My team and I have big plans! The story of SOLARGROUP partner Victor Mouandjo Essombe
My name is Victor Mouandjo Essombe. I have recently become the vice national partner in Cameroon. I live in this country and have worked in communications for 15 years, including innovative projects.
At some point, I wanted to get out of my payroll job and be self-employed. Then I accidentally came across a video with Gilles Weber on the Internet, where he was talking about "Duyunov's motors" and SOLARGROUP. "A very interesting innovative project," I thought. I realized right away that the project could help the whole world in the future, and that it would help me become financially independent.
I like taking on challenges and I like innovation. That's what I've always been doing. So I got in touch with Gilles. We chatted on WhatsApp, I watched his webinars. Then I searched for information about "Sovelmash" and the project "Duyunov's motors" myself. The project really captivated me! For 2-3 weeks I studied the information and decided that I would participate. I didn't know anyone from SOLARGROUP yet, I just believed in the project and got right down to business. I was motivated by three things:
• An opportunity to start something of my own, independent of where I work. I wanted to try and develop new things.
• The project is innovative and international. For me, this is an important criterion.
• "Slavyanka" is the technology of the future. I heard a lot about electric motors in Europe, and I realized that sooner or later we would all get there, even in Africa. This is exactly the kind of environmental projects I want to participate in!
I purchased an investment package and immediately signed the partnership agreement. This happened in March 2019. I started doing presentations, producing T-shirts and rollups.
For my first presentation, I rented a small room for 10 people. My friends and brothers came there. I prepared very carefully, but I can't say that I was immediately well received, that everyone understood me immediately. In our country, few people have ever heard of crowdinvesting or electric motors. This is not yet part of our culture, people are not used to buying shares online. Many people present at that meeting left with questions and doubts. Of course, I was a little disappointed by that reaction, but I was generally prepared for it.
Doubts are the main obstacle to promoting the project in my country. People here are very distrustful. They don't believe what they haven't touched and seen with their own eyes. Now I would give this advice to novice partners: constantly provide informational support and tell people about the project, explain how it is developing. It is consistency, I believe, that helps conquer doubt.
Lately the company has been giving its partners a lot of information about the evolution and development of the project. We pass this information on to our teams. And it makes a big difference to people! That's how they know there's something tangible going on here. Our trip to Moscow also contributed greatly to the credibility of the project. The fact that we can now adapt to the local mentality and explain complex things in simple language is a great advantage. I had this criticism of the project in the beginning: they spoke about the technology in specific language and not everyone understood what they were talking about. Now we explain in more simple words how everything goes.
Africans are most interested in two aspects of the project: is it real and how can they earn a profit from it? And people don't seem to care much about the technical aspects. So initially I needed to motivate people by my example, to show that I was confident about the project, so that they would reach out for me. It wasn't easy. My first investors were people who believed in me rather than in the project, who trusted my reputation. Besides, people like to get money quickly, they are less interested in long-term projects.
I still face these difficulties even today. But now I show more specifics, photo reports. And people become more patient.
Previously, after 2-3 weeks of presentations, investors would buy 2-3 packages of $ 100-$ 250 each - just to test it, see if it worked. Over time, people began to upsize their packages, saw how we communicated with them, and became less wary. The fears are understandable - there are many fraudulent projects in Cameroon. At the government level, restrictions have been imposed on crowdinvesting projects.
It took a lot of effort on my part to keep giving presentations and convincing people of the project's prospects. Gilles Weber's visit to Cameroon and the opening of a national representative office helped with this. Such events reassure the partners, having a very good effect.
I believe that promotions and special offers from the company, along with the informational efforts of the partners, motivate people to participate in the project. Offers are what we rely on to encourage potential investors to buy. These are our tools with which we help people not to give up, to make timely installment payments and upsize their packages, to understand their benefits.
I think we need to attract more new investors. And I'm talking about investors of a different profile. Because it seems to me that right now we only have 5% of the number of investors that we are able to engage. How do I see future investors? Solvent and understanding what crowdinvesting is. Currently the task - mine and my team's - is to develop a strategy that attracts exactly such people. Who are they? Employees of institutions, owners of small and medium-sized businesses. There are a lot of them in Cameroon! And they want to invest their money. They only need to be guided on how to do it more profitably.
The first thing we have to do to accomplish this task is to get the attention of such people. It's a job my team can do. We are familiar with their mentality. The second thing to do is to work out a format for presenting information more effectively. For example, we had such an unconventional business meeting with Gilles. Now we will try to hold such meetings for 5-10 people at least once a month.
Crowdinvesting offers opportunities for everyone. Still, there are people who can understand its benefits faster and invest sooner. That's why I give importance to business meetings. You can discuss more detailed information and deal with more in-depth questions from interested people at them.
In short, my team and I have big plans! I currently hold the "Master" status, I plan to become an "Expert" by the end of the month, and I hope to become a "Professional" by the end of the year. Then - a "President" within the first six months of the next year. There are 300 people in my structure. Thanks to SOLARGROUP and Gilles Weber, I now know a lot more than I did when I started.
I aim to improve the quality of presentations, attract more solvent investors, and reduce the number of cancelled packages. And to make my team even more motivated! I plan to open my own office in the future. I want to increase both my income and the income of my partners. I really want to improve my country's performance!
I am sure that the upcoming conference here and the regional offers timed to coincide with it will help with this. I am interested in my country making a significant contribution to the project. When I look at the statistics by country, I see that we are not in the lead, and I want to change that.
I'm happy to be the vice national partner! I understand the responsibility that I have, and I understand that there will be even more work to do. Me and my team are ready to work! My point is that you can count on us.