François Desiré Ekouma Ananga, founder and chief executive officer of François Santé company in Cameroon shared on October 16, 2025 his success stories and challenges with students of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Yaounde 1.
On Thursday October 16, 2025, the 225 seat amphitheatre of the Faculty of Education Sciences in the University of Yaounde 1 was filled by a crowd of students convened for the conference on entrepreneurship.
The conference animated by François Desiré Ekouma Ananga, was placed under the theme: “The Genesis of strategic management and executive leadership of flourishing Cameroonian enterprise: a case study of François Santé-Bôme Francois.”
The highly attended conference, first of its kind initiated by the promoter of Bôme François products, was chaired by the dean of the host faculty, Pr. Bela Bienvenu Cyrille and moderated by Dr. Owona Awoumou Charles Uriel.
The Dean of the Faculty of Education Sciences speaking on behalf of the Rector of the University of Yaounde 1, praised the initiative and said this is a way to link theory to practice.
Sharing of experiences and best practices permit to students to have an open mind into the business world, and project themselves into the future.
As underscored by the founder and CEO of Bôme François products, the main objective of this conference is to share entrepreneurial and management skills with students who are expected to dive into the practical business world as soon as they finish with their studies.
François Desiré Ekouma Ananga outlined that: “Training at the University of Yaounde I, particularly at the faculty of Education, with the implementation of the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate(LMD) program, and the political will for the professionalization, is giving rise to profound changes that have strong implications for the life of institutions and practices of various actors. However, the induced modalities are still far from being generalized, the training system is now based on a learning approach centered on the student entrepreneur with immersion in business, reason why we thought it wise to exchange with students of this faculty.”
Taking the floor to entertain students present at the event, François Desiré Ekouma Ananga started by the genesis of the creation of his company popularly known today thanks to the bome François product.
The business journey of Mr. Ekouma Ananga started when he decided to inject 40.000FCFA to kick-off the production of Bome Francois-a pure and 100% made in Cameroon product.
He said the company officially created in June 2021 thanks to a holy inspiration has grown today to a big company employing thousands of Cameroonians and yielding over 300 million FCFA annually.
The business tycoon urged students to build a spirit of entrepreneurship by sacrificing and leaving aside non-profit assets such as expensive phones and clothes and engaged them to be resilient and hardworking in order to achieve their goals.
In his exchange with the young students, he told them to be creative and courageous, and to think beyond having several certificates that will not feed them in a long term.
According to François Desiré Ekouma Ananga, there is no need to multiply certificates that will not be useful if at the end you don’t know which path to follow.
As concerns the setting up of a business, he narrated all the administrative procedures he undertook and the various challenges faced with the government which later recognized his products, and the official partnership agreement signed with national laboratory for quality control of medicines and expertise (LANACOME) on the 4th of July 2025.
He added that despite the numerous difficulties and daily challenges he faces at various levels of his company, not talking of fix charges, his desire to succeed and steadfastness help him to bridge some gaps.
The promoter of Bome Francois also responded to series of questions asked by students who wished to know why he didn’t export his know how to other countries. Mr. Ekouma Ananga expressed in some few words his patriotism and devotion for Cameroon.
To conclude his presentation, he reiterated to the crowd of students that “entrepreneurship is suffering” and to succeed is to sacrifice.
Speaking to media practitioners at the end of the event, Pr. Bela Bienvenu Cyrille insisted on the fact that this conference comes in to reinforce new policies put in place by the government in its teaching curricula. Pr. Bela said: “This conference is part of the new law on higher education orientation, which was put in place on June 25, 2023, and which would like today’s students to be entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow. So, we went from the slogan, “a student, an employment”, to the slogan, “a student, a company”. Obviously, this is to solve the problem of unemployment and to create wealth. The State is no longer able to employ all higher education graduates, and we at the Faculty of Education Sciences, we bring these promoters who have succeeded in the world of entrepreneurship, so that they come to educate our students, who come to complete their training by practical teaching, field teaching. And you know very well that everything we have to do in life does not always take place in amphitheatres…”
Pr. Bela wen further to indicate that the holding of such conferences instituted by the Rector of the University of Yaounde 1 will go a long way to support government in curbing unemployment and invited students to tap the best from the different speakers and entrepreneurs who come in to share their experiences with them.
Elise Kenimbeni
