Moscow (AFP)

From gold to wrists, scratched from head to toe, the Tchassem rush into a trendy Muscovite fast-food restaurant, surrounded by bodyguards. This Cameroonian couple has built an empire in Russia and wants to "make young Africans dream".

"People do not understand this course, it's unique, but I always tell them that when you believe in yourself and you work hard, there is a result," says Walter Tchassem, 37. "Anything is possible," he smiles after ordering burgers.

Son of Cameroonian diplomats stationed in Russia, he lives there for 25 years and has taken Russian nationality. In 2006, he co-founded, with the rapper Timati (Timur Younousov) and Pavel Kuryanov - met on the school benches - the holding company "Black Star", which he now holds the financial reins.

Label music originally, the brand has spread in the streetwear (collaborating especially with the Russian army) and the restoration of burgers, with a franchise of nearly 100 shops and fast food in the countries of former USSR , as well as in the car wash nightclub version, video game clubs, etc. Today, the group has 500 employees.

The entrepreneurial success of the Tchassem - both Russian-speaking - is atypical for Russia, better known for its state behemoths, in hydrocarbons or the mining sector.

And is an example at a time when Moscow is organizing its first "Russia-Africa Summit" and a forum to revive economic relations with a neglected continent since the fall of the USSR.

- Putin "best president" -

The Sochi forum is "an opening", says Walter Tchassem: "In the long run it is Africa that will win, because Russia gives a lot of opportunities".

"By next year we will be in the European market", and in October it is in Los Angeles that a burger opened, he adds.

"Our business is lifestyle-based, it can come into any country because it's not a politicized business," he says, twirling his bracelets.

It still boasts the merits of Vladimir Putin, "best president of the planet".

Cindy Tchassem, 32, participates in the group's public relations. She supports an orphanage in Cameroon, in Bonabéri district of Douala, and wants to launch a real charitable foundation.

After their meeting and their marriage in Paris, Cindy, also of Cameroonian origin, joined Walter in 2012 in Moscow, where they raise their sons of 4 and 6 years old.

"In Russia, you can start your own business at age 30, there are opportunities for success very quickly, you can easily become very rich regardless of your age," she says, regretting, however, a culture "very macho ".

- "Fashion addict" -

In a country where racist attacks have long been the headlines, the couple says they have never suffered racism.

"In our holding I am the only black but I have never felt that, the new generation of Russian travel, they understand a lot," says Walter.

"I succeeded (...) in a country that does not know Africa," he says, and "I think the road is less difficult here than in a country that has colonized Africa ".

The founders of Black Star are "an African, a Jew (the mother of Timati is Russo-Jewish, Ed) and a Russian, it opens the mind!", Cindy launches.

The couple made social networks the showcase of their success. On Instagram, they have more than 400,000 subscribers, share glamorous shots of yacht trips and private jet, from the French Riviera to the United States, all in colorful outfits of great creators.

"We want to make other young Africans dream too," says Walter, "we think the African was born to suffer, but that's not the case, you have to believe in yourself and work!"

Walter recognizes that fashion, "it's a little my drug, I love, I do not hide that I spend a lot for that". "It's a fashion addict!" Laughs his wife.

© 2019 AFP