In the heart of the city of Limbe in the South West region of Cameroon, it is difficult to miss the billboard that indicates the headquarters of "solarcity cameroon" on the Data building at Half Mile. This is the company that Cynthia ACHA set up in 2021 following gender discrimination in the workplace.
Indeed, it is in the city where she was born and raised that the stoic young woman decided to set up this company which offers solar energy installation and maintenance solutions to the population. Her main target is the middle class who, unable to afford a generator, suffer enormously from the untimely power cuts experienced by the people of this region.
Ever since Cynthia discovered her love for physics in high school, she knew she would become an engineer. "I didn't really dream of being an electrical engineer, but I always knew I would want to see 'engineer' engraved on my tombstone," says Cynthia. After obtaining her A-levels in 2015, she went on to study applied physics and computer science and obtained a Bachelor's degree in 2018. Her dream began to come true when she obtained a master's degree in electrical engineering and industrial computer science in August 2020. In November of the same year, Cynthia got her first job as an electrical system design engineer for a start-up company in the city of Limbe.
The trigger
Cynthia's ambition encouraged her to apply for a bigger company. She therefore applied in a company specialized in the treatment of cancers. Initially, three candidates were selected for interviews for the job. The interview is conducted in three stages. Cynthia shines with her competence and verbally gets the job after the last step, which was to convince the engineers who manufacture the machine in Turkey. "The person who got the job had to attend training courses in several countries in Africa before starting work. I was very excited and proud of myself for getting the job," she says. Cynthia could not have imagined the scenario that would follow. "I waited for a month and a half to be called for the contract to be signed. The director finally admitted to me that during all this time he was trying in vain to convince his partners who were not ready to risk their money on a woman, so I no longer have the job because he did not succeed," she recalls, still saddened by such an injustice. "It was a big shock for me because I didn't know that nowadays there are still people who think like that. Even less that they are not embarrassed to express their misogyny openly," she continues.
Before this incident, Cynthia had already had the idea for her business. Instead of moping around, she decided to launch her business without wasting any time. This innovative idea came at the right time because there is no company offering the same services in the South West region. Her family, who trusted her project, raised the 2,800,000 CFA francs of capital she needed to get started. The youngest of six siblings has become a pioneer in her field in this region of Cameroon.
As the only one to offer certain services related to the use of solar energy, the company was a great success in its first months. However, Cynthia has encountered some difficulties. "People didn't know what solar energy was yet and how it works. So we spent several months raising awareness instead of selling them our solutions," she says. Another thorn in Cynthia's side is the fact that she is a woman. But that doesn't stop her from moving forward, as she has always been one of the few women in her academic and professional environment, and is used to the sharp remarks. "When clients come to the company and ask to see the person in charge, and my staff say that it is a woman, they lose faith before they cross the threshold of my office. It's only after discussing with me just for talking sake that they realize that my gender does not deduct anything from my skills. In the end they are even very happy to be able to work with the girl they often mistake for the receptionist on the phone just for listening to a female voice," says Cynthia, amused.
These actions have never shaken this resilient woman, one of whose major goals is to offer young female electrical engineers like herself the chance she has been denied to exercise her skills and flourish professionally.
