The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

African Nations Cup 2012: Togo Sanction Stays

CAF Shows it is in Charge of African Football

By Bright Lokenge

Togo's sanction by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) stays. In the just completed draws for qualifiers for the 2012 African nations Cup in Lubumbashi, Congo, Togo is conspicously absent as one of the continent's elite teams that would be vieing for the converted trophy. Togo's national team was sanctioned after the team failed to honour its commitments at the recent 2010 African Nations Cup (AFCON) in Angola. Embroiled in a terrorist attack in Cabinda, with some of its players and officials wounded or killed, the Togolese Football Association (FA) failed to communicate with CAF and the organising committee of the tournament. Rather, the Togolese relied on media reports to convey messages to CAF and simply boarded a plane to Lome sent by their all-powerful Head of State Faure Gnassimbe.

The New Africa in the Eyes of Modern Colonists

Recycling Myth and Revisionism in the Post-Colonial Discourse

By Divine Che Neba

Myriad of critiques, even at the dawn of the 21st century, still hark back to the clothes of 18th century philosophers  that "… as we see (Negroes) today, so have they always been", with no sense of developing beyond what nature provides them, except through external influence, which to some hardened skeptics, is even impossible. This persistent critical cadence which, seemingly, may never be vectorised amongst “Nation State" scholars, is rooted in centuries of denigration of Blacks as a whole, and from the disdainful treatment of African values in particular.....Despite centuries of trying precisely to define what Africa is, many a critic, to date, still finds it difficult to face up to the fact that Africa has entered history. Without raising the ghost of 18th and 19th centuries racist philosophers and critics, the American geneticist Nobel laureate, James Watson, in a newspaper interview (the Independent) this year (2007), reopened an explosive debate about race and science, by stating that he is:

...inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa … all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really… people who have to deal with black employees find this not true (Qtd, Ronald Bailey,1)

This 21st century racist cadence espouses the view of the French leader, Nicholas Sarchozy, in a controversial speech delivered at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) Dakar (2007), where he asseverated at length that

The tragedy of Africa is that the African has not fully entered into history. The African peasant, who for thousands of years has lived according to the seasons, whose life ideal was to be in harmony with nature, only knew the eternal renewal of time, rhythmed by the endless repetition of the same gestures and the same words. In this imaginary world, where everything starts over and over again, there is no place for human adventure or for the idea of progress...More

Modern Banking (I): Time to catch up in Cameroon?

By Epizitone Anabi Ebodume

Banking is no more safe boxing of money and extending loans. Maximizing transaction speed and minimizing timing have become all new parameters for modern banking. This means that banking is lot more than numbers. Cash in wallet is becoming very insignificant to customers' overall transactions in most of the west because less than a tenth of the people use debit and or credit cards for their transactions. With recent advances in Banking services, anyone can benefit from a host of banking products ranging from opening normal daily transaction accounts to saving and deposit accounts, as well as trading accounts with commercially supposed banks. The uniqueness of these accounts are just that, they are  simple account structures like you find in Cameroon, but rather their  operation and gadgets attached to it varies.

Celebrating Cameroon's Statehood: A Synopsis

By Ernest L. Molua

 "There are three kinds of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder, "What just happened?"

It is an awesome opportunity and responsiblity to use this forum to publicly express my thoughts on the state of the Cameroon union, as Cameroon celebrates in 2010, its 50 years of independence. The identity of Cameroon as an independent people was recognized by the whole world in 1st January 1960 and 1st October 1961. This was solidified on 20th May, 1972.

Cameroon's Newspapers, A Betrayal of the Country's Bilingual Heritage

Mathias Victorien Ntep

Given Cameroon’s bilingual heritage, it is oftentimes expected that an average Cameroonian ought to be fluent in English and French, just as Bernard Fonlon felt comfortable in French and in English. In this guise, a typical Cameroon newspaper must not cater for only French-speaking or exclusively for English-speaking Cameroonian. An average paper ought to run news, commentaries, editorials and features in the country’s two official languages. However, in-depth examination of the newspapers in the country show that most of them are either French-language or English-language dailies, weeklies or monthlies. The most serious bilingual newspapers in Cameroon are the state-owned “Cameroon Tribune” and the independent and aspiring “The Entrepreneur”.

Human Capital Flight: For How Long Will African Leaders Ignore their Intellectuals Based Abroad?

By Guiadem Ange Tekam
  
"Our country is in much more deeper trouble than just finding jobs for our new generation. It is in trouble with the entrepreneurial spirit. It is in trouble with accepting our values and recognizing were we come from. It is difficult for our young men and women to take into account anyone other than themselves and their personal grief with life, which they often confuse with government or parental problems. Existentialism is an age old concept that most Africans tend to ignore, because they do not usually think about it. They find it difficult to take charge, be responsible and acknowledge that the problem is with them. They want to have every thing, yet they do not want to pay the price of anything they want. They would prefer the government to give it to them, yet they want to have the free hand in the same government, and probably do not even want a government at all unless they are the chief...The general conclusion is that "as we make our beds so shall we lie on it."The country that we have is the country that we deserve. "

Positioning Cameroon’s Universities into World-Class

Planks for Internationalisation and Recognition

By Ernest L. Molua

In the advent of smart globalisation and increasing challenge for resources, Cameroon’s institutions of higher learning are at cross-roads in accomplishing their mission as mills for productive manpower. While this challenge may be local, positioning Cameroon’s universities in the competitive world of manpower development requires that the universities go beyond local concerns; and begin to address the need of the global community, as a twin approach to promote recognition in the global market place of knowledge generators and in becoming world class universities.

A Brief Exploration of the Cameroon Dream: How can we Develop into a Great Nation?

By Arnold Ngatchu
 
Imagine you are all by yourself, imagine you are not interacting with creatures of your kind. Lets say you are a lunatic. Would you bother about identifying yourself to yourself? Would you bother about having legal systems telling you what, when and how to do a thing for yourself? Imagine life before administrative units. Imagine growing families in an environment. Imagine the valuable resources available. Due to the need of 'the same' resources by similar creatures, Out of the human interpretation of life, humans generate rules they live by. When humans, with similar life rules, cohabit the same environment and form a growing society, they consciously or unconsciously introduce their life rules into the lives of their growing families.

Professionalising Football in Africa: A Step Towards Job Creation And Economic Growth

By Joachim Arrey

Football, a passion and a religion in Africa, could be a major factor in Africa’s hard and long struggle towards job creation and economic development if government policymakers stop viewing it as more of an entertainment and less of an economic activity. In many rich countries of the North like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal, sporting activities are, incontestably, economic activities not only for those who are directly involved in the sports, but also for those who invest their money and time in them.  In the United States, France, Britain and Canada; basketball, golf, hockey and other forms of sports have not only made of the players millionaires, they have also given those who invested in this sector of the economy a true return for their investments.

Cameroon’s Next Presidential Election: The Necessity of a Female Candidate

By Joseph M. Ndifor

As Cameroonians prepare for the next presidential election, there is no mention of a possible female candidate who could vie to win and steer the affairs of state.  Today, more than ever before, given the achievements of women politicians accross the globe, the entry of a female candidate into the presidential race can no longer be ignored.  The current major political parties--all headed by males-have been ineffective in defining and shaping the destiny of Cameroon. The particular dearth of female opposition candidates on Cameroon’s political landscape has somehow, in my observation, derailed efforts in changing the country.  There is possibility that a female opposition candidate would provide the political firestorm needed to heat the Cameroon landscape.