Friday, April 9, 2010

Help me establish a Business Resource Center in Cameroon!

Hello!!

Greetings from Cameroon! My name is Courtney Maloney and I am currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. Over the past year and 9 months, I have been welcomed into the lives of many wonderful, kind and gracious people. I have learned many valuable lessons, witnessed countless cultural events, and tried my hand at new languages. My work has been with the non-profit Micro Enterprise Development Consultants (MICROEDEC), doing on the ground development work with entrepreneurs, primarily women. As I wrap up my last few months in this developing country that has become my second home, I am undertaking a Peace Corps Partnership Program project with MICROEDEC that will create the first Business Resource Center in the community of Bamenda, the 5th largest town in Cameroon and the Northwest’s provincial capital.

I am writing today to ask for your support in making this project a reality.

Small and medium sized enterprises are truly at the heart of Cameroon’s economy. However, many small business entrepreneurs lack the basic business skills needed to succeed. MICROEDEC is dedicated to growing and educating the small business community here in Bamenda. Having outgrown our current location, MICROEDEC is relocating to a larger office space. This space has the capacity to house a Business Resource Center. The Business Resource Center will provide training for entrepreneurs, as well as computer access, library resources and the opportunity to network. MICROEDEC hopes to outfit the Business Resource Center with computers to teach basic computer skills/computerized accounting techniques, internet access, and a mini-library of relevant business related literature. In addition, we hope to furnish the center with furniture and equipment necessary for effective business trainings, including a projector, laptop, blackboard and flip chart stand, as well as a copy machine, scanner and spiral binder for producing training materials. With the Business Resource Center we can expand our outreach and provide needed skills in a welcoming, convenient space.

By donating to MICROEDEC’s Business Resource Center project, you will be helping to provide Bamenda’s small business community with many of the resources they need to be independent and successful...the resources with which most of our elementary students in the US are already familiar. I know many of you probably donate to charitable organizations on a regular basis. Here's your opportunity to donate to a known project where each and every cent contributed will go directly towards the project cost rather than administration. Plus, you'd be helping me do something good for the people I have come to love and respect.

To make your tax-deductible donation, please visit the following link: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=694-162. Or, go to www.peacecorps.gov, click on the “Donate Now” tab on the left hand side of the screen and then search for the Business Resource Center Project by my last name (Maloney), Project Number 694-162, or by country (Cameroon).

Please feel free to forward this information as far and wide as you wish. Thanks in advance for your help!

Cheers,

Courtney