[Digital Business Africa] –Cameroonian Rebecca Enonchongbreaks down the misconceptions that digital entrepreneurship is the preserve of young people of a certain age group and sometimes only men. At 53, she sits atop Afrilabs and AppsTech and supports many African startup developers.
With entrepreneurship in her blood, it was at the age of 17 that the young Rebecca took charge of a business for the first time, whereas two years earlier she had been selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door. At the same time, she attended graduate school at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science in Economics.
Two decades of promoting technology in Africa
After graduation, the daughter of the famous Cameroonian lawyer, Henry Ndifor Abi Enonchong continued to work for organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Oracle Corporation.
In 1999, his first company AppsTech was founded in Bethesda, Maryland. Aware of the need to digitize the continent, it is expanding its activities there. « We must not miss the fourth industrial revolution, especially given the sense of innovation and entrepreneurship that characterizes the African youth of today,” she said.
In addition to AppsTech and Afrilabs, which she is proud of, she brings her expertise to Venture Capital for Africa, known as the largest community of investors and entrepreneurs for Africa, as well as ActivSpaces (African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures) and the Salesforce.com Foundation.
In turn (sometimes simultaneously), she sits on the board of directors of these organizations dedicated to the promotion of artificial intelligence on the continent. In 2015, she became involved with the African Business Angel Network (ABAN) of which she is a founding member, to facilitate the search for financing for young entrepreneurs who only have their ideas to sell.
His fight for a more competitive digital industry in Africa, however, faces obstacles that have led to the closure of some AppsTech subsidiaries in Cameroon. « They say that a good transition to the digital economy could make countries gain 3% of GDP and save lives: everyone has an interest in seeing it happen, but not everyone is giving themselves the means », she laments in an interview with ideas4development.org.
She says she is in love with new technologies but she has never thrown in the towel as “perseverance and self-confidence” are the basis of her actions. It is therefore not surprising that she has often won awards on a national level and even more so on an international level.
Endless laurels.
In 2001, Rebecca Enonchong received the African Entrepreneurship Award. From then on, the awards will follow one another: World Leader of Tomorrow in 2002, “Benjamin Franklin Award” for SMEs in 2003, finalist of the African Digital Woman contest in 2013, WIE (Women, Inspiration and Enterprise Network) in 2013 among others.
In 2014, Black Enterprise named her the “Power Woman” of the year while the American magazine Forbes ranked her among the ten most influential female Tech entrepreneurs in Africa.
By Alain Brice Talla Defo, Digital Business Africa
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