Interview with Bibiana Mbuh Taku

Grow Learn Connect (GLC): Bibiana, you have an accounting and financial management background. In that capacity, you worked for many companies and held positions of chief of service for accounts and cash and later internal auditor at the Ministry of Finance in the Republic of Cameroon. What prompted you to give up your accounting career and become a trainer?

Biana Mbuh Taku: You are right. I studied accounting and financial management and controls at:

The Higher School of Commerce and Economic Sciences (ESSEC) — a business school in Douala, Cameroon,
Treasury accounting and public administration at the Higher School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and
The Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA), UK.

This academic profile gave me many opportunities to work in the private sector — oil and gas, insurance, and the public sector. I worked for American Life Insurance, Pecten Cameroon Company (a Shell subsidiary), the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance, and Plan International (a child-centered not-for-profit development organization). In all these organizations, I had the opportunity to serve in leadership roles in which the planning and development of the skills and competencies of my collaborators was an integral part of my duties. While working for Plan International as the operations support manager, the human resources and logistics functions were services under my department, and this included learning and development. My passion for developing persons and organizations was put to the test and I must confess that I excelled. Subsequently, when I decided to go into consulting, skills building, and development of human resources and organizations was an opportunity for me to share what I had acquired over time. As a trainer, I have opportunities to develop or build skills in leadership and management, which include accounting and financial management. I haven’t actually given up my career in accounting, but I am using an opportunity that I have now to build skills in accounting among other management and leadership pillars.

GLC: You have a long history of working and training with IFC. The first IFC Training of Trainers you attended was in 2009. How did your relationship with IFC develop over time? What was your favorite part of it? Was there a project you worked on that stood out?

BMT: I have had a very exciting and rewarding relationship with IFC, an organization with which I share a passion for development. I have had an opportunity to contribute and create a sustainable impact in the development of several sectors in a few countries in Africa through capacity-building projects and programs. As an IFC-certified trainer and business development service provider, I was the technical team leader for the World Bank funded-program to select, train, develop, and coach a team of 24 local trainers to train and coach 1,000 microenterprises from the informal sector to help them grow and migrate from informal to the formal sector. This program was very successful. I was one of the members of the team that started the IFC Agribusiness Leadership Program (ALP) to which I made a significant contribution. I still collaborate with the ALP as a master trainer and have contributed to some of their successful projects, such as the Cargil Women's Leadership program and the SECO Women's Leadership programs.

My favorite part of my relationship with IFC is the many opportunities I have had to train and coach trainers in many countries to help them become great business development service providers, the work in the agricultural sector (agriculture is my passion), and, of course, implementation of gender-SMART projects.

GLC: Over your training career, you have acquired many ‘hats’. You are not only a master trainer in facilitating learning and an assessor, you are also an instructional designer and a master trainer in designing learning. Which ‘hat’ fits you most? What training role do you enjoy most?

BMT: I believe, from experience, that every good trainer must have instructional design skills not necessarily to design training modules but to be able to customize and adapt the training material when necessary. More often than not, it is while training that some pertinent information about a learner and the training context is obtained. At this point, onsite customization may be required to meet the participants’ learning need and achieve the learning and project objectives. As a master trainer, during training, I use the 'hat' of an assessor to identify my trainees’ gaps and then coach them to close the gaps so they have better chances of qualifying for certification. As an assessor, I have the opportunity, when assessing my trainees, to assess my efficiency as a trainer and a coach/mentor. This helps me practice the continuous learning and personal development that I sell to my learners/trainees. In other words, all my hats fit into each other and reflect the various facets of my personality. My best training role is 'coaching and mentoring'. It’s like supporting the learners to bring out their hidden selves and own their progress. It makes training and learning sustainable.

GLC: Tell us a little bit about the "Be That Confident Girl" handbook. What is it about? What prompted you to write that book?

BTM: “Be That Confident Girl. A guide to successful adolescence” is a handbook that contains resources and tools that if used diligently can effectively support the confidence of tween and teenage girls. Studies have shown that youth during that age bracket could experience a decline in their self-confidence as a result of what is generally termed an 'adolescence crisis'. That crisis has several causes some of which are changes in physiology that they are struggling to understand. This crisis may be aggravated by peer pressure and bullying. An adolescent growing up in a complex society that is plagued with multifaceted assault on his/her self-esteem will experience a decline in confidence levels, which, if unchecked, could lead to social anxiety and even depression.

My granddaughter, Laura, who is on the cover page of the handbook and lives in the UK, experienced a confidence crisis at the age of 15, so I wanted to help her and her mum, a single parent who was overwhelmed. And while helping her, I understood that she was experiencing social anxiety due to an adolescent crisis exacerbated by peer pressure and racially-based bullying. She did not trust any therapist, and since she became open to discussing and talking with me, I decided to research and use my coaching skills to support her in overcoming the crisis by identifying and closing her confidence gap. The product of my research and contribution from Laura is what is documented in the handbook “Be that confident girl”. Laura is now completely healed and determined to become a psychiatrist, so she can help others.

GLC: Which achievement in your training career are you most proud of?

BMT: I am proud of successful capacity-building projects, especially the capacity-building program in Lomé, Togo, which had a great impact on the beneficiaries as per their testimony. For example, one woman used to buy liters of vegetable oil and retail it in small bottles. During the mid-term evaluation, at the end of 6 months, she presented the small bottles which she did not use anymore and proudly showed off the twenty-liters bottles that were partly financed by supplier credit and distributed to cafeterias, small restaurants, and other micro-retailers. Many women opened bank accounts and were sure to obtain bank loans to finance their business growth, while many others started formalizing their businesses.

GLC: What motivated you to become:

a social entrepreneur,
an advocate of women,
a youth entrepreneurship advocate, and
a fighter against the stigmatization of persons living with epilepsy and mental illness?

BMT: My mom was a social entrepreneur and community leader, feminist, and champion of education of the girl-child and vulnerable youths from poor homes. She role-modeled women and coached them toward economic empowerment by farming and marketing their coffee and paying school fees for their children independently or in collaboration with their husbands. She did not acquire formal education but was an advocate for 'adult school', which she attended and encouraged other women to attend. She mobilized women to support each other and was the president and co-founder of the women's food cooperative while being a member of the AZI farmers' coffee cooperative. I learned from my mom, my coach, role model, and mentor. I learned resilience from her and the need to always give back to society.

I sold grilled groundnuts while in primary school as well as bread that mom baked and these helped her pay our fees and provide for our needs. Accountability was paramount and if I did not sell all my groundnuts, I need to count the unsold ones and make sure my account was balanced! This was my foundation for youth entrepreneurship. When I retired from Pecten to set up my consultancy, I was aware of the serious youth unemployment situation in my country and was determined to contribute towards youth entrepreneurship development in order to solve the problem.

With respect to the fight against the stigmatization of persons living with epilepsy and mental illness, it was my response to the death of my son, Gabriel Bebonbechem, who died in the USA in August 2014 after battling with epilepsy, depression, and the stigma. I founded the 'Gabriel Bebonbechem Center for Epilepsy and mental well-being'. The center, which was near completion in my village at Azi, would have been functional if not for the war (the Cameroon Anglophone crisis), which affected Azi very badly. However, we continue with sensitization through social media (Facebook, website, and LinkedIn ) and direct support to persons living with epilepsy. We sponsored a 'Handbook of Epilepsy for Teachers' by Dr. Nkouonlack Cyrille (MD Hons), DSSC, DFMS, which we continue to distribute to schools to promote awareness and reduce school dropout due to epilepsy.

GLC: How large is your company Diversity Management and Consulting? What’s in a name?

BMT: DMC Ltd. is a small business development provider which collaborates with a network of consultants in the area of capacity-building, environmental management projects, and social enterprises' offshoots. Its name reflects one of my beliefs that 'value differences in every aspect and the strength of inclusivity'.

GLC: Name one thing about Cameroon that most people around the world are not aware of, and you wish they were.

BMT: Many people around the world do not know that a sizeable population of Cameroon speaks English.

GLC: Which books helped you grow as a professional?

BMT: 'The 7 habits of highly effective people' by Stephen R. Covey and 'Emotional Intelligence 2.0' by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves.

GLC: What is your favorite fiction book?

BMT: 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austin.

GLC: Which animal do you associate yourself with?

BMT: An eagle.

GLC: Which personality traits help you in your professional career?

BMT: Self-confidence.

GLC: What would you like to improve about yourself?

BMT: I would like to get certification in coaching and mentoring to back up my experience. I plan to set up a coaching and mentoring platform for women and youths.