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#YouthMonth: Influencing young African entrepreneurs
15 Jun 2020
Pamela Nga is a full-time Human Resource student and part-time network marketer studying in Cameroon. She is fueled by the passion for the development of her community and the African continent. She considers herself as a Pan-African eager to build on her business administration knowledge. She has a hunger for knowledge and was inspired by the African history classes during high school.
Pamela Ngu, creator of Mindful Entrepreneur (M.E) podcast
This led her to study early African revolutionists such as Thomas Sankara and read books on early African writers such as Chinua Achebe. This planted a seed in her to want to see a better Africa and strongly believes this can be done by empowering the further development of entrepreneurship.
Pamela believes that business is another way to propagate the Pan-African spirit. As a result, she started the Mindful Entrepreneur (M.E) podcast.
She shares more about her passion project...
Can you tell us a bit about M.E(Mindful Entrepreneur)?
Mindful Entrepreneur (M.E) is a Pan-African Podcast Channel aimed at empowering and educating young Africans to become entrepreneurs that their various community need. On the M.E channel, we talk about topics such as financial literacy, essentials for a successful business and the importance of young Africans to invest whole-heartedly in their own communities and Africa as a whole.
When, how and why did you get started?
I started the podcast because I really had a passion to inform and motivate Africans to invest in their own countries in order for our continent to become what we all desire it to be. I was motivated by the fact that in my community there were not many businesses available that provided our basic needs and that was owned by Africans.
Even though many youths are educated and travel abroad every year, many of them could actually become invaluable entrepreneurs and change the economy. But many either lacked the information on how to go about it and the motivation so I wanted to provide that platform for them.
So, after a conversation with a friend, I did some research and decided to record my first episode on my phone and launched it on the Anchor App with the first episode on 14 May 2020.
What is the core function of M.E(Mindful Entrepreneur)?M.E aims to motivate and educate young Africans on entrepreneurships in Africa.
What are some of the obstacles you've had to overcome since starting out?When I started I did not really know how I was going to market it to get people to listen. Thanks to some family members and friends, they helped me share the information and I also created an Instagram page and I also post on my own Facebook Page. All this has led to an increase in the number of plays.
Hopefully, with the help of Bizcommunity, more people will listen and get motivated.
What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?Investing in Africa is worth it! Whatever you wish for in your community, create it! There is enough space for diversity and creativity in our communities. We need more entrepreneurs.
What has been your proudest achievement thus far?The reviews people have sent me after listening to my episodes have really made me proud and motivated me to keep going.
What does the future of entrepreneurship look like to you?
In Africa, for the youth, I hope to see more African-owned businesses in our various communities providing a variety of services and products to the market especially more digital-related services.
On a governmental level, I hope to see more countries investing in improving internet infrastructure, loans for startups and other subventions. I hope to see a more convenient environment that will encourage Africans to be proud of becoming an entrepreneur at home.
What would you like to see changed in the African startup landscape?
Generally, I believe that there are a number of aspects to change. But I would like to stress on the education of startup owners because I believe the psychological aspect of the owner is one key aspect that does not get enough attention when it comes to entrepreneurship.
Firstly, I would like startup owners to become more professional in their business, providing better quality products and services to their market. This can be through getting the proper education on the service or product provided or working with the right people that are competent in that field.
Added to that, startup owners should spend time on market research in order to produce a service that their target audience needs or could adapt to. In addition, they should always seek to improve their products.
What do you believe are the traits an entrepreneur needs in order to succeed?To me, a successful entrepreneur is someone that has faith, confidence and is action driven.
You need to have confidence in yourself and your team. You need to also believe that you are great and that whatever you do or create will change lives. Personal development is important to get where you need to be.
You need to be action-driven. You have to be someone that does not postpone activities or ideas due to fear but one that does what one plans to do, one that gets the job done. A successful entrepreneur is someone that seeks solutions when a problem arises and doesn’t run away from them. When you’re action-driven you increase your productivity and efficiency as an entrepreneur.
Where would you like to see M.E(Mindful Entrepreneur) in the next 12 months?
My deepest desire to have the M.E podcast influence and motivate young Africans all over the world. I aspire to see the M.E platform expand by providing a space for our listeners to interact more with me on our blog or website.
Added to that, I desire to have a recording studio for my podcast channel in order to accommodate more speakers on the platform and guests. I would also like to build a team that can help me take my vision forward.
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