Six Things You Need to Do to Make It in Cameroon

1. LEARN FRENCH

It is sad that I meet people who are 25 years of age and above who have spent all of their lives in this country but cannot complete a sentence in French. When I returned to Cameroon, I was 25 and I didn’t know much on French beyond greetings and some basic expressions. Today, I can rate my french at 70/100 and I am still working on making it better. You do not have to learn French only because it is the most common language in Cameroon. Learning any language is one way of increasing one’s life options.

Whether you like it or not, the majority of Cameroonians are Francophones and if we know majority wins the vote. Instead of complaining that they don’t speak English in government offices, just learn the French because that is what you can control.

2.USE THE INTERNET TO LEARN A PRACTICAL SKILL

This is the area where anglophones have a profound advantage over francophones. No matter the skill you want to learn, there is more information available online in English than you can find in french. Phd students in France publish their research in English before thinking of publishing in french if necessary. Rwanda was a country with French as the official language. Kagame since changed the country’s official language to English in a cold turkey manner; forcing his people to learn English because it will make them competitive in the global environment.

I hear anglophones complaining about not having the necessary connections to get into government institutions and I cringe every time. As an anglophones, you have to face the realities of our country and think differently. If you are being discriminated, use the information advantage to develop skills that those with the connections will still have to come to you for.

I work with Studio89 and we provide creative services to many individuals and organizations in the country. Time without number, I hear francophones confessing that they prefer the quality of work and the work ethic of anglophones over that of francophones. They pay huge amounts of money for the quality of work we provide. I do not know anybody that will insist on buying an ugly couch because it is made by a francophone. If we become the best furniture makers, architects, masons, plumbers, electricians, computer programmers, graphic designers, video editors etc, we will earn enough income to rival that of those who got into the police academy because their uncle knows someone in charge.

3. EDUCATE YOURSELF

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. - Isaac Asimov. I am not talking about going to sit in a classroom. I am talking about bringing yourself up to speed in affairs of the world. You can read articles on Entrepreneurship, learn a lot about business and leadership on Harvard Business Review. Knowledge increases your creativity and creativity increases your problem solving abilities. Read random books. Start with Rich Dad Poor Dad and read the next book you find mentioned in it. There is no particular path to follow. If you are interested in any topic, a google search alone will start you out on the path of finding the best information on that topic. Ask a friend to recommend a book. I can tell you ‘The Element” by Ken Robinson is a must read for every Cameroonian.

4. ACCOUNTABILITY/RESPONSIBILITY

It is easy to blame the government for everything that goes wrong in this country. At the individual level, many of us are not much different from the government. The anglophone crises was brought to the spotlight in part by lawyers striking. My recent interaction with lawyers in Buea tells me they are as corruptible as every other government official.

What I find when I talk to many people around here is the incessant pulling out of excuses for why they are not living the lives they want. We seem to blame everybody and never take the time out to see the role we play in our own demise.

Whenever you litter the streets, you are not being responsible. Whenever you use your dialect to cut the line, you are not being responsible. Whenever you write something that is clearly not objective, you are not being responsible.

5. VOTE WITH YOUR MONEY

I do this all the time when it comes to artists. Every artist that I find to be genuine gets my financial support and the fakes never get a dime from me. I believe we all know the difference between a rapper like Young Holiday and someone like (I won’t call names). It is not enough for us to make posts on social media. If you want to see more of Young Holiday, go ahead and buy his album. So he can pay his producers and other people on his team. I had someone telling me Young Holiday’s biggest b=mistake was to put his album on sale. How he could have gotten more popular had it been for free. I was very disappointed. I mean the thing was just a thousand francs. How cheap do we want to be. I don’t believe our artists should be releasing stuff for free. As I artist, I wouldn’t even want to have fans that cannot afford 1000 hrs for my project.

Same goes for fashion designers and other entrepreneurs. These people are the ones that will create jobs for many others in the future. If we keep wanting discounts, they will never progress and that will be detrimental to us all.

This does not mean that people should overprice things and complain when we can’t afford their products. As an entrepreneur, try to be competitive in both quality and price.

6. BE PATIENT AND REALISTIC

I should have ended at 5 but that this process will take 7 years means we need to exercise some patience and also be realistic about our possible outcomes. It takes a Mr Leo with 10 times the talent of Mr Leo to get Flavour’s kind of money for very many reasons. There is a lot we can learn from Nigerian and American artists but if you think you will rap in Africa and one day get Jay -Z type money from your Career, you are definitely out of touch with reality.

- Tino Foy