“If you want to change our society, you help a woman to change her life. Then the woman will change the world.” These are the words of Vera Mbongo, who runs a not-for-profit orphanage attached to a for-profit car-wash business in Cameroon. Just like Mbongo, many women do not start talking about money when asked about their motivation for starting a business.
When Albert Kimbu of the University of Surrey and I asked women entrepreneurs in Cameroon what inspired them, they told us about independence and contributing to society: if that leads the business to grow and make a lot of money, that is a bonus.
The women we spoke to provided striking reasons for why they started a business. One said, “The rate of prostitution can be reduced if women are enabled to be more creative.” Another said, “I want to be independent and not just sit at home as a housewife who gets everything from her husband.” Another “did not want to sit idle at home as a housewife and not pursue my childhood dream to be a decorator”.
