Celebrating beacons of growth, resilience & wealth creation.

It is a jinx which, even women who have broken it at individual levels sometimes get robbed of appropriate commendations.

Be that as it may, times have changed, and narratives have continued to picture in women into sensitive issues that sustain humankind. 

Women are increasingly being called to the fore to make their mark; this, albeit debates over the pace at with such is done and the extra support they get for doing the right things.

Yet, as the world today commemorates the 39th edition of the International Women’s Day, Cameroon has also queued with its unique pulse and style. 

It is a commemoration that has been themed around: “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”.

The theme carries with it the central place of the common gains society enjoys when women are supported and empowered to operate at their maximum capacities. 

Even with such fresh advocacy for individual and collective investment in women to move society forward, Cameroon as a nation has, through its high and low moments, known women who have remained consistent in creating wealth and sustaining the very fabrics of the nation’s economy.

This is at least so at the macro level. When we get to details, the enormous energy women put into powering families, associations, and keeping other ventures alive are marveling. After all, they are the gender that is known to have a natural knack for detail. 

It is perhaps in addition to such God-given endowments that when women become spectacular in chosen fields, their results have always remained inspiring, breathtaking, and moving. 

They have the power and will to make things happen, even in the most challenging of circumstances. 

Their unique virtues cut across endurance, persistence, long-suffering, and a matchless intuition that foretells in most circumstances what the end of a venture could be from the beginning. That is a woman for you at her solid and indefatigable state.

In this light, some of them have not only succeeded in keeping their heads above waters, they are the very reason millions of men have found a source of livelihood for their families. 

These are women who have put intellect, capacity, knowledge and experience together to come out big in entrepreneurship and nation building. 

As part of sharing in the successes of women as they commemorate this year's International Women’s Day, The Guardian Post sizes up a few of the many that are beacons of resilience, growth and wealth creation. 

This, we have done, to inspire many to dream for better days. 

They are from diverse backgrounds and are unique examples in what they do. They are just the best. Their stories are inspiring and personalities marveling. They are the female highflyers of different generations with unquestionable contemporary relevance. 

Some have been around for decades, others a few years while some are new, facing the future without fear. One thing common about their exploits is success against all odds.

Senator Agnes Ntube Ndode

The native of Bangem Subdivision, Kupe-Muanenguba Division of the South West Region, has made a name for herself in the business world. From petit trading into contracts, Senator Ntube today, is involved in trade beyond the borders. 

She holds the title of ‘Nzombe Muad’ loosely translated to mean noble woman, in her native Bakossi. This is owing to her influence and charisma as a unifying factor which transcends the entire nation.

Senator Ntube has sustained the impact of the Association of Cameroon Business Women, GFAC, in nation-building from 2015 since the demise of its iconic Founding president, Francoise Foning. 

The GFAC imposing edifice located on the Reunification Street in Yaounde is among the gains she has mobilised women entrepreneurs nationwide to record. 

Under her leadership, the association has continued to groom hundreds of women into veritable business entrepreneurs. Senator Ntube headed GFAC’s South West Branch for 24 years since the association was created in 1985.

She served as Vice National President of late Francoise Foning for seven years and later as interim leader before becoming the national president on September 29, 20215. 

From then, has been re-elected at the helm of the association. GFAC, under her leadership has continued exploring profitable ventures for women across the different continents of the world.

Senator Ntube is today Commissioner in charge of Good Governance in Central Africa for the World Association of Female Entrepreneurs, better known in its French acronym, FCEM. 

She grabbed the prestigious position at the end of the 68th world congress of FCEM which held in İstanbul, Turkey November 3-5, 2021. FCEM is non-profit, non-governmental, non-political and non-sectarian organisation whose activities at the national and international level are aimed at promoting women's entrepreneurial initiatives and reinforcing national associations of women business owners.

Her tentacles in business world have gone beyond the hundreds of persons she employs to raising young female entrepreneurs. She is among the female light that shines brightest when it comes to entrepreneurship in Cameroon.

Rose Menone Ngassa

Though many know her only as a politician and Mayor of the Tombel Council in Kupe-Muanenguba Division of the South West Region, Rose Menone Ngassa, is also a business tycoon.

Ngassa holds her space in the committee of women in Cameroon whose business engagements touch the core of imports and exports. She employs hundreds of Cameroonians and also expatriates in her chain of businesses.

Her rare resilience has been demonstrated in running her businesses and managing the Tombel Council. Ngassa is among the golden breed of women in Cameroon who have refused to give up in their entrepreneurial ventures even in the most challenging of situations. 

She shuttles between Douala, Tombel and Europe where the vastness of her business has a reach. Today, she stands tall as an exemplary female entrepreneur in Cameroon.

Francoise Puene

Popularly known as Mamy Nyanga, the 57-year-old native of Bafang in the Upper Nkam Division of the West Region stands out as one of the biggest female entrepreneurs in Cameroon today.

The business mogul cum politician is the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Franco Group which owns several companies specialised in sectors of activities such as construction, hotel services, real estates among others.

From a polygamous family of 15 children, Puene grew to become as industrious as his father who was also into business. At an early age of 15, she was already into the business of selling beans and doughnuts. 

Puene who trained as a nurse in 1986, practiced her profession just for a few years and then delved into business.

While working part-time at the Ad Lucem Hospital in Banka, she got into contact with a lady who bought cloths from Cotonou in Benin and supplied in the country. 

Puene is said to have regularly gotten fabrics from the lady and sold to her own contacts. Seeing the business as a profitable one, she is said to have travelled to Cotonou and got her own supplies where she sold in Cameroon and Nigeria.

She also opened and managed one of the biggest bars in the city of Bafoussam. Francoise Puene later moved to Yaounde where she continued with a string of other businesses. 

The businesswoman is a model of social and economic success in the Cameroonian context. With the aim of encouraging women, she is implementing the platform for women entrepreneurs in Cameroon. 

This is aimed at two target groups, women and young people and is managed by a board of directors.

The platform has five focal points in each of the ten regions. Through these platforms, she has empowered several women and young people in entrepreneurial projects.

Apart from being a key player in the business sector in Cameroon, she is also into politics. In 2023, she was elected Senator and she represents the West Region in the country’s Upper House of Parliament. She has won several national and international awards.

In April 2019, she was awarded the Pan-African prize for the 1^st edition of The African Economy Builder and was invited to the Business Inspiring Women Conference in Washington in March 2020. 

The businessman was promoted to Commander of the National Order of the Central African Renaissance on January 2019. 

She received these distinctions after having led numerous actions in favor of Central African Republic, CAR and Cameroonian youth. 

She won the prize for best project manager in Côte d'Ivoire a few months later. On June 6, 2019, in Paris, she received the Giffa d'Or Trophy, 'African Entrepreneur of the Year' category. Françoise Puene has made her personality her own brand.

Fadimatou Noutchemo-Simo

Born in 1978, Fadimatou Noutchemo-Simo, is an award-winning entrepreneur who operates in aviation and tourism sectors. She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Young African Aviation Professional Association, YAAPA.

She has over 200 volunteers. Within the association, she created the Heleta Aviation Scholarship Programme. It is an initiative to encourage children from rural areas to take an interest in the aviation sector. 

She organises the Youth Aviation Forums for Africa, YAFA yearly to enable youth get in contact with aviation stakeholders. In July 2023, YAAPA took part at the Paris Air Show.

She advocates for careers related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM, for girls.

She uses her association to raise awareness among young people about aviation as a potential career path. In 2019, she received the distinction of “High-Flying Leader” from the International Aviation Transport Association, IATA. 

In December 2021, she was appointed Independent Expert of the French Sustainable Aviation Observatory, OAD. In 2006, she began her professional career at Huawei Technologies Cameroon and in 2010 she joined the Nigerian bank, United Bank for Africa and Corporate Service team of the Cameroon Airlines Company. 

In 2018, she joined Cronos Airlines Group in Equatorial Guinea as Strategic Director in Charge of Business development. The experience at Cronos Airlines led her to create HEFA Group in 2019, an African consultancy company for business development in Africa.

She is the Ambassador of the World Union of Small and Medium Enterprises for Cameroon. The Union works to support small businesses owned by women. She was also Cameroon ambassador of the Next Einstein Forum, NEF, from 2019 to 2021. 

She owns the Aviatour Meet-Up Africa platform which specializes in sports, culture, tourism, gastronomy, art and fashion. In 2019, she was the first African woman to win the IATA High Flyer award.

In 2021, she became 2nd Vice-President of the African Sports Tourism Week, ASTW. In December 2021, she was appointed Independent Expert of the French Sustainable Aviation Observatory, OAD, by Jean-Baptiste Djebarri. On April 20, 2022, she was appointed Cameroon Director of the Gabonese airline, AFRIJET.

Kate Kanyi-Tometi Fotso

Kate Kanyi-Tometi Fotso is among the Cameroonian women who are blazing the trail in the business world. She is a household name in cocoa sector in Cameroon. She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Telcar Cocoa. 

Her company is the leading exporter of cocoa beans in Cameroon. Kate Fotso’s company has penetrated rural Cameroon where swathes of cocoa plantations is the source of livelihood for millions of households. 

For years now, Fotso, through her company, Telcar Cocoa, has been handing our premium worth billions of FCFA to cocoa farmers in the country. 

Telcar Cocoa is the main promoter of cocoa certification in Cameroon, with more than 8,000 certified producers. Certification training programs in production areas spur a constant growth in certified beans production.

The shareholder of Ecobank Cameroun and board member of the Board Authority of Kribi, PAK, has been profiled repeatedly as the richest woman in Cameroon and among the first twenty in Francophone Africa. 

But her influence is not in her wealth. Kate Fotso’s effect across English-speaking Cameroon is the many schemes she has that has changed the fortunes of millions of farmers and families. 

The consequence is that of a woman whose bearing on Anglophones surpasses feeble estimates; given the role of her company in the Cameroonian economy. She was at one time named among the 10 influential Cameroonians.

Kate Fotso’s largesse is also being felt in the education sector. She recently set up an annual scholarship scheme worth 50 million FCFA in the University of Buea.

Marthe Ngo Mouaha aka Dinaly

Marthe Ngo Mouaha, popularly known by her music name, Dinaly, is a Cameroonian makossa musician and also an entrepreneur in the media sector. She is considered as the most influential female mediapreneur in Cameroon. 

Charismatic, courageous and intelligent, Dinaly is promoter and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Real Time Music (RTM Radio) and Love Tom and Marthe (LTM TV). She is also CEO of RTM Production and D-production music labels.

She has been able to able to wade through the troubled waters of the media entrepreneurship sector in Cameroon, which is highly dominated by men. 

Through her media group, she has created jobs for young Cameroon and contributing towards informing, educating and entertaining Cameroonians. 

Dinaly was once the CEO of a security enterprise based in France and was later owner of GARDI Security also based in France. 

The popular musician has also been involved in football and was once the president of Douala-based football club, Dynamo FC, which is now playing in the MTN Elite One football league. 

She was also once a member of the ad hoc committee for Cameroon women's football, and vice-president of GREFC&MD.

Musically, Dinaly came to the limelight in 2003 when she released her second album, Muto. The following year, she won the Kora Awards for best female hopeful in Central Africa.

Christina Anje Agwe

Another name making it big as a female entrepreneur is Christina Anje Agwe. She has been excelling in the building and construction sector for over 20 years. 

Anje Agwe has constructed many schools and financial institutions. She is currently constructing a five-storey building for Azire Credit Union Head Office at Obili, Yaounde. 

The university graduate also deals in supply of medical equipment to school laboratories. 

Through her company, Anje Agwe, provides employment to many young Cameroonians and is changing the narrative and excelling in a sector many consider as a fief of men. 

Angeline Akoa

Angeline Akoa is a multi-faceted and inspiring female entrepreneur and owner of a giant cassava flour processing plant, CEO SOCOOPROMAN-SARL. 

She is a trailblazer in the agriculture sector in Ngoulemakong Subdivision, Mvila Division of the South Region for over two decades. Akoa is Coordinator of Cassava Farmers in the South West Region.

She is also the President of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Society of Cassava Producers in Ngoulemakong Subdivision, COOP6-CA. 

As an efficient entrepreneur, her cooperative was transformed into a Limited Liability Company, LTD, and now bears the name SOCOOPROMAN-SARL. The company packages yellow garri and cassava flour for distribution. 

She is also Coordinator of the PROFALCAM Transformers College, and also the Secretary of the Executive Office of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Handicrafts of Cameroon. She is also member of the National Committee for Monitoring the Physical and Financial Execution of Public Investment. 

Born in Metugu Abena, Angeline Akoa has received several honorary distinctions from the state including Knight of Agricultural Merit, Knight of Cameroonian Merit, Officer of Cameroonian Merit.

Constance Owona

Another inspiring female Cameroonian who is excelling in the world of entrepreneurship is Constance Owona.

She is the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of SARMETAL, a company specialised in mechanical and metal construction sectors. 

The tireless female conqueror has for over 30 years been keen on wealth creation and providing jobs to many Cameroonians. 

The wife of Minister Gregoire Owona of Labour and Social Security, has through her company, rendered services to nation especially in production of public seats, dustbins, iron doors, window protectors, steel for gutters among others. 

Constance Owona graduated from the University of Yaoundé in 1979 with a Master's degree in bilingual modern literature.

The member of the Association of Cameroon Business Women, GFAC, for over 30 years, also has a training centre for metal works where she passes her wealth of experience to next generation of Cameroonians. 

She heads one of the largest local companies in terms of turnover. Her company, SARMETAL, provides companies and individuals with a wide range of skills in a variety of fields, including boiler making, industrial maintenance and decoration. 

Kwamou Joan

Kwamou Joan is a globetrotting entrepreneur and giant in the textile industry. She has been excelling in the sector for over 25 years. 

Through her chain businesses, she offers employment to many. She owns Diffusion New look, a giant shop at the Mvogmbi Market in the nation’s capital city, Yaounde.

Ther native of Santa Subdivision, Mezam Division of the North West Region supplies goods as well as buys from many foreign countries. Her line of business frequently takes her to Türkiye, China, France and Italy. Kwamou Joan also shares her expertise in international as a business consultant. 

Dr Fotabe Elmine

Dr Fotabe Elmine is the founder and Board Chair of the Fotabe University of Cameroon, FUNIC. She is a university lecturer, social entrepreneur, speaker, corporate trainer and philanthropist.

She holds a Masters’ Degree in Human Resource Management from the Midiforme Business School in Rome, Italy, and a certificate in Psychology and Mental Health from the University of Liverpool in United Kingdom, UK. 

The former Assistant Dean of the School of Business of the Catholic University Institute of Buea, former Rector of JSF Polytechnic, she has trained middle managers from organisations across the country. 

Dr Fotabe Elmine is a social entrepreneur with six companies created in over twelve years. She is currently the Founder and President of Fotabe University and the Cameroon Country Representative of Rome Business School.
Her vision for the University is a community university that provides the best quality and affordable education to every young African desirous of a good education.

Fotabe Elmine is an advocate for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, and has founded three TVET centres in Cameroon to train university graduates, women and African Artists.

In 2015, Fotabe Elmine founded the Association for the Promotion of Decent Work for Women and Girls, ASSPRODEC.

ASSPRODEC supports education of the girl child, promotes entrepreneurship among women, and advocates for good working conditions for domestic workers. 

Since its creation, ASSPRODEC has offered more than four hundred Scholarships to young girls, who were not given the opportunity of acquiring education because of their gender. 

Her actions have saved many rural and urban women and internally displaced girls from financial exclusion, prostitution, early marriages, gender-based violence, and exploitation.

Dr Fotabe Elmine is also passionate about educating children. In 2016, she created a learning platform through which children in rural areas of Cameroon without access to the internet and electricity can acquire basic education.

Fotabe Elmine has won numerous awards, including Entrepreneurial Woman of the year in 2021, and the US Chamber of Commerce Courage Award in 2022.

Estelle Yomba

Estelle Yomba is an engineer at Google with years of experience working with top Silicon Valley companies. Being mostly trained in Africa and later joining eBay, the IT genius and software engineer landed a job at Google. 

Because of her exceptional coding skills at the US tech giant, she rose to become Technical Program Manager in just a few years.

From her experience with the companies she had been with, Yomba realised how smart Africans working around her could be; especially, when given the right framework and environment to express their skills. 

At that time, she began to conceive the idea of establishing a conducive and workable environment in her native Cameroon. 

Some years ago, Estelle Yomba decided to act on the idea. As such, she embarked on a project of building out the initial core programs that would operate at first. 

A few months later, while still in the Bay Area, she set up a team of the best professionals in the different training sectors. Eventually, they started operations in Douala, Cameroon in October 2018.

Certainly, it was a very challenging task looking for very experienced engineers to train others in a training centre in Cameroon. But with her determination, she found a way and started her project. That is how Seven Academy was established.

Born in 1989 in Nkongsamba, Moungo Division of the Littoral Region, Estelle Yomba lost both parents at the age of 10 – a situation that may have frustrated her dream of success, but no.

The inner zeal to triumph over poverty through quality education became the main motivating factor of the then little girl that has grown to become a force to reckon with in the field of ICT on planet earth. Today, Estelle Yomba, is the first African woman to hold the position of Senior Technical Program Manager at Google.

The graduate of Regent University College of Science and Technology in Ghana believes in the philosophy that challenges can actually be turned into stepping stones of veritable success if one is focused and determined.

Monique Ntumngia

Monique Ntumngia is a sustainable entrepreneur passionate about sustainable development in Africa with the use of renewable energy. 

She is the Founder and Executive Director of Green Girls Organisation, a Pan-African energy social enterprise. She is also founder of Monafrik Energy, a clean energy company.

Her entrepreneurial approach is social in nature. Through her company and organisation, she trains women and girls in eco entrepreneurial skills through the assembling of simple solar lamps which they sell and share profits.

So far, she has equipped about 4,500 girls and 3,000 women with entrepreneurial skills across seven African countries and 78 rural communities.

Her work in providing access to clean and affordable energy on the African continent and the world at large, portray her values of service to not only her country Cameroon but Africa and the world at large. Ntumngia’s goal is to provide clean energy resources all over Africa and beyond.

In 2019, she became the first African woman to receive the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, International President’s Youth Award, in addition to several other national and international awards.

Linda Tchatchoua 

Linda Tchatchoua is a serial entrepreneur with six enterprises under her sleeve. Of the six, she founded four; notably Safari Logistics for transportation, Mahaza Beauty for wellness, Mahaza Luxury Interior Design, and Safari Quickly a delivery service.

She is co-founder of An'li, a contraction of Anne and Linda, a bakery in Paris and Mamoura natural juice producing company. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2004, with a Bachelor Degree in Marketing.

Tchatchoua decided to return to Cameroon in 2013, following her desire to contribute to the development of the country.

After working for the family business for six months, she decided to breakaway and start her own entrepreneurial journey, which she describes as an awesome adventure that permitted her to live the realities of entrepreneurship in Cameroon.

Her courage, tenacity, entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to not give up has scaled her into the business woman she is with over 150 employees. 

She has worked with big enterprises notably DOVV, Casino, Dangote Cement among others. Tchatchoua calls on women and girls to work hard, dream big and stay positive for those are the keys to real, genuine success.

Muriel Blanche

Muriel Leumeni Kamcheu is the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Najal Group. Born in 1990 in Bandja, Upper Nkam Division of the West Region, Muriel is an award-winning trademark for entrepreneurial reference, both in the national and international scenes. 

She owns Najal the Beauty Box and Najal Easy Car. Muriel is also the President of the Coeur de Mère Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation supporting rural women.

She has employed over 20 Cameroonians with more than 700 persons directly touched by her philanthropic activities. Muriel serves as Ambassador of the Association "j'ai un Lupus Maladie Auto-immune Cameroun", ALMAC. 

Muriel, it should be said, has inscribed her name in gold in the Cameroonian and African cinema, rising to stardom with notable roles in the web series ‘Pakgne’. 

Transitioning seamlessly from the web to television and the silver screen, she has graced audiences with memorable performances in acclaimed series such as Habiba, Madame...Monsieur, and ma grande Famille.

Her role as Passy in the hit series Madame...Monsieur garnered her widespread recognition. Building on this success, Muriel ventured into film, starring in notable productions like Prédiction, La Tombe des Secrets, and 2 belles dames sans merci.

As a producer, Muriel has aired movies such as Shinanigans and Aline, both of which enjoyed tremendous success at the box office in Cameroon, with her movie Aline airing on Canal+ Première.

Her talent and dedication have earned her numerous accolades, including the Bankable Woman awards and Public Vision awards, Best Cinema Actress at the Maiden edition of Best Talent Award in 2020, and Nominee in the category of Best Actress of Year at the African Talent Awards in 2019. 

By Doh Bertrand, Maxcel Fokwen, Solomon Tembang, Mua Patrick, Deng Eric, Morine Tanyi, Mercy Fosoh & Desmond Mbua