In 2004, in Cameroon, Africa, a doctor was telling a young man he had a degenerative eye disease that could eventually render him blind. The doctor said it was untreatable and healthcare’s poor infrastructure in the country put the young man at a disadvantage for seeking help.

In December 2005, Joel Minteu left Cameroon and arrived at his new home – Tucson.

Joel Minteu next to his car which has an advertisement for his business. Advertisement

He began studies at Pima Community College, graduated with a 3.95 grade point average and now is an accounting junior at the University of Arizona.

He still lives with the retinitis pigmentosa in his eyes.

Knowing that his sight can someday fail him completely, Minteu, now 22, decided he couldn’t go the route of being an employee for someone else.

"I didn’t want to go on living paycheck to paycheck," he said. "I wanted to start my own business, I wanted to be my own boss. I wanted have a piece of the American Dream for myself."

Minteu began researching companies that interested him: Google, You Tube, Myspace, Facebook and ebay.

He wanted to open an advertising and marketing firm, but wanted to do something different from the norm.

Minteu visted the Small Business Development Center often seeking advice.

"They helped me out a lot," he said. "It was well worth meeting with them."

Finally, late last year, Minteu started Badere LLC, an advertising and networking agency that shares its profits with the people it works with.

"I really wanted to get the community involved and I liked the way Google did that by sharing the profits and not keeping everything for themselves," he said. "So I pay people to let me put advertisements on their private cars for my clients."

Badere is shortened from Business Association for the Development of Relationships. Minteu says it’s sort of an acronym that works in both English and French, a language he is also fluent in.

Minteu’s company pays owners of cars $50 to $60 per month to put advertising on their vehicles. Typically, the ad is a sticker placed in the back window but is made to allow the driver to see through it. Some are individual letter stickers spelling out the advertisement.

Minteu created a website where people can register their cars for the program: http://www.paymeformycar.com .

In the first trial on the market, Minteu had 800,000 responses in the United States, almost 8,000 came from the Tucson market.

"I was very overwhelmed by the number of responses I received for this," he said. "But I am glad people have taken a liking to it."

The process is simple enough. When Minteu gets an order for a certain number of cars in the market, he selects that number of drivers from those who want to participate.

Minteu says he has made sure the stickers will not damage vehicles and can be removed should the owner want out or when the deal is done.

"At the end of the month, I received a check for $60 just for driving my car," said Steriane Tchemy, a student at the University of Arizona. "I paid my credit card and phone bills with that extra money, I was really happy."

As a student as well, Minteu knows what some extra cash per month can mean.

"I can relate to those problems, because I went through the same difficulties," he said. "So when I make money, and others are making money too, I am happy."

Minteu doesn’t plan on staying there long, but being a small company has helped him build his clients’ confidence in him.

"I have had people call me at midnight and I answer my phone and take care of their questions," he said. "They are happy to see I am working hard on their project and I always know what is going on with each of them."

Serge Kuny, owner of World Express Service - a passenger transportation service for Southern Arizona, has been using Minteu’s services for several months and says he was particularly satisfied with the company’s non-traditional marketing approaches.

"My company’s sales went up," said Kuny. "I was doing about $10,000 in net revenues every month but after I did my marketing with Badere, I started getting calls from everywhere and new orders. I felt more confident about my business and decided to open a bus station near the airport. The marketing was worth it, but above all, I felt more integrated in the community."

Though he is just getting the business off the ground, Minteu is gaining some national recognition. Earlier this month, he went to a Super Bowl party thrown by a California law firm that wants to work with him. Another firm wants him to expand into video advertising and Electronics Recycling International wants to work with him. They’re also trying to see if they can get him an apppearance on "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" on CNBC.

"I don’t do conventional marketing," Minteu said. "Conventional marketing is going to give you conventional results. If you want something different, you have to do something non-conventional."

Minteu says he doesn’t want to have any regrets and is pushing on to spread his business throughout the United States and even internationally.

"I have a duel background in that I lived in Africa, but also spent a lot of time in Europe. So while I am still learning here, I know how to operate overseas and it really gives me an advantage to expand the business," Minteu said. "I am definitely going for it."

Minteu’s parents were teachers and have a business of their own. The desire and motivation built inside him a long time ago from reading business books and watching others do it.

"When you have the drive to do it, you go out there and you do it," he said.

Minteu will continue to struggle with his disease, but is very excited his idea has taken flight and is leading him down the path of the American Dream.

"I want to thank the Tucson community and the United States in general for supporting my venture," Minteu said. "As I expand my business, I hope to give back to a community that gave me so much."

Badere

1639 W. Mapelwood Drive

(520) 461-7550

http://www.badere.com

http://www.paymeformycar.com

Started in 2007 by University of Arizona accounting student Joel Minteu to involve the public in advertising and to share the profits of advertising revenue while creating unique ways to advertise throughout Tucson.

 Contact Joe Pangburn at jpangburn@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4259.