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
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
Bonjour Olivia,
ReplyDeletej'ai aimé votre blog et plus particulièrement les contenus comme celui-ci. Je vous ai donc nominé au "Liebster Award" ou blog le plus aimé. Pour vous rendre sur le lien de mon blog qui mentionne votre nomination, cliquez-ici : http://nathyk.mondoblog.org/liebster-award/
Vous n'êtes pas obligée d'adhérer mais répondre serait un honneur pour nous. Merci !