This question was up on Poise yesterday in a post in which we shared some screenshots including one by the famous Mami wrapper Vutise Tumban. She talked of how in trying to teach some people how to fish instead of giving them fish, she found that many young people in Cameroon are either lazy or lack work ethics. The comments that followed were mostly in agreement but a few people complained about the nature of jobs available and the general lack of jobs while a significant number of people made mention of the fact that low pay discourages young people from working.
After the tech celebrity era of 2013-2016, it was CEO that became the new celebrity and that is how many young people started to believe they have what it takes to be entrepreneurs. The good thing about entrepreneurship is that you are your own boss but the thing is, many people are bad bosses even to themselves. Very many people realize very early on that starting and building a business is not a slice of cake. Some decide there and then to go back to their place which is usually enrolling in some degree program or back to job searching, while others try to do what I call fais semblent -that is, maintain the image when they know fully well, there is no real company, no real work being done, and no real business. They do it because it remains their ticket to attend certain functions and they use it to try to hang around until they find something they can make money off of. Stay a year or two in that and it becomes a lifestyle, that of the middleman - who knows someone that knows someone.
Going back to school for me would be a good thing except of all the reason why young people can’t find work and can’t work, the biggest of them all is the lack of skills. Skills that apparently are supposed to be acquired by going to school and skills that many supposed graduates do not possess. Recently I tried to expand my organization by bringing in some help under some sort of internship program that I hoped will lead to jobs or why not business partners so I have some experience on this. The people I got to work with were somewhat ok at what they do. Ok in the sense that, they had the fundamental knowledge that makes it easier for them to know where they are lacking and use the tools available in front of them to develop. If you find that in Cameroon, you are doing great. I’m not a CV guy. I’ve never asked to see anyone’s CV. If you are a programmer, I just need you to come with your computer and be ready to sit down and start cranking out code. I give you a small task and from your work, I know if you have something I can work with or not. We have to deal with that because I can’t afford anybody who has more than a rudimentary skill level.
But then again in Cameroon, because of the rampant mediocrity, someone who has elementary skill with regards to international standards may feel like a pro here. I always check myself against that because I know in the times in which we live, I am in a global competition. I personally think we all need to work on our skill level as a country. Very many people who have come to me looking for work do not even know how to construct an email. Some of them don’t even own a personal computer which for me is a must have before you work with me.
When you hire the average Cameroonian to work in any field that needs soft skills, you spend a good number of your time training them. Usually there is no binding contract and they can leave you at anytime. Given that you have to go through at least 15 people in Cameroon to find one good one, it is just expensive for the employer and it reflects in the low pay and sometimes even the poor treatment of the workers. The fact that employees don’t wear the entrepreneurial hat makes it even harder for the business to grow as most are waiting for orders to follow instead of taking initiative.
I have had to ask people working with me why they wont share content we produce. It has even happened with me working on projects with different people and every time, I am stunned because they act like they needed to be reminded of what to me is pure common sense. If we are six of us in the office, I don’t see why a piece of content we produced together to promote our work is put online and has less than six shares; unless we explicitly ask employees not to share something for business reasons.
In the screenshots we posted, we can see the people who were on the employer end. They are not multinational companies or industrial firms who have scooped up all those who have some high skill level with their ability to pay higher. The air conditioned office jobs in Cameroon are so few and there is indeed a high rate of unemployment in Cameroon. It is what birthed the entrepreneurship wave especially as access to the internet and other entrepreneurship stories became more available. Many entered what to them was to be a Caribbean cruise but isn’t.
The big monies albeit seldom still belong to the tech and engineering entrepreneurs. People like Vutise are trying to Sell wrapper from WA to WA, then from Store to Store, to Mall to Mall, then maybe to factory and that can take generations. So when she calls you to work, you have to know she does not have two years of Salaries for you stored away. You are a long term investment that also needs to produce short term results. How many companies do we know in the world today worth billions but generating no revenue. In the tech space, there are many and the people working there are going home with huge salaries. Jack Ma had to build Alibaba selling one product at a time for years. Mark Zuckerberg wrote some code and probably got about $500,000 as soon as his Harvard experiment was done.
In Cameroon and in the kinds of feasible businesses people are venturing into here, it is not rare to hear people say things along the lines of “make I di kam work everyday for 8 o’clock sey they di first pay me na how much.” They use the low pay to justify bad work ethics. They then engage in habits that make sure the organization does not grow. Soon even the low pay is not available for them and they will blame the boss and accuse him of exploiting them- not to say there are no bosses exploiting their workers. My experience is that there are actually many more bosses not being transparent with their workers and hence cannot get the empathy and support they need from the workers.
We also have a culture in Cameroon that looks at information as some sort of contraband. We are being inspired mostly by imported stories of success. Many young people are far from the reality on the ground and our expectations are not realistic. Even when they are, we still underestimate what it takes to sell one wrapper every day for 30 days. The idea of work for many young people is borrowed from the matricule work culture. They want a place where they will be paid for showing up even if they do nothing else. A place where their performance might reduce or increase their office space but non performance will not send them away. In other words, they are looking for their own connection outside the network - that is, they wanna roam which is expensive and the boss has to pay for that.
Any-Ha!
So from CEO being the go to title, we are now seeing the emergence of the brand ambassador. Many have jumped into the social media influencer and image monetization bandwagon. There is a school that is hiring brand ambassadors around town in what to me is a marketing strategy. Their choice of brand ambassadors include people who are lost in real life but popular online (not all of them but quite a most.) In the process the meaning of a brand ambassador is being watered down to I’m a bit popular. We see brand ambassadors that if caught off guard will not know ten things about the product they claim to represent. I'm saying this to show that slowly, we are coming down to reality and soon we will get there.
The main issue remains the lack of skill. Because if you are skillful enough, by joining an organization, you make the organization grow and when the organization grows, you earn more. The proof is that many remain in organizations for 6 months without pay and they are complaining for those 6 months and staying. If you are any good, you will leave knowing you can survive even independently. Which brings me to, if you believe in yourself, you will be willing to start working for free, knowing that after 3 months, they will do everything for you to stay or you leave with new experience. People don’t even know themselves enough to know what they are capable and incapable of, added to the living out of reality - the keeping up with the Yembe’s that don’t want to go and clean floors. The one whole UB degree holder.
This is how it works for me. If you have a high level of skill and other capital input, we can partner. If you are coming only with your basic skills and no capital input, I guarantee you 1000F everyday you come to work and at least one meal a day. When we get business, you earn a little bonus. We grow the business and renegotiate terms every year. Many come with no capital and because there is no huge pay, they want to get 20% of the company before they start work. 20% of what that you have built? You get in as an employee and you work your life for the company to grow. When the company grows, you will be offered shares not to leave.
- Tino Foy