#7 SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
Rising Above Situations, and Pursuing Interest.
Tayoh Vedian is a young Cameroonian, who grew up moving from one difficulty to another. Right now, she’s an African Scholar at African Leadership University - dubbed the Harvard of Africa. After several crises broke out in her home town, she had to migrate alongside her family to the region where they joined the internally displaced persons.
With all this happening right before she got into High School, we discuss amongst other things, how these experiences have shaped her.
If asked who Vedian is, how would you describe yourself?
I am a 19 year old Cameroonian who is striving to make value out of life. Looking back at how living has been, I’ll say I have gone through lots of difficulties in life. I started primary education in a catholic school in my village, but then our family house was burnt and this forced us to migrate to a nearby town where I continued with primary school as we lived under rent. Another crisis broke out, and we had to move to the region of the internally displaced persons. I took up secondary education with my brother sponsoring me as he was the lone income earner of the family.
Tell us something random about you.
I think that would be the fact that I enjoy being inspirational. *laughs* When I say inspirational, I mean speaking to people who are broken in one way or another and seek reasons to heal up. Most people don’t know this about me though.
This is so cool. Asides school, what have you been up to?
I’m someone who’s given to hard work, so I enjoy trying out new things, learning from them and thus expanding my knowledge base. I do hairdressing, but I consider that a natural gift because I’ve been at it from childhood and didn’t need intense training. On the other hand, I venture into small-scale businesses. There was a time I tried selling ripe bananas and groundnut.
How has this been for you? I mean, doing different things, how has it played out for you?
Actually, it has given me the room to be more determined and it has shown me other sides of life. It has also made me understand that regardless of the support you have, there is always a need to do certain things on your own.
That is so true. Have you tried out entrepreneurship? What’s the experience been like?
Yes. Earlier, I mentioned selling ripe bananas and groundnut. This was a business I single-handedly raised the capital and saw to its operations. I’ve had other experiences trying out entrepreneurship and I must say it was tasking but the lessons are tangible.
Ooh, that’s interesting. You’ve mentioned quite a number of challenges you walked through. However, I’d like to know some of the challenges you faced doing business.
I think the first challenge I faced was personal and not so business-related. I was having a hard time patching up studies with business. I was preparing for my A’ Level exams when I ventured into the fruit business, and it became hectic. I had my younger brother join me, and he was in charge of sales for weekends that I had to attend classes for the exams. On weekdays, I had a spot at my older brother’s shop where I kept it and collected it when I was back from classes.
For the more business-related challenge, I was dealing in perishable good and as such had to face the not-so-good days heads on. However, I devised means to stay afloat despite the bad days and this helped me take care of personal expenses without disturbing my family. Sometimes, this helped me help the family.
Wow, that’s brave. We’d like to know if you have faced any challenge that is linked to your being a female.
Yes, I have. There are times when I am talked down upon even within the family. Sometimes, I might want to do something, and they come up with the talk of my being a female and how it’s not going to work. A typical example is when I was 14 and I decided to split the wood at home, but I was told it’s a thing for males. I often take out time to do this just to defy limits though. *laughs* Also, I’ve shown interest in learning to play jazz bands (drumsets), but most times it ends up being that I’m female and I can’t. I’ve watched women being told NO because of their gender, and it’s being in me to always speak and work towards this norm being thrashed.
You’re the real definition of E for Energy, and we love it! Can you share some of the lessons you’ve learnt from the entrepreneurship moves you’ve made and why they’re important to you?
I think my greatest lesson would be the need to get self-esteem high enough to make a move and start what you have at heart. There are times I didn’t wholly believe in myself, but it surprisingly worked out. Also, I’ve learnt to work with previous successes to enable me dare new things.
Those are great lessons, I must say. We’ve always been big on how tenacity and resilience are important to the development of young talents. What are some of the strengths that has kept you going?
Determination and the need to make significant change has always been my greatest push and it’s turned out to be my most important strength.
Interesting. We’ll like you to share some of your achievements to inspire other young African women?
The biggest thing I term an achievement right now is the way my life has influenced the people around me so much that they now see themselves more than just females, but as visionaries and people who want more.
That’s quite an achievement. We celebrate you. Do you have other interests? What are they?
Currently, the only other interest I have is to have a foundation that is aimed at helping upskill youths. This is because the crime rate I see around is not encouraging. The aim is to help them get skilled up in areas of their interest and then empower them to set up personal businesses or work with others. I believe the current government we look up to isn’t exactly the kind of government that is looking to work on the citizen’s pressing issues.
