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Financial and social resources should be targeted at helping people to help themselves, says Gisèle Yitamben, social entrepreneur and president of ASAFE, Cameroon.
 Does the widespread focus on the Millennium Development Goals hinder economic growth? What is the best way to allocate resources between growth creation and poverty reduction?
I really believe that the better way to allocate resources is to support the creation of enterprise, to put the money into income generating activities that will create wealth. If each individual has what he needs he can be self-empowered and go for what he really wants and go for what is needed for the family. There should be a balance – some money for social support and enough money for wealth creation and for income generating activity.
Entrepreneurship can unlock Africa's growth potential as you have seen in your organization ASAFE. Where will future entrepreneurs come from in Africa, and what needs to be done to support them?
I believe that the future entrepreneurs will come from the many skilled young people and unemployed youth. You have heard of migration and how many people are trying to get into Europe because they are unemployed. Entrepreneurs are also going to come from the disadvantaged community, among whom you have a lot of women. To support them, I think of three main points. You have technical training because they have to be technically skilled, and they have to have management training and also the initial resources to start their business.
How can Africa use the potential of IT to boost business efficiency and growth?
There are many ways and I am so grateful for these new technologies. For example at ASAFE we use web based e-learning. From web-based training we can get all of the specialties that are needed here so I think ICT is a tool that should really be used to support skills development in the continent.
When you think of ICT you have internet, you have cellphones and you know that the continent is where you almost have cellphones everywhere and all the messages, all the information that can go through the cellphone it is absolutely incredible.
African women are playing an increasingly important role in government and business. Is this a trend only among the leading classes, or have you observed a similar movement at grassroots level? How can this trend be nurtured?
It’s something occurring also at the most grassroots level because of three main reasons. There are more and more women head of households because there is more migration of men. There is also a lot of unemployment in the formal sector which was traditionally men to men. As a result, women are earning money and taking a greater role in society so it’s not just a trend for those at the top level but throughout all of society.
This trend can be nurtured by supporting more women. Target more programmes to empower them more because many of them have become heads of household without the necessary support that should be given there. While they are heads of household, they are also playing a reproductive role which is a burden. So how do we put in place mechanisms to support and empower them to take their role very seriously and professionally? |
