INSPIRATIONAL STORIES: SHINING THE LIGHT ON YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS IN AFRICA

By Conrad Green for Lulu Magazine.

This Article shines the spotlight on two young Cameroonian entrepreneurs who are carrying out business ventures which are helping in economic growth and advancement, as well as creating employment for several individuals. We look at two young Cameroonians who have invested in the transport and mobile sectors in the country. The Cameroonian economy provides niche opportunities for investments, thus creating room for employment.  These opportunities for investment in some cases either open doors for partnership with foreign investors or investments from other countries around the globe. This article shines the spotlight on two successful entrepreneurs. First Mr. Weyi Raphael who has investments in the transport sector in Cameroon and who is now a partner and shareholder in the transport company called YANGO, which operates commercial rides within certain cities in the country. We  also look at Fonyuy Didimus who is also a young entrepreneur who has invested in the mobile sector in Cameroon with his TECNO-DIDI electronics which is a mobile wholesale and retail shop he now owns, runs and operates after entering into a partnership with TECNO mobile granting him exclusive rights as a Tecno wholesaler in the Cameroon capital city Yaounde. We take an in-depth look at their entrepreneurial journey from when they started,  their evolution and growth as well as their objectives and vision for the future.

Mr Weyi Raphael is one of the pioneer Cameroonian shareholders in the Company Yango Group which operates using the same model Uber. It offers ride-sharing, public transport data, delivery, e-grocery, adtech, maps, entertainment services and even Ai voice assistant services. Available in 3 major cities in Cameroon namely Douala, Yaounde and just recently Bafoussam, the company started operations in Cameroon in 2018.  Yango Group is a brand developed by the team Yandex taxi and managed by Ridetech international, a registered holding company for the Russian IT conglomerate Yandex LLC. Yango, is a Russian owned company which is headquartered in Dubai and operates in more than 30 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The CEO of Yango is the Russian Daniil Shuleyko.

Weyi Raphael. Yango Group

Born on November 3rd 1988,  37 year old Mr Weyi comes from the Northwest Region of Cameroon precisely from Nkambe Donga-Mantung. After graduating from  Government Bilingual High School G.B.H.S Nkambe with a GCE Advanced Level Certificate in 2005, Mr Weyi moved to the capital city of the Northwest Region,  Bamenda, where he started his journey into business as a petty trader under the mentorship of his uncle who had a retail clothing shop in the Bamenda main market. He recalls finding it difficult at the beginning because he was not a business oriented person. “I never thought I would become a successful business man today as engaging in business was never one of my priorities. When I had my Advanced level certificate, I wanted to go to the university and study engineering or petrochemicals to become a chemical engineer. But my parents did not have  money to send me to the university. So instead, they sent me to  learn how to become a trader while working for my uncle.” Learning to become a trader was very demanding as I had to do inventories which was something I had to learn on the job. As time went by, I had to learn how to start buying new stock to replenish the old ones and this required me to travel a lot to Douala and sometimes to Nigeria to meet the major suppliers my uncle was dealing with at the time. These trips though demanding were also great exposure for  me and immensely helped me begin to understand how the business world operates.

After working under the mentorship of his uncle for over 8 years, Mr Weyi Raphael had gathered enough knowledge on how to operate businesses and its demands. He then opened his own shop  in the main market as a clothing retailer. However, he faced challenges developing his own brand since  he had to build a new client base and portfolio. “When I opened my shop, my business did not do well for a very long time in the early stages . This was partly due to the fact that many customers I had were people who knew me under my uncle and so were most inclined to go and buy from his shop. Secondly, my shop was not as stocked with inventory as my uncle’s since I was still a petty trader who was up and coming. I lacked some  linens[1]  that customers requested. But I did not give up, I was determined to make it in business so I started looking for ways to raise funds” Mr Weyi explained that he had to use a piece of family land which was owned by his father as a guarantee to the bank to obtain a loan which helped him obtain the inventory for his shop. Everything was going on well until the Anglophone crisis started in 2016 due to the English speaking Regions of the country seeking  a separation from the Republic of Cameroon. Their demands were met with an arms resistance which caused political instability in these Regions. This instability made the environment unfavorable for business as many shops and business centers were shut down and there were  killings on both sides thus causing several people to flee these Regions to the more peaceful French speaking Regions. When I  asked Mr Weyi about the toll the crisis had on his business, he said it was very devastating. “The outbreak of the ‘Anglophone crisis’ was a huge blow to my business. We were unable to make any sales[2]  and with no sales, we could not pay for rents of the shop,  council bills and government taxes.” He said he started looking for an exit strategy and not being able to fully refund the loan taken from the bank, he had no choice but to liquidate his shop. “I hit rock bottom. I was devastated but I had no choice. I sold everything, cleared my debts and with little money I had left on me, I moved toYaoundé which was more stable and peaceful. I literally did not know anyone there, but I felt it was a decision I had to make.”

When Mr Weyi moved to Yaounde in 2017, he rented a small studio in the Omnisports neighborhood while thinking of which trajectory his life was going to take next. That’s when he decided to buy a small car with the little money he had left and entered into the taxi business. He credits this move as being one of the biggest and best of his life so far “It was this move that gave me the experience in the  taxi business as well as created the opportunity for me to meet and invest in the Yango business I am thriving in today. I drove a taxi for over a year or so learning the different quarters and areas in the city of Yaoundé. This also gave me the opportunity to meet other drivers who will later become partners and workers for me under Yango.” While working as a taxi driver, he carried a client who informed him about the imminent arrival of the car taxi service Yango. They exchanged contacts, and when Yango was formally introduced into Cameroon in 2018, Mr Weyi registered and worked under them as a driver with his own taxi. “I had to register and work under them as a taxi driver. This required me to pay commissions to them. After driving under them for 2 years, the company announced through their website that they were soliciting individuals with funds and cars to come and register and buy shares with them so that they could become shareholders. I never had any plans of investing in the transport business on a big scale. I never even thought of being a shareholder. But I knew this was too big an opportunity to miss. So I decided I will do everything within my reach to meet the requirements to become a shareholder with them.”

Was he selling Fabric and clothing

Do you mean they could not sell

Mr Raphael then sold the taxi he had, withdrew the money he had been able to save since working as a taxi driver and was able to come up with the amount needed to buy the shares and stocks on sale. He also used the contacts of other drivers he had encountered while working as a taxi man to invite them to register under him as drivers under the brand EVD which was the name allocated to the shares he purchased. He then as a result of these had 10 drivers registered and working under him who were rewarded with a commission per ride executed.

“This was the move which changed my life and established me fully again on the business scene. This time around in the transport sector. By purchasing those shares, I became one of the youngest and also a pioneer shareholder of Yango. I was able to grow over the years and today I can say this venture has been very profitable  to me” Mr Raphael now owns 30 cars which he personally bought from the huge earnings and commissions he was able to make as a shareholder. Today he is well known in the transport sector on the Cameroon scenery. He says the company still has a lot of potential for expansion as it is still to be introduced in all the 10 Regions of the country. As of now, it is only present in 3 Regions. “Our company still has potential for growth. We are looking into the future and we want to occupy the whole Cameroonian territory” he said. “We just as recently as last month February 2025 expanded to the west Region, in  Bafoussam precisely. We are soliciting shareholders to come and join us make this company an outstanding one”

Mr Weyi also encouraged the Youths to look at his story as one of encouragement and a determinant boost for them. He emphasized on the fact that when life throws stones at you, you should use them to build houses. “I will never have imagined myself being an entrepreneur and I will never have imagined myself investing in the transport sector. Where I am today is a far cry from where I envisaged myself when I wanted to study petrochemicals in order to be a petroleum engineer. I don’t regret anything in life, and I must admit I am very much happy with the life I have now and the success I have been able to amass. It could have been very easy for me to give up when my business was failing due to the Anglophone crisis. But the belief I had in my abilities  made me not give up, and as such I encourage every youth to keep fighting and not give up on any dream no matter how small, because the day the light decides to shine, most at times, we never see it coming[1] .”

To learn more about Yango, Visit their website here: https://yango.com/

Fonyuy Didimus - Techno Didi

Another young entrepreneur we are shining the spotlight on in this article in Fonyuy Didimus who is the founder and CEO of TECNO DIDI electronics which is a subsidiary of TECNO Mobile, one of the biggest mobile phone companies in the world with markets in India, Asia the Middle East and huge parts of Africa. Tecno mobile is a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China. It was established in 2006. Its target has mostly been emerging markets with large populations but low purchasing power. In early 2008, Tecno focused entirely on Africa following a series of market research and by 2010, it was among the top 3 mobile phone brands in Africa.

Very encouraging Love the end of this.

Didymus, who has huge investments in the Tecno mobile brand, has been with the company since its presence in Cameroon in 2011. He is an exclusive Wholesaler of the brand in Yaounde after entering into a partnership with the company. Despite being recognized all over the country as a major supplier of the brand of Tecno phones, he told us  that things were not always easy for him as they seem today. Born in the Northwest Region of Cameroon precisely from Kumbo Nso in the Bui Division, Didimus went to school in Bamenda and will often work as a hawker selling phone accessories during the holidays as a means to make money. During his spare time, he was known to go into shops and take phones and move the whole day trying to sell them to make a small profit margin while meeting the initial price demanded by the owners of the shops from which the phones emanated. He did these on a regular basis and it is from here that the interest in the mobile phone business started developing. While in High school, he will meet Mr Ade Divine who will later become his mentor in the mobile phone business. Mr. Ade Divine  was already a well-established and commercially successful phone dealer in the North West region.He said , “Ade divine at that time was recruiting young individuals both male and female to come and work as commercial agents and

sales associates in his newly opened Tecno shop at commercial avenue Bamenda. I was informed about this through a cousin who knew Mr Ade and I decided to go and register to work under him as a part time employee.” What was intended to be a part time job then turned to full time when Didimus started making financial gains and increasing  his knowledge of the mobile phone business and how it was operated.

Didimus served as a sales associate for Mr Ade and was subsequently promoted to marketing manager after 6 years of service to him. “I worked as a marketing manager for 4 years under Mr Ade, and after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2019 which hit the markets causing severe economic hardship, I lost my job as a manager, with the company no longer being able to cover payments for all its staff due to reduced sales. This left me in an impasse for more than 8 months. Then I moved to Yaounde to experience a different environment, this was in 2021.” In Yaounde, while visiting the Tecno Cameroon website, Didimus found an announcement in which Tecno was soliciting people with at least 7 years experience working under Tecno, who would like to become partners or shareholders after meeting certain  requirements from Tecno.Didimus decided to take his chance. “I attended a meeting with the major Tecno stakeholders, and during the meeting, they made certain requirements amongst which was the need for me to possess an extensive client portfolio in order to sign with them.”

He explained to us that, he wasn’t required to deposit any money, but rather sign a contract that made  him a partner of Tecno, and through this, he was to become an exclusive supplier of some specific high end Tecno models like the Camon 30pro for example which was just recently released. Under this agreement, Tecno was to open him a shop which was to serve as his base, then provide him with enough phones of different models . On his end, he was in charge of ensuring the sale of a minimum of 3000 Tecno phones a month with a commission per each phone sold. “This was  a challenge for me. I had to look for new markets in a town and an area which was relatively new to me. It is true that I already had an existing client base but most of these people were based in Bamenda. I had to develop a new supply chain in order to meet the target” He said he rented a scooter and decided to visit all the surrounding villages and areas of Yaoundé every day so as to build a network and find new clients.By doing this,, he was able to start the supplying and exceed the target of the initial agreement. “Today, we supply a minimum of 3700 Tecno phones a month through the Tecno-DIDI mobile shop established in Yaoundé. I own the exclusive rights to wholesale and retail certain specific brands of Tecno phones, this exclusivity has given me the opportunity to be able to meet my target.”

Didimus through his Tecno-DIDI shop emphasizes on the need for hard work and commitment. He says his drive and determination to succeed were push factors to his decision to explore the phone market and meet his target. He envisages opening another Tecno DIDI shop in the East Region of Cameroon which he and his partners have identified as an area with high demand for Tecno products but with very limited shops and phone dealers in the area. He has created employment for over 34 workers under him.

 He closed our conversation with this thought provoking words “Everyone has something to offer no matter how small. It is only our drive which can make us achieve whatever we set as a goal”

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We want  to wrap up this article by saying congratulations to these young Cameroonians who through hard work, courage and not giving up were able to achieve their dreams. This leads us to ask one key question as we sign off, “ Although Cameroon and some parts of Africa do not encourage small business owners or empower them as much as other parts of the world, Is it possible that there are opportunities that may come your way if you look beyond your surroundings and leverage partnership?” Here is my final thoughts as I ponder on this quote by Thomas Edison “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” – Thomas Edison”

I hope that this article encourages you to go after your dreams and when opportunity does knock, dont brush it off but look at it closely and if it's the right one you will win, if it's the wrong one you will surely learn a lesson or build character.

I appreciate you reading this far? What are your thoughts on these two incredible success journeys ? What are some of the lessons you have learned from it?

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Thanks,

Lu Magazine