Village Business Classes

One of my projects here in Manjo as a volunteer in Small Enterprise Development is teaching business classes to entrepreneurs in my community. Cameroonians in general have a very entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone I know has some kind of small business project that they are personally involved in, from selling underwear on the street(my best friend in village sells underwear to create a small income for her and her two small kids) to managing large farms. However, I would say the majority of the population in this area does not have any business training let alone a high school diploma. This is why, in collaboration with the micro-finance that I am connected with, I started teaching business classes. The business classes have been highly appreciated in my community and I am hoping to branch out into a few of the smaller villages in the surrounding area. I have just finished teaching my second class on entrepreneurship. In the curriculum I teach basic accounting principles how to keep a cash book, a stock book, how to calculate profit margins, break-even points, and profitability. I also teach how one does a feasibility study before starting one’s activities, setting goals for a business, and writing business plans. Since this is also in collaboration with the MC2, my host partner micro-finance institution in my community, I bring in the director of the micro-finance to speak to the participants about the importance of saving and the credit opportunities that the micro-finance provides.
The students range in age from 18 – 60 and all are very dedicated to learning as much as possible so that they can better manage their own personal projects. I teach in a small cement building that sometimes has electricity and I use construction paper to write the lesson on the wall, all lessons are taught in French and thankfully I have finally reached a level where I feel confident teaching business principles in another language. There are always challenges, for instance the power being cut as night is falling, teaching to a group with varying knowledge levels(I realized towards the end of the last class that one of my students didn’t know how to read I hadn’t even thought of this possibility), and teaching in a different cultural context also brings its own unexpected nuances. For example, one class we spent a good 20 minutes discussing the effect of “le sorcellerie” (sorcery) on businesses within our community. Lesson learned: yes, sorcellerie can definitely have a major impact on your bottom line so you must treat your clients and your competitors with respect(I entered this within my lesson on customer service, a concept that does not necessarily exist here in southern Cameroon).
Well, this past week we had our “sortie des diplomes” where my students received a diploma from the Peace Corps for successfully completing the business class. As Cameroonians do not know how to do anything halfway when it comes to celebrating we threw a grande fête and invited the Sous-Prefet, the Mayor, the chief of our village, and the Commandant(I think closest relation would be chief of police), I gave a long grandiose speech thanking all of my students and wishing them the best of luck in all of their future endeavors and encouraging them to work towards the development of their own community. It is evenings like these that actually give me a concrete measurement of the fruit of my labor here. However, what I enjoy even more is seeing one of my students after having completing the course filled with pride as they are now putting their knowledge to work in their own projects.

Below is a photo from the "Sortie des Diplomes" on the last day of the business class, in front of the micro-finance along with all of my students as well as our community's Sous-Prefet and Mayor