and there… in short, it will ease the road for those coming after.

But before I speak about other people’s stories, let me share some of mine. After one year of work experience - Interning at UNICEF for 3months, then representing the African Investment Corporation-USA  in Cameroon (africaninvestcorp.com), Plus, part-time selling homes for a company that’s innovating the real-estate sector of Cameroon with the mortgage system (adcafrica.com) – here are my thoughts, reflections and experiences, specifically on my efforts to establish Harambe Cameroon:

In 3 points….

POINT 1:

It’s been rough, I won’t lie. Really rough! And even as we closed the year with a competition and ceremony (on June 3^rd), there’s still a lot I have to deal with. I have to deal with all the financial aspects: journalists who had to be paid for covering our event, video and cameraman who also have to be paid, debts that have rolled over since the fundraising event (explained below)… all this, I have to handle. The others sympathize, but no one can take a dime out of their pocket to alleviate any of these costs… As is often said success has a thousand parents, but defeat is an orphan… and I add, unless it has a mother that can’t abandon it.  When it comes to taking credit for a successful event, everyone wants the light to shine on them, but when it comes to dealing with the critical problems and challenges, everyone disappears. Such is human nature. It’s not just a Harambe thing. In this case, when you are the concept founder, all the responsibility falls on you.


Lesson Learned (1): Leadership is probably the toughest, hardest and loneliest position in the whole Universe!

Which leads me to my next point:

POINT 2:

I still feel 95% of the weight heavily sitting on my back – whether it’s financial, organizational, or emotional. I didn’t expect it to be so after an entire year of activities. I thought with one or two events, we will build a momentum that’d get people to jump on the wagon. And internally, with members of the organization, for practically everything done (whether letters, or appointments, or printouts, or other), I have to make sure all the work to be done is “chewed-ready-to-swallow” for anyone else to execute it without making a mistake. If not, as I had mentioned in a previous post, there’s a huge problem of rigor in tasks delivered: footnotes are not correct, dates are not updated,  the message may not be coherent, the display is not aesthetic, there are mistakes allllll over! Those are things that tick my last nerve – half-ass work, urgh!

So whether it’s organizational or financial, it’s been a heavy load to carry. But as the saying goes, “when you pray, don’t pray for a lighter load, but a stronger back.” I agree very much with that, and it’s kept me working, working, and working, with God fortifying me… Still, I wish someone could help me do some of the little things like typing up letters (or actually, just updating templates I’ve already written), calling the media and other guests, double checking the room is ready, etc.  It’s not like there are not people for these tasks in the team though. There’s a PRO, a secretary, a logistics officer, and others… But, again, as happened twice before (during the first competition, before the fundraising event ), before this 2^nd competition, most of them were busy with school, and other problems, so some backed down, others were MIA, in short, there was the recurrent problem of unavailability and unreliability. What can you do then? D-Day-2? The job needs to be done, so you have to do it!

Lessons learned (2):

I have restructured the organogram of the team. Previously, I had designed it with positions ranging fom President, VP, Project manager, Financial officer, Partnership and strategies, interns, public relations, marketing…about 12 posts, like we were an established corporation. Back then I used to think if each member has a specific position, he/she will take charge and deliver according to his/her position. Unfortunately it wasn’t the case. An advisor told me, as a starter, you should not have more than 5 people in your team, if not it becomes a crowd. You end up busy managing people vs managing the organization’s main problems. So what I decided is this:

First: Decrease the amount of positions, have 4-5 departments. In addition to the Presidence, there will be 5 departments: Secretariat (SG + translator), Financial (treasurer+fundraising chair), Communications (PRO+marketing), Management (Project manager), and Partnerships&Strategies (which might even be condense in another one).  In each department there are 2 members, one in charge, the other assists. It might change depending on the competence and productivity of each person. In addition, there’s the Board of advisors, Internship Program, and Legal Advisor.  That’s the new structure.

Second: Like my friend, Melvin Wajiri – Coordinator of Dance4Life, Cameroon, I will establish a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU), with each member/staff/or intern. They will sign a contract stating they will fulfill their responsibilities to Harambe-Cameroon. For interns or volunteers, they will sign a contract saying they will give, for example, 2 hours of their time to Harambe/week. This written agreement, I believe, will decrease the laxness within the organization.

POINT 3:

I made the mistake of organizing 3 events in the span of 3 months. Why? Because once we fixed a date for an event, we wanted to meet deadlines and deliver what we promised we would (I, and my American ways, take the responsibility for this!)

-     It started with the first Elevator Pitch Contest in Cameroon, which we hosted on March 5^th 2010.  For this competition, we asked students to “Identify a problem in your community, propose a solution to that problem, and articulate it in 90seconds.”The event was a first in the nation, and it was a buoyant success: Mt Febe Hotel and the US Embassy, respectively, sponsored the location and the prizes. The 4 best solutions to local problems were rewarded, and the event was greatly appreciated by all attendees. The general opinion was that it’s an innovative concept, very practical and necessary for Cameroon’s youths to express themselves and be local problem-solvers.

o  After all the encouragements and the hype about the first competition, we decided to host a second edition of the competition 3 months later, in June. This time around, we decided to be theme-specific: “Can you find a project-solution to an environmental problem?” (Today, I think we could’ve had more time between the 2 events). In order to organize another competition, we had to:


1. Book appointments at several universities in Younde, to host info-sessions about Harambe Cameroon and its June Competition. (Pictures below) 

Ecole Nationale de Superieur de Batiments et   Travaux-Publics (ENSBTP)

University of Yaounde I (Ngoa-Ekele)

                                       

Institut Ndi-Samba Superieure.

2.  Seek funding: We dropped letters at more than 20 institutions that work either in development, entrepreneurship, or environmental issues; to ask for an “audience” (in French for a meeting). We received less than 5 responses back, Imagine! Mind you, among these 20 institutions, 90% want to help development, but they can’t even give you 5minutes of their time to listen to what you propose on the development agenda. Nor do they even acknowledge your request for a meeting. Smh! (So much printing and transportation money vamoosed in the air!)

3. Organize a fundraising event: We decided to organize a fundraising event, in order to make money for the following Elevator Pitch Contest. We didn’t want to rely anymore on unresponsive or unreliable sponsors, especially after sending unanswered letters to more than a dozen of them. So we said we’ll act as we say and be entrepreneurial: organize a fundraising event… Let me elaborate on that before I continue with this POINT 3:

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THE HARAMBE-CAMEROON FUNDRAISING SOIREE

The Theme: “Represent your favorite Indomitable Lion by wearing his jersey”.

The Goal:

1. Fundraise for the the June 3^rd  – “The Problem-Solvers: 90 seconds to convince” Competition: The best project idea, a solution to a local problem, will receive both a reward and seed funding for the implementation of their social innovation project.



2.  Ensure Harambe-Cameroon’s sustainability: Funds to sustain our mission: "To inspire a new generation of young leaders and entrepreneurs who see problems as opportunities in need of solutions.

3. Celebrate Cameroon's National Day, and Cameroon@50 by highlighting the INDOMITABLE LIONS, as a model of excellence and dynamism for Cameroon's youth to follow: Harambe-Cameroon seeks to encourage Cameron's youth to have the "Lion's Spirit": The spirit of a fighter! So that they may propose ideas, create projects and tackle our collective problems for the benefit of our nation. 

The Location: At Nfinyo Mabu’s residence. 

In attendance: There were about 120 people (mostly university students and young professionals), the national TV - CRTV (filmed the event and aired it many times on TV the following week). We had about 20 American students (3 of which interned in Harambe) who studied in Kmer for 6months, and a couple of US marines; plus local artists like ONE LOVE, and Sydney (Winner of Africa Star).

The party was actually a success: people gave us an A+ because they had fun, it was an innovative concept, and they enjoyed themselves. The DJ was fantastic (fusion of Cameroonian muzik, and R&B, Hip-hop done by Leon Nkongo, aka DJ XL, freshly back from London/Brighton) ...

Group of American College students doing their study abroad in Cameroon 

DJ XL - straight from Brighton -UK and others

   

Interns from Dickinson College and Georgetown University - USA. 

Interview by the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) 

With Harambe-Cameroon collegue - Frank Betote

           

Internally though, we had a crisis: we didn’t meet our objective, i.e.  to FUND-raise, not Fun raise. We were hoping to make at the very least 1 million francs ($2000), but we only raise 180.000FCFA the day of, and about 200.000 with ticket sales:


Why didn’t we meet our objectives? We fleshed out some reasons at the evaluation meeting. The Number One reason was, as the US Economic crisis, OVER SPECULATION! We expected more the 300 people, thus, we invested on food and drinks our guests will buy during the party. Since less people than expected came, we wasted a lot of food and drinks.

 

  Secondly, the money I borrowed to organize the party (since I knew we will fundraise much more and pay back the person the next day), got embezzled. Not all of it, but parts of it. I trusted someone with managing the funds correctly, little did I know he’d be the one using some of that money to handle some of his issues. The thing that still pinches my heart a little is that I had to pay back all that money, including what he used for his stuff. He didn’t even contribute 100frs (a quarter) to pay back the debt…nor did he try to know how I manage to postpone the payment… Anyways, I found myself like one of these African countries: fooled, abused and embezzled. That’s a lesson learned! Left a bitter taste in my mouth, but hey, a problem is always an opportunity to learn, to mature, to grow…

And as Pastor Joel Osteen said, it’s up to us to turn our test into our testimonies. I did an exercise Marianne Williamson advises to do, which I encourage you to try as well, i.e. find someone that angers you, gets on your nerves, or has hurt you, and pray for the person today. Pray for his happiness, for his joy, for the best in his life. I know, It’s hard to forget the ire you have towards the person, but trust me, as you start praying and blessing the person, you feel a weight lifted from your heart, you feel liberated. I prayed for this boy and blessed him, and it frees me every time I do that. Yes, I do it often, because although I want to think I have forgiven this boy, honestly I still have a bitter taste in my mouth when I think about that…and when I do, I pray for him. I guess only time will turn this sour taste into no-taste at all.

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Back to my POINT 3: Organizing 3 events in 3 months…

So, after the fundraising party (May 21^st), I had to figure out a way to get out of that crisis man… hustled from left to right and managed to buy time to solve the problem. But we were 2 weeks away from the 2nd competition (June 3^rd), so we had to plan that.

Back to the usual: draft invitation letters, book the room, design certificates of participation, design a power point presentation, remind the contestants of the date, etc…

In brief, here are some learned, from both the party and organizing 3 big events, with practically NOTHING, in the span of 3months.

Lessons Learned (3) :

-     For the Party: Next event I’ll use more facts (i.e. the amount of tickets sold) than speculation (expecting many people to show up the day of)! Also spend less on extra things that makes the party (e.g. the food we wanted to sell, or the excess of chairs we rented). Finally, even though I have been fooled once, I know the earth is round, and God is my avenger.  On my part, I’ll make sure to not be fooled twice.


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(I  also Thank the Lord Almighty for giving me a dad, a wonderful Daddy, who is always bailing me out of the worst situations. This time again he came to my rescue when I was in some deep mess…and paid 90% of my debt for me. My mom completed the 10 other percent! I don’t even know how much more I can say thank you! Really!)

And here's a Special Father's day (celebrated last week) picture, for the best DADDY in the world

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Little anecdote: Growing up dad constantly told me to be careful about "victories upon victories, success upon success without defeat or failure." Yes, I used to be the A-student from primary school (where they called me "calculator" in class2, and mini-computer in Class5) to middle school (in form 1 and 2, I was among the top students in classes of 100+ students in boarding school (Lourdes, then SAHECO-douala). In highschool, I kept my standards high, thriving in all my subjects, and in college as well , things were pretty good - with an exception with some Bs, and one C that makes my transcript bleed (maybe not bleed, but u know what I mean). All this to say, through out my short life so far I have had a constant taste of achivement and success in all I do - from academic, to extracurricular, and life in general. There was, however, a twisting point...I remember, in 11th grade I lost the High-School student council elections for Vice-President.  Oh man, I remember taking it as such a failure, as if I had been rejected by the entire school... in addition to that, that very year, I had not been selected (among the 6 students) to go to the Saint Petersburg International Model United Nations (SPIMUN) in Russia, although I felt I was excelling in my MUN class. Needless to say that too was a dagger in my heart! It's both experiences that my dad had told me "He is glad I went through that!" I was like "huh! why?", and that's when he told  me, It's unhealthy for someone to not know the taste of failure/losing something; 'cause if they experience it later on in their life (which they are bound to), it will extremely hard on them. And so, it's important to go through that early on, and know how to deal with it.  Everytime I fall I think about what dad told me. The fall hurts, but I know it's crucial for my moral, emotional and spiritual growth  and development.  There's a quote I have on my facebook account that kindof summarizes this, it goes...
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Happiness keeps you Sweet ,

 Trials keep you Strong, 

Sorrows keep you Human,

 Failures keep you Humble, 

Success keeps you Glowing,

 But Only God Keeps You Going!

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Back to my "Lessons- learned (3)" ... other Lessons learned:
Money is a good filter of real and fake people. Money uncovers many faults and unveils many people’s other sides. Here’s a concrete example that happened, again, during the fundraising event:

 When we organized the fundraising party, many people said they will support. They said they believed in the cause and will work with Harambe to make the event a success to help Cameroon’s youth… until the day of… we had very well included them in the program and etc. Then, they request to be paid! Paid an amount that took 50% of what we raised. I tried to explain that “yo man, we are trying to fundraise, this amount is too much”…. But the guy in charge was like “it’s business.” Imagine! It’s the day off that they pull that card, with no pity at all… what could I do? We had already placed them in the program of the night. So we had to deliver what we promised our guests. So I went ahead, scrambled for some money to give them a 50% advance before they performed. They arrived late, performed only one track, and expected to be paid the entire amount! I was like “heck noh!”  gave them 25% of the rest at the end of the party; Not only because the amount we had raised was not enough to pay them much, but also because I was not satisfied with their perfomance…. Long story short: That was another reality-check I had, I was completely disillusioned, and disgusted!  Next time, I’ll definitely make sure every cards are set on the table, and we sign an MOU before any palnning.

But man… 3 big events in 3 months, that’s suicidal! Especially, especially since I found myself doing 90% of the work in the background before each of these events, i.e: All the power point presentation, the program of event, the certificates of participation (designed and signed), the guest list, all the invitations drafted, and everything ready-to-execute.  I don’t know if you realize how draining that can be. It probably depleted some of my brain cells man. Lol!

That’s why between now and September, I told the team we are taking a break as a team. I am using this time to cool down, self-reflect, restructure, and re-strategize our plan of action. Basically, I’m taking my time to plan well, and act strategically. Before, I was just running after delivering things on time (mind you, they were self-imposed deadlines!) But haste is waste!

So yeah, Harambe-Cameroon: A Dream on a Piece of Paper, becoming a challenging reality.  After an entire year in Cameroon, having invested more than $5,000 on this endeavor (i.e. since I had the vision in 2008), I can’t help but feel a pinch in my heart. I can’t help but think of all the self-indulging things I could have done with that money: Afford a spring-break trip to the US; join my friends in South Africa for the World Cup; then go to Kenya to visit another friend, and end my summer with a trip to Ghana to chill with another friend. Yeah, with that money (plus the money my parents bailed me out with), I would have been able to do all those trips. I can’t help but feel that pinch in my heart, that if I had stayed quiet, decided to settle for a stable job, with a stable revenue at the end of the month, I might be doing more stuff I enjoyed doing today – instead of stressing on how to furnish my new office, or pay back another debt (which was a sequel of the previous one).

But I won’t cry over spilt milk! Actually, I don’t think the milk is spilt at all. I’d rather compare it to seeds I’ve planted, that will eventually grow. 

My brother, Krystian, gave me a great analogy: It’s like planting a corn seed vs a mango seed.When you plant a corn seed, the corn grows 3 months later, but after you harvest the corn, you have o plant the seed over again. Whereas, when you plant a mango seed, it would take a couple of years to become a mango tree, but once it does, you won’t need to plant it all the time. You just come and harvest every season. That’s how I should view my investment. The return on investment is extremely slow, but it comes, it will be abundant and perennial. 

This analogy echoes with the piece of advice Gordon gave me in his latest email…

Let me first say Gordon Johnson is one of my great advisors in the US. He is also the one who, around this period last year, during lunch with him and his wife (Frances) in D.C, he advised me to write a journal about my experiences in Cameroon. So the catalyst of this blog!  I’m really thankful for that piece of advice. Now, I can look back at my first entry and notice my evolution throughout the year. Besides, he still takes his precious time to read this blog. He told me he slept at 3am one night trying to catch up with my updates since the 1^st of January 2010. Really, it’s heartwarming. And I thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to meet with people as great as Gordon… Back to my point though, I was saying he told me something in his latest email, that encourages me: 

“ Don't fret the delays.  One of the things we discovered in our manufacturing business was that developing new products takes twice as long and costs twice as much as we originally predicted, BUT when the product finally does make it into the real world, it lasts twice as long in the market place as we thought it would.”

As per the financial aspect, I know I’m always saying most of the weight is on my back, which is true - For the inauguration it was solely my funds, the 1^st Elevator Pitch Contest – apart from the prizes and room, all the other expenses came from my pocket. Then, came the Fundraising event, which did the opposite of fundraising – it got us negatively broke. looool. (it’s even ridiculous!) Then, the 2^nd Competition: The Solomon Tandeng Muna Foundation offered us their 21^st-century style hall to support our effort to boost Cameroon’s problem-solvers. All in all, financially it’s been heavy on me, but I cannot neglect or ever forget the contributions from friends and family. I’d like to recognize them here, and tell each one of you: THANK YOU!

A great THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, for investing in this endeavor. Some of you, I know, might still not understand “what the heck Olivia is doing in Cameroon”, yet you have invested in this. Others, I know, I have bombarded you with information and stories about Harambe, and you finally decided to contribute. And others do actually want to encourage Cameroon’s youth through this medium that Harambe offers. For most of you who are abroad, I thank you even more, for taking the time, the pain and getting out of your way, in your busy lives, to send a Western Union or Money Gram to Cameroon. Really that act in itself, for me is even more valuable than the amount you sent. I am deeply touched and will be forever grateful for your support! It has gone a long way, whether with printing costs, phone bills, transportation, and paying other services.


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I’d like to acknowledge here by my individual sponsors - individuals who have financially contributed to the success of Harambe-Cameroon throughout its first year:

Mr Emmanuel Mukam, General Manager, CACOCO – BTP (600.000FCFA)

Mrs Jeannette Mukam – Directrice, SIJEL Services (250.000FCFA)

Ms Isabelle Mukam – Marketing Agent, Paris – France (120 E = 78.600FCFA)

Mr Bernard Nkapbella - Director, Authentic Developers Corporation, Yaounde (50.000 FCFA)

Mr Philip Kohn - Entrepreneur, Canada ($100 = 47,591 FCFA)

Ms Sarah Andely - Masters 2010 Alumnus, at Georgetown University, USA ($75 = 35,000 FCFA)

Mrs Aline Djoumessi – DGA, CREATIVE Informatique, Douala (30.000FCFA)

Ms Winnie Magoum – Masters in Law 2009, University of Amsterdam (Holland) ( 40E = 26,000FCFA)

Mr Simplice Suffo – Money Exchange agent, CAMEX, Douala (15.000FCFA)

Mr Edang Jules - Harambe Cameroon’s Elevator Pitch Contest (EPC) – Third Prize (10,000 FCFA)

Mr Leon Mengot, Project Manager, Telecom Engineer, CAMTEL-Cameroon (10£ = 7,000FCFA)

I thank you all for your contributions to this endeavor. Thank you for believing in me, for trusting me, and investing in this initiative.

In the spirit of Harambe, swahili for “coming together”, I  invite everyone of you to:

  Participate, Engage, Support, and/or Fund.

In addition to cash sponsorships, there are numerous ways you can complement our efforts to engage a generation of problem-solvers, with some of these in-kind help:

-          Establish strategic partnerships (connecting us to people who might have a common interest, might add value to, and/or facilitate the implementation of our social entrepreneurship program)

-          Printing facilities (printer, scanner, photocopier, paper)

-          Office equipments (e.g. chairs, office-table, computer/laptop)

-          Transportation (car, taxi-money, gas tickets)

-          Business Coaching (strategy, organization planning, business plan writing, marketing skills, event planning)

-          Fundraising Experts ( grant writing, and fundraising ideas)

-          Telecommunication ( telephone credit)

-           Web Hosting and Internet services

-          Filming (video camcorder / camera)

-          Media Coverage (both local and international)


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Despite all my rambling above, we have accomplished much and there are many great things I'm thankful for... 


For 1: We were able to engage many students here. During the last orientation we offered them courses, to help them think creatively, critically, and traslate their ideas into projects. we put them in touch with key institutions that will help them ellaborate on the pitch they presented during the contest (CIFADDEG has offered the top-5 students 5 scholarships to a course in Project management, business planning, and project implementation). 


What strikes me the most, though, is to witness how these students have surpassed themselves and done something they thought they couldn't do. For instance, during our first encounter, practically all students we speak to think "it's impossible to say anything in 90 seconds",
then we give them guidelines, advice and tips to make a great pitch, they go home, and the day of the competition they surprise us all with their 90-seconds-to-convince pitches. It has been wonderful to witness that! It made me realize with empirical evidence, that if given the chance, or a platform on which to express themselves, Cameroon's youth has an untapped potential that can advance our communities. For me, when they say "be the change you wanna see", or "be a victor and not a victim", or "be the solution", we have to back those words with a platform on which people can be those principal actors. The beauty of having a highly mediatised social entrepreneurship competition twice a year, attended by potential sponsors, is that it creates a hype around the nation. It creates a competitive atmosphere, which stimulates excellence and creativity. And so, in addition to those proposing business plan ideas at the competition, those at home also engage in the problem-solving excercise, what this does is influence a new way of thinking across the nation: EDUTAINMENT - As my friend, Jaam Fon Honore and also dynamic president of Mey-Low-D (NGO), calls it - Education + Entertainment, and I'll add to that IMPACT + DEVELOPMENT. 


Instead of sitting home and waiting for manna to fall from the sky, Cameroonians, who are looking forward to the competition, will be pushed to find a problem in their community they want to solve. U see? I hope u're still with me here... what I'm saying is that, this Social Entrepreneurship Competition, beyond the projects that will be proposed and implemented, will have the capacity of changing the way Cameroonian youths address their problems. As we ask them to "TRANSFORM OUR PROBLEMS INTO OPPORTUNITIES",  they will be pushed , through our reward-incentive-system, to be changeagents, the problem-solvers, and the solution-makers to our collective problems. That's my dream... to witness a vibrant generation of problem-solvers, fighters, doers, who take charge... it's Possible, if we all come together, each one putting in their 2 cents...   and despite the challenges,  this dream on a piece of paper will become a blossoming reality. 
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Here's the link of our second competition, on youtube (In French):
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56MHBGRD5YM
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Another thing I'm thankful for is the priceless and powerful network we have- whether international with Universities such as Hopkins, Dickinson College, Georgetown, University of Michigan, Williams College (from where we have adherent members and affiliates); or local with the US embassy, Solomon Tandeng Muna Foundation, Royal-Co, Ministries, more than 7 national universities , and many high-caliber indivdiduals. We have made sure to leave a positive image with them, and have a good relationship after our various collaborations. 


Plus, I have met movers-and-shakers here that have changed my way of seeing Cameroon and life in general. Whether it's Jean Paul Affana, Coordinator of "Actions vitales Pour un developpement durable", who is a fusion of dynamism and competence. World Bank essay 2009 finalist, Copenhagen-15 participant, and much more internationl travels... He is not even 25 years old yet, but he's making things happen.

Or Melvin Wajiri, Director of Peer Education Program (PEP) - Cameroon, National coorrdinator of  dance4life, promoter of the Test 1 million campaign, he's a dynamic Cameroonian, not 35 yet! Relentlessly working to engage Cameroonian youths and fight against AIDS! He's embarked me on his wagon as an independent consultant. 


And how can I describe Eugene Ngalim in one paragraph? Eugene has more than 10 things he's doing... Executive Director-CAMYOSFOP (Cameroon Youths For Peace), Commissioner-National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Chair/Founder-African Youth Forum for Peace (AYFP), Focal Point - IANSA, Cameroon, Director of Publication - The Voice of Peace Magazine. 

The Dynamic duo : Yves Tsala and Christian Rim of "Solutions aux Migrations Clandestines" (SMIC); Asanga Fon, national president of Cameroon Youths For Christ; Jean-Paul Ketch (aka JP2K) of course, doing wonderful things to connect Cameroon's Diaspora in France and those in Cameroon to develop our nation, and always giving me valuable advice about "local realities" in times of need. I cannot forget the president of the National Youth Congress, Adourazack, a leader with poise and remarkable humility. And many others, I can't list all their names here... except my 3 main men, the 3 musketeers... 


Michael Ananga, Leon Mengot, and Nfinyo Mabu  ... One year ago I didn't know these three men. Today, they are like brothers to me, they are my advisors, my buddies, my bodyguards, my partypeople, my happy people, my intellectual people... I can honestly say I might have skipped a chapter of my life if I hadn't met them. I won't describe them further 'cause their names and credentials are all over this blog.  


All in all, I'm thankful to have met like-minded movers-and-shakers of Cameroon this year. With that, l am very hopeful in the future.  I'm confident we will start a movement here that would make history!

Finally, I’d like to quote a young dynamic Ghanaian, who is also keeping a blog, and I feel like he’s a twin of mine from another nation, because I relate so much to what he says and goes through. When I read the excerpt of his blog below, I thought I was hearing myself, but with a more eloquent and sophisticated grammar. In his own words ,Mr. Ampofo  (Accra/Kumasi, Ghana),: “ I'm a young Ghanaian entrepreneur who is interested in cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit in others as well attracting similar minded individuals towards a common cause - succeeding in our endeavors and helping others less fortunate than us.” - bizmic.blogspot.com

I will conclude this blog-entry with 2 of his posts, from his blog (which you must checkout) BIZMIC (BUSINESS MINDS INVESTMENT CLUB is a youth-oriented investment organization that seeks to foster a vibrant spirit of entrepreneurism and pool together the resources, skills and talents of members into investments into profitable ventures. It is also a business networking and youth outreach community where we will use our successes to pursue philanthropic projects to better the lives of less fortunate individuals. We would encourage your comments thoughts and suggestions) - bizmic.blogspot.com 

Read on… The First excerpt:

   “I feel as though my mind has been suffering from Mental Malaria: a situation where one’s mental, emotional and physical reserves are almost completely depleted. I dug incredibly deep, far more than I have ever done in my short life so far but it is just not enough. Sometimes I feel as though I have taken a load heavier than I can carry – but how else are my ‘mental muscles’ going to be stronger if I don’t keep surpassing the comfort of those responsibilities that I can do easily. That I am up against incredible odds is a fact, that I don’t have adequate resources is a given but if I want to achieve my goals I must face these odds and locate the necessary resources, be they internal or external. The only other option is utter failure and I decided a long time ago that failure is not an option so now I must bear my load with grace and resolve. We all have our very own loads to carry, but the question is never how heavy the load is but rather how well you carry it. So I will continue to eat my raw fufu chaperoned by puny soup and entertain a temporary proclivity for vegetarianism, for now. It shall be joyless, it shall be unsatisfactory but it is necessary in the meantime because there is always hope for the future, a future filled with the whole shebang; an incredible assortment of exotic meats. The cure for this Mental Malaria is self-evident, I need to take some Mental Chloroquin, and that my friends is a bitter pill indeed!”

And another excerpt of his , which I relate to 100% , and wouldn’t have phrased it better than he did here:

“I am in search of sunrise, I am on a quest for daylight but all around me there is deep dark night. I am only plodding on in the belief that the night is always darkest just before the break of dawn. It will take time, even more tears, pain, sweat, disappointment, failure and the learning curve will be steep indeed. I am bound to trip and scrape myself hundreds of times, I am bound to bleed from several wounds, I am bound to slip down the hill and have only a branch for support. As I am nearing the top I am bound to be cold and be assaulted by freezing winds, I cannot look to anybody to guide me unselfishly, I will have to pay a price for advice. The experience will be nerve wracking, it will be involve a lot of nail biting but THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! There exists no shortcut, I MUST take this long and arduous road alone, but through the tears of blood and pain, and fears that will scar and stain, I WILL GET TO THE TOP. And when I do I will take a deep breath and cry for joy and pray with thanksgiving. Even If I don't make it, I will die knowing that I lived chasing my dreams with all my heart, and that in itself is victory!” 

AMEN TO THAT!

Peace and Love.

Olivia