Culture will always be a window into the inner workings of a society and a determinant of the future socioeconomic outcomes of that society.
In 4 years, a music industry which had been cuffed in neglect is now churning out top tier artists who stand the litmus test of Africa’s creme de la creme. Look inside and you’ll find it is entirely the making of a youth population that made the decision to seize the wheel and drive into their dreams readily facing and running over obstacles intentionally or unintentionally put in place by the laziest generation of Africans to ever exist. Today, we boast of an MTV award winning artist and chart topping songs in Africa. We have models and makeup artists who are able to make some income, and the revenue streams continue to increase.
At 15 I was one of those mix and matching fabric with ideas - creating never before seen outfits for my friends to rock on their school party nights. All the lazy generation ever said of us was useless, stubborn and recalcitrant - never once did they commend us for our creativity and entrepreneurship. Nobody thought to call me a future fashion designer or creative director - not that those words did not exist then and not that that lazy generation did not claim senior command of the English language. Today I am voting in places for best fashion designer, casting my vote for someone who has not only employed himself but many others.
Today I will vote again for the Bonteh Digital Media Awards - another initiative by someone under 30 stumbling on a path never traveled but forging on - feeling the fear and doing it anyway - shining a light on talent and work that is crucial for our survival in an increasingly digital world. Gifted Mom came from this same generation. Where it used to be that you have to get at least a first degree before you are given a seat at the table of how to make a dime, we are changing that rhetoric - age is slowly becoming just a number and I can surely say it is possible to be a millionaire in Cameroon at 20.
As I write, there is one under 30 who is putting up a 10,000,000 XAF cash prize business competition and history still has us in disbelief. If this one turns out to be true, we as a generation must have loudly made a case for - “make this répe dem go sleep massa.”
For the first time, our voices are being heard and whether they like it or not, they will increasingly be forced to take us seriously because as I observed crowds marching and chanting songs of freedom in Anglophone Cameroon recently, I could hardly see any faces over 30. Thanks to the same youth I speak of today, the Anglophone crises is a real thing and the world knows there is a people somewhere taking a stand for justice and for humanity. We are pouring water into the pot- exposing all the holes the lazy generation has refused to plug for decades.
We may be stumbling - making mistakes and that is only natural because we have never been here before.
Nobody ever taught us how to react to an MTV award winning artist in our midst.
Nobody taught us how to behave when your neighborhood mate becomes a celebrated somebody.
Nobody taught us how to vote.
Nobody told us about our gifts and diversity.
Nobody taught us the science/art of appreciation.
Nobody taught us about cash flows and how money works.
Nobody taught us about love of country and sacrifice.
Instead, they filled our minds with limitations. A greedy "me only" mentality coupled with telling us many of the things we have achieved today were reserved for the white man. The white man to whom they auctioned our destiny.
Any-Ha!
We will continue to make mistakes but ours is a war that one man or one hundred men cannot win. My fear is that our current progress has solely been informed - for the most part, by our selfish interest. I dare say for a long lasting and sustainable triumph, each and everyone of us must share a singular purpose- that of transforming our society from a cesspool of ignorance and the high table of mediocrity to a viable competitor in the international market for ideas and services. We have to build a society in which the ultimate dream is not to run for shelter in another man's land. We have to build a society the rest of the world can pay to experience.
-Tino Foy