MEET OUR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS

The Cameroonian woman has for long been the economic backbone of the nation, yet she is largely marginalized in society generally, and in the economic sector in particular. She has skills and talents which can enable her make the economy better, but due to political, social and economic barriers, she fails to use them to the fullest.

There are only few successful female entrepreneurs in Cameroon. This is because they face certain challenges like, accesss to finance, lack business training, reconciling business and family concerns and so on. Breaking Ground trained female entrepreneurs this year which helped them develop skills they need to run thriving businesses. Participants attended classroom training sessions such as, financial management, sales/marketing, customer relations and human resource management, after which they each received individual visits from their mentor, to discuss any business specific challenges they face. Some of them were selected to be given loans, to either start or expand their businesses.

Meet Helen. She owns a bar/restaurant, and even though handicap, she manages to satisfy her clients at the end of the day. She has one child and not married. She said the entrepreuneurial class has helped her learn business strategies. The loan is going to help expand her business, and she will be able to employ someone to help serve the customers.Helen's bar/restaurant

This is Eva, a single parent and a mother of four children. Before, she had about 150 fowls in her poultry, but due to financial problems and lack of business strategies, she could not continue the farm. From the lessons learned in the entrepreneurial class, and the loan which will be given to her, she will succeed this time and expand her farm, she said. This will help her grow, be independent and provide quality education for her childrenEva's poultry

Breaking Ground will continue to follow up that these women to ensure that their businesses grow and that, they pay their loans in due time. This will also help in poverty alleviation in Africa and reduce the rate of marginalization of women in the political, social, cultural and most of all economic society.