Every entrepreneur’s journey starts from a point; Love Vera Ekoume’s is no different. A happy mother of four children with over fifteen years of marital bliss, and also the last child in her family, Love says her most ardent desire is to show women and young people what they can do as entrepreneurs.
She holds a DESS in applied taxation and a Master’s degree in business law. She is also certified in the digitization of archives and in Record Management. She is an international trainer in this field and a consultant for several certification companies. She worked in a legal and tax consulting firm until 2013 when she resigned to create her company in legal advice and tax.
She has been the President of the Cameroon Women Entrepreneurs Network since June 2019. Also, she succeeded in building a strong network for women entrepreneurs and setting up a guarantee fund to allow them to access finance without any obligation to bring guarantors. In addition, she campaigned for women’s development and empowerment, which earned her the position of Vice-President of a coalition of women’s associations. She is also a member of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Commission of the Groupement Inter-Patronal Du Cameroun (GICAM). She has won the 1000 African entrepreneurs, and Women in Africa competitions respectively.
Naija Diaspora Magazine Media Chat with Love Vera Ekoume
What was your key driving force in becoming an entrepreneur?
I often dream of a different life; beautiful, and of independence, and above all, to present myself as a model for my children and others. And by observing my surroundings, I had understood very early that I could only be so if I did things differently. And to be different, I had just understood that you had to work for yourself, start from scratch and build your own life according to your aspirations. My most ardent desire is to show women and young people that they can honestly get whatever they want if they work to achieve their dreams. Besides, I don’t dream; I act according to my thoughts.
You resigned in 2013 to create your own company, which originally was into legal advice and tax, but you switched to archive management. What really motivated you to do that, and what can you say about the profession?
In reality, my academic course was a diploma in taxation, so nothing predisposed me to any documentary management. When I created my business, the objective was to offer services relating to what I had learned in school. But whenever I entered companies to prospect, I was always struck by the document disorder I saw. And to the question of how they managed their business properly by mastering information and data, the answer I received from the people I questioned was that “we had a big problem with our archives, classification problems, storage and research.” I then perceived it as a real niche and decided to train in archiving. But I can reassure you that these two professions are complementary.
What have you enjoyed most about starting your own company?
What interested me the most in becoming an entrepreneur was that I understood that it is not easy and that we learn continuously in the battle of everyday life. We celebrate the little victories that led us to success. I just want to specify that I still do my classes and hope to be among the big businesswomen in Cameroon. It’s difficult, but we will get there.
What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning as CEO of your company?
My first challenge was to repay the money my mom had lent me to start my business. We had to find a market and provide service quickly. And since when you passionately desire something, even nature agrees so that everything goes in your favor, I quickly found support in the tax follow-up of a company. In three months, I repaid the million my mum lent me with interest.
How has being a mother, an entrepreneur and president of the Cameroon Women Entrepreneur affected your family ties?
Sometimes my absences disturb my children, especially when I travel for long stays. My husband is also often disturbed, but I confess to having the grace that he understands the importance of these trips. For my children, I talk to them a lot and explain to them why I have to travel often. Even if they are often disappointed, they finally understand and support me. To overcome this, I make it a point of honor to talk to them in a video every evening (long live digital), so everyone tells me about their day, and I, too, tell them about my challenges and successes.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Boldness, hard work, and resilience.
What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
I just want to say that I’m not afraid of anything. But I admit that only one thing prevents me from sleeping; it’s when I think my mother, who has always supported me and followed me in all my decisions, is not proud of me. I want to see her smile at me, saying, “Congratulations, my daughter, you made it.”
Who has been your greatest inspiration?
My greatest inspiration has always been my father. It’s fun because he has never been an entrepreneur but rather an employee who is very proud of being. Only, every time he had his salary, we knew it because he always said, “I am rich as a prince.” It was fun because I saw his joy, but I also knew we were not rich. So, I wanted to be happy like him, not just at the end of the month, but daily in my life. Also, my father taught me that work is a treasure and that depending on people has never been an oasis; he taught me always to seek comfort and excellence. He spoke of philosophy, and I saw how concentrated he was in his actions. I saw him participate in contests, I heard him talk about the company he would create after retiring, and I listened to him talk about his desire to write books, but unfortunately, death Mangled it before he realized all of this. So, I told myself that I would have to do it like him, if not better than him, so that he would be proud of me. Besides, my business bears his name because “AB” is the name his brothers had given him. I just want to tell my dad that I love him very much.
What advice would you give to women entrepreneurs In Cameroon and Africa at large?
The advice I could give to women entrepreneurs in Cameroon is to know how to combine professional life and family life because we are witnessing more and more tearing of families in the name of women’s empowerment. I just want everyone to know that no female entrepreneur, even if she had all the success in the world, would sleep easy knowing her offspring was counted among the social problems. Let everyone remember that the family, particularly our children, is what we hold most dear. It is imperative we know how to work relentlessly both for the success of our businesses and for the development of our offspring because these are the children who will have to continue to carry the torch of our success when we lay down our arms either because of old age or because of death.
