Seven Skills for Financial Independence in Cameroon

In no particular order.

2D/3D Graphic Designer:

Poor graphic design continues to plague us. I would love to talk here about the importance of design but I already did that in another article here on poise sometime after last year’s presidential elections. The article was titled “WHY DESGIN MATTERS FOR THE FUTURE OF CAMEROON.” You can search for that. Truth is, even with the likes of Bine Moukouri, and William Takor among many other good graphic designers that I might not have come across, I believe there is still a need for graphic designers. I find very many creative people out here who would make amazing graphic designers if they can learn to use a the various graphic design tools available out there. The first step here is getting a good computer and some software of which there a million bootlegged copies out here; not saying I endorse bootlegging.

Video Editor/ VFX artist:

We have seen an exponential increase in the quality of music videos out here in the last two years. For the art of video making to move to the next level in this country, we need to see more visual effects works being done. Dr. Nkeng has given us glimpses of what visual effects can do but I think we are yet to enjoy a visual effect marvel by the hands of a Cameroonian when it comes to music videos and film. Content marketing is gaining grounds and there will be an ever increasing demand for visual effects artists for TV programming, commercials, etc. The future value of this skill is very huge especially in Africa where the entertainment value is rising. For something more immediately financially rewarding, think of lyric videos.

Community Manager:

As we speak, there are people being paid monthly to manage social media pages. I want to separate this from the next one even though some might argue they are the same for the fact that I want to address this one to a particular group of people - those who already have jobs. If you work at a restaurant and your restaurant doesn’t have a FB page, you have to start one. Same goes for you and wherever you work at. See your boss and tell him/her about your project. You may have to do it for a while for free but you will learn a lot about social media marketing and community management, enough that you might even see yourself applying to another company to do the same thing. I have already had at least 10 people make me some kind of offer to manage their social media pages. I’m yet to accept one. That is to say there are job openings coming in that field and additional work experience and having done it with another established business can be an advantage.

Content Creator/Blogging:

This is the one which I felt some might find similar to community manager above. However, I put this on a separate point because it is a lot different. Blogging is basically targeted content creation. You blog about a subject or a theme. You have culture bloggers, health bloggers, fitness bloggers, entertainment bloggers, tech bloggers, finance bloggers, travel bloggers, etc. There is a secret many people don’t know about blogging. It is basically one of the best networking tools out there. I need not say more. In the quest for quick fame, many have run quickly to showbiz blogging even though it is the least scalable in terms of Value. I think there is a huge void in many other subjects that one can blog on.

Computer Programmer/Web developer:

We still do not have enough and excellent web application developers. I am not talking about Wordpress editors and Wix web designers. I am talking about people who can conceive and code a independent web application with its won front end and content management system; capable of performing complex tasks. There are so many great ideas dying for the lack of expert programmers. I have some basic programming knowledge myself but I am sure it is not the best use of my time. I would love to meet with more programmers so together we can develop a learning pathway that has financial rewards in the context of our economy.

Photographer:

I think we have seen a lot of great photography but I think we still need more photographers. We are living in a image and video driven world and there will be an ever increasing need for many to know a thing or two about photography. If you have noticed. The price for photography has increased almost exponentially in the last 5 years or so. Many of the big name photographers are going corporate leaving a vacancy in the other segments of the market. Even the big name photographers are now being overbooked and are constantly in search of photographers to add to their teams. I have worked with photographers who charge 200K to shoot a wedding and I know others that charge more than a million. There is a lot of opportunity to fit yourself within the pay spectrum based on the quality of your work, which from experience has a lot to do with the quality of the equipment you have.

Sound Engineer:

Most of the time, the perceived quality of a piece of music is tied to the quality of the sound engineering. Despite the advancements we have made in the music industry, no-one has really made a name away from the crowd as far as sound engineering is concerned around here. We know a couple of guys with good mixes but there is yet a name to be mentioned as a guru in the field. As the entertainment and content creation industries continue to grow, so too will the need for quality sound engineers.

P.S

There is one thing that I have failed to mention all along. You need anywhere between 500K to a million francs to get yourself started on many of these. So how can you raise that capital?

- Tino Foy