Entrepreneurship
Business
Capital Can't Buy Vision: Why Investors Must Back, Not Replace, Entrepreneurs
The writer argues that investors in the music industry frequently mistake financial contribution for operational competence, wrongly displacing proven founders in favor of personal connections. Capital fuels growth, but only the entrepreneur—through years of navigating talent, contracts, and culture—can build a sustainable operation.
A Job Search Strategy for the Average Cameroonian
The post argues that in Cameroon, where most vacancies remain unposted and hiring flows through networks, effective job seeking demands strategic research rather than mass applications. By studying company structures on LinkedIn, identifying weak ties, and targeting growing firms over established giants, a job seeker can shift from blind hope to deliberate positioning.
Why Diaspora Capital Succeeds Quietly or Fails Loudly
The writer examines why Cameroonian diaspora investment initiatives—once buoyed by optimism about African entrepreneurship and technological opportunity—have largely stalled or pivoted into safer ventures. Through a debate between two perspectives on root causes, the piece argues that success depends less on individual virtue or cultural fit than on understanding the structural match between business model and local terrain.
From Amateur to Professional: Building Systems for Growth
The writer argues that the transition from amateur to professional habits is essential for small business growth in Cameroon, yet remains hindered by cultural pressures and short-term thinking. They outline four practical disciplines—documentation, business rules, standard procedures, and boundary-setting with friends—as concrete steps toward professionalism and scalability.
Rolling Applications and the Real Barriers to Women's Entrepreneurship
Poise examines the extended deadline for the Tony Elumelu Foundation's female entrepreneurship program as a symptom of deeper structural friction, not simply women's hesitation. The writer proposes a rolling application model as a more adaptive alternative to fixed cycles.
The Geography of Ambition: Why Artists Should Build at Home
The writer examines how the calculus of artistic migration has inverted in Cameroon over the past generation. Where legendary musicians once traveled abroad to access superior infrastructure and networks, contemporary artists who leave typically abandon creative ambitions altogether—and those who return struggle to rebuild momentum or credibility.
The Artist as Creative Agency: Diversification and Survival in Cameroon's Music Economy
The writer argues that musicians in Cameroon face systemic economic precarity that demands a fundamental shift in how they approach their careers. Rather than relying solely on performance, artists must develop multiple income streams—production, songwriting, event management, or entirely separate ventures—to achieve financial stability and longevity.
The Entrepreneurial Arc: From Idealism to Pragmatism in Cameroon's Tech Ecosystem
A Cameroon-based writer reflects on a decade of entrepreneurial ambition and experimentation—from 2014's optimistic startup culture through successive waves of technology, agriculture, beauty, and fintech ventures—tracing how a genuine passion for building meaningful products gradually gave way to chasing prizes, PR, and survival.
Before You Pay for Digital Marketing Workshops
The writer argues that digital marketing certificates from short-term workshops offer false credentiality and rarely translate to employment or business results. True competence in the field requires sustained practice, demonstrated work, and reputation-building—not credentials—and workshops serve best as orientation, not qualifications.
Building a Career in the Age of Entrepreneurship
The writer examines the distinction between having a job and building a career in Cameroon's thriving informal entrepreneurship sector. Drawing on personal experience, they argue that successful long-term work requires clarity of vision rooted in skill (not just passion) and the polymath mindset that entrepreneurship naturally cultivates—the ability to master multiple disciplines and discover where one's true strengths lie.
From Job to Career: Building Entrepreneurship Beyond Survival
The writer reflects on entrepreneurship in contemporary Cameroon, distinguishing between those who stumble into business out of necessity and those who build toward genuine careers. Drawing on personal experience, the piece identifies vision aligned with skill-set and polymath thinking as essential pathways for entrepreneurs to transcend the precarity of self-employment.
Ten YouTube Channels That Rival Formal Business Education
A curated list of ten YouTube creators and channels offering substantive instruction in entrepreneurship, business strategy, and scaling—framed as an alternative or supplement to traditional graduate business programs. The post argues that free, accessible video content from practitioners and institutions delivers comparable or superior learning to expensive formal credentials.
The Camera at Secondary School: Money, Aspiration, and the Entrepreneurial Awakening
A writer recalls purchasing a camera on credit during secondary school and building a photography business to bridge the gap between his limited pocket allowance and the material aspirations of his peers. The venture became his first lesson in accounting, customer service, and the economics of scarcity—and eventually contributed to his expulsion from the institution.
The Case for Creative Hubs in Cameroon
The writer examines the Hype House model—a physical creative collective in Los Angeles where young content creators live and collaborate—and argues that Cameroon's creative industries would benefit from similar intentional spaces for cross-disciplinary collaboration beyond music.
From Procrastination to Purpose: Mr Oreo's Poultry Farm in Bamenda
A young farmer in Bamenda overcame procrastination and financial constraints to build a 500-capacity poultry farm on his grandmother's land, inspired by a Poise essay on starting over. He reflects on how preparation meeting opportunity, combined with purpose over profit, transformed his life from unemployment to agricultural entrepreneurship.
The Business of Music: Why Cameroon's Artists Conflate Calling with Career
The writer argues that Cameroonian artists sabotage their own financial success by treating music as a spiritual calling rather than a business. Using Mr Eazi's trajectory from entrepreneur to musician as a counterexample, they contend that emotional attachment to artistry—without disciplined business thinking—leads to stagnation and burnout.
Small Business Spotlight: Constance and the Craft of Self-Reliance
Poise profiles Constance, a Cameroonian tailor-turned-artisan who transitioned from sewing into cement and recycled-material design work, building ZHOD (Zionite House of Decor) in Bonaberi. The piece celebrates her self-taught methods, her ability to generate income across price points, and her capacity to create work for others, particularly young people during economic uncertainty.
Meet Ritha Nengi: Beauty Entrepreneur
A profile of Ritha Kelly Nengi, a Cameroonian beauty entrepreneur who founded Glowrays Cosmetics after recognizing an underserved market for skincare solutions tailored to Black skin. Drawing on formal training in cosmetology and skincare formulation, she developed products addressing specific concerns—like hyperpigmentation on knees, elbows, and knuckles—that dominate Black women's skincare needs.
The Brand Name Question: On Oluwa, Representation, and African Pride
A Poise contributor examines the controversy around a fashion brand's use of 'Oluwa,' a Yoruba word for God, owned by co-founder Tino Foy. The piece moves from personal distaste for the name to a deeper meditation on why Africans bristle at Nigerian cultural dominance, the power of brand storytelling, and the colonial distortion of African versus European religious narratives.
The Craft of Crowdfunding: What Tilla's Album Campaign Could Have Been
When a Cameroonian musician publicly solicited funds for a new album, the writer examines not whether crowdfunding itself is appropriate, but how it might have been executed with greater narrative force and cultural resonance. The piece uses Tilla's situation as a case study in the gap between impulse and strategy.
Five Sales Lessons from Building a Natural Hair Business
A Cameroonian beauty entrepreneur reflects on her journey from self-described reluctant seller to confident founder of Molonga Naturals, sharing five core principles: target your niche, understand your audience's language, solve problems before pitching products, build trust through expertise, and maintain honesty in recommendations.
Building a Personal Brand as a Female Entrepreneur
Personal branding is essential for women entrepreneurs navigating gender-biased career obstacles. By clearly defining and consistently projecting your strengths, values, and unique qualities—especially through digital channels—you create visibility and open professional opportunities.
Five Lessons in Selling: A Natural Hair Entrepreneur's Reckoning
A Cameroonian beauty entrepreneur reflects on her journey building Molonga Naturals, distilling five hard-won insights about sales: stop targeting everyone, speak your audience's language, solve problems before selling products, establish expertise through education, and prioritize honesty over revenue. What emerges is not a sales manual but a philosophy of earned trust.
The Business of Music: Why Cameroonian Artists Confuse Calling with Career
The writer argues that Cameroonian musicians often sabotage their financial success by treating music as a spiritual calling rather than a business discipline. Drawing on Mr Eazi's entrepreneurial trajectory, the piece contends that sustainable careers require clear business thinking, measurable outcomes, and the willingness to walk away if profitability doesn't arrive within a realistic timeframe.
Do Your Ideas Really Belong to You? On Intellectual Property in Africa's Creative Boom
As Africa's creative industries expand via digital platforms, most young creators—musicians, designers, fashion entrepreneurs—operate without formal intellectual property protection. The writer examines why copyright and trademark registration, though costly and often overlooked, matter as the industry matures and disputes inevitably arise.
Community as Capital: The Sustainable Path for Cameroon's Creative Economy
The writer examines how artists and creators in Cameroon can build sustainable income by cultivating devoted niche communities rather than chasing mass audiences. Using the PAKGNE group's successful premiere of 'Shenanigans' in Douala as proof of concept, the piece argues that a small, engaged fanbase willing to pay for quality work generates more reliable revenue than viral reach.
The Discovery Show: Rethinking the Economics of Live Performance
A reflective account of a new event platform that redistributes risk and responsibility between artists and organizers, asking whether shifting artists toward independent ticket sales and direct audience engagement can reshape how live music works in Cameroon.
Skills and Assets: How Influencers Can Build Income Through Collaboration
The writer argues that Cameroonian influencers cannot rely on brand sponsorships from major corporations, which remain slow to adopt influencer marketing. Instead, they propose a model of project-based creative and financial collaboration between influencers and established brands—pooling skills, capital, and reach to create and market products together.
KamerLyrics: A Young Entrepreneur's Gift to Cameroonian Music
Poise celebrates KamerLyrics, a Cameroonian lyrics app created by Minette Lontsie, that solves the frustration of finding song words to beloved local tracks. The platform combines a growing database of Cameroonian music with YouTube integration and crowdsourced contributions, making it both practical and community-driven.
Financial Lessons from Salatiel: The DIY Artist as Wealth-Building Model
This piece uses Salatiel's visible financial choices—investing in studio equipment, production tools, and branded assets—as a lens to examine how contemporary Cameroonian artists can build lasting wealth. The writer argues that understanding the distinction between assets and liabilities, and prioritizing income-generating property over lifestyle consumption, separates sustainable artists from those who squander early earnings.
Sandra Borno and Molonga Naturals: A Portrait of Passion Over Hustle
Poise profiles Sandra Borno, founder of Molonga Naturals, a natural hair-care brand built on deep product knowledge, ingredient transparency, and freely shared expertise. The piece celebrates her as an exemplar of entrepreneurship driven by genuine passion rather than commercial ambition, and situates her work within the broader cultural movement of Black women reclaiming and celebrating natural hair.
The Age of the Side Hustle: Nora Gweji on Building Beyond the Primary Job
A profile of Nora Gweji, who built an event decoration and planning business alongside full-time banking work, starting in 2015 with $1,000 and initial struggle before finding her first client through a Cameroonian professional network. The piece documents her journey from initial hesitation to steady profitability, reflecting Poise's wider advocacy for supplementary income and creative fulfillment beyond conventional employment.
The Art of Presenting Your Work: Why Self-Selling Matters
Poise reflects on a community exercise asking followers to showcase their side hustles, and discovers that most struggled to present themselves effectively—poor presentation, missing contact details, lack of genuine voice. The piece examines why this matters: the opportunity cost of not taking one's own work seriously, and how presentation itself is part of the product.
Felix Fomengia and Light Gate Solutions: Building Value in the Digital Age
A profile of Felix Fomengia, a self-taught programmer from the University of Buea who has developed over fifteen apps addressing real problems—from coding motivation to educational resources to telecom utilities. Through his startup Light Gate Solutions, he exemplifies how Cameroonian youth can create meaningful digital products despite significant structural constraints.
Youth Entrepreneurship: Okara Brands and the Making of a Young Founder
Ayuk Nicole, through resilience forged by an unsettled childhood and a deliberate refusal to remain idle, built Okara Brands into a skincare and beauty products company. Her path—from seeking a summer job in Nigeria to becoming a brand ambassador, then launching her own line with free mentorship, and now onboarding other young women as business partners—illustrates how preparation meets opportunity.
Youth Entrepreneurship 1: Snapburger
A reflection on discovering Snapburger, a new burger joint in Yaounde opened by two university students, and what their venture represents for Cameroon's economic future. The piece weaves personal appetite for authentic American-style burgers with broader observations on the role of entrepreneurs in building a robust economy.
The Age of the Side Hustle
The writer examines how generational shifts and digital culture have reframed our relationship to work and passion. Rather than chasing a single passion as an end in itself, the sustainable path forward—especially in Africa—is to maintain a reliable income source (the hustle) while exploring creative expression on one's own terms.
KamerLyrics: A Young Entrepreneur's Gift to Cameroonian Music
The writer celebrates KamerLyrics, a mobile app created by Minette Lontsie that makes Cameroonian song lyrics accessible in one place. The app integrates YouTube playback, allows user contributions, and addresses a long-standing gap in how fans engage with local music.
Financial Lessons from Salatiel: The DIY Artist Model
Using Cameroon's independent artist Salatiel as a case study, this piece argues that musicians who build sustainable careers are those who understand foundational financial literacy—specifically, the difference between acquiring assets and accumulating liabilities. The writer contends that the music industry's shift toward independent artists reflects a broader collapse of industrial-era employment systems, making personal wealth education urgent.
A Lesson on Buyer's Remorse: Young Entrepreneurs and the Cost of Short-Term Thinking
A Cameroonian returnee entrepreneur reflects on the structural prejudice young business owners face—particularly in B2B sales—and traces it to a deeper cultural pattern: the prioritization of quick extraction over customer retention. He argues that sustainable business requires a commitment to service that outlasts the initial transaction.
The Entrepreneur's Birthright: Born, Not Made
A sharp critique of the startup boom of the mid-2010s, where easy capital and cultural mythology created a false sense that entrepreneurship is learnable by anyone. The writer argues that successful entrepreneurs possess an innate set of traits—salesmanship, hunger, independence, consumer intuition, and patience—that cannot be manufactured through effort alone.
On Entrepreneurship and the Illusion of Escape
The writer argues that entrepreneurship is an inborn temperament, not an aspirational title—and that most people drawn to it are chasing celebrity and escape rather than confronting their actual aptitudes. The post separates genuine entrepreneurial drive from self-employment and cautions against performing ambition on social media.