Business

The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) would invest just over 519.2 million CFA francs to strengthen its Banana production unit. The new huge capital injection will be used also for the acquisition of three tractors. CDC will also strengthen its energy sector, through the acquisition of generators with 810 KVA with associated components and installation cables for the Koke pumping station.

Three companies have been selected to carry out this work, Cis Sarl, CFAO Equipment Cameroon, Samarco Enterprise. The investment program is a continuation of what started in 2015.

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Ngwa Bertrand

08.Jan.2016

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The job-creation potential of Cameroon’s public and private sectors once more reached another watermark in 2015 with 337,669 new jobs created out of the 350,000 which the Head of State, President Paul Biya, promised to create at the beginning of the year. However, statistics from the balance sheet published recently by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training (MINEFOP) confirming the trend, adds to the 34,978 new jobs expected during the implementation of the Emergency Plan, the figure could reach 380,000 new jobs created in 2015.

Job-Fertile Sectors

The balance sheet published by MINEFOP also reveals that most of the job placements were made in various sectors notably trade, construction and public works, security, banking and finance, transport, domestic services, food industry, agro-industry, wood processing, agriculture, computer sciences and tourism etc. MINEFOP reports however deplores certain factors which mitigated the results such as the slow implementation of the Emergency Plan, the halt of work in construction sites such as the Yaounde-Douala and Yaounde-Nsimalen double carriage highways, insufficient financial resources allocated to gathering information on employment and the reserve of some companies to periodically furnish information on labour used or hired.

Job-Creation Strategies

Statistics showcased to illustrate laudable results recorded, the document says, depict several measures taken by government under the instigation of the Head of State and the supervision of the Prime Minister, Head of Government. Some of the prominent measures include the elaboration of strategic instruments for the promotion of employment such as the draft decree on the creation, organisation and functioning of the Cameroonian Agency for Employment, the National Practical Guide for the implementation of the High Labour Intensive (HIMO) approach in public works, the follow-up of the employment aspect of the Three-Year Emergency Plan; the realisation of studies of job-professions profiles according to agro-ecological zones and on intense cooperation activity with several countries, amongst others.1111 The MINEFOP document bears hope that with greater implementation of such measures, prospects for 2016 might reach 400,000 new jobs expected.

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Ngwa Bertrand

06.Jan.2016

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The drop in the price of fuel announced by the Head of State, H.E. Paul Biya in his speech on 31st December 2015 has gone operational. After the Head of State’s Message, the Minister of Trade who is also the Board Chair of the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilisation Fund (CSPH), Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana announced the drop as follows:  A litre of Super to drop by 20 CFA Francs and be sold at 630 CFA Francs. - A litre of Gas Oil (Diesel) to drop by 25 CFA Francs and be sold at 575 CFA Francs. 

The new prices have been widely welcomed and those who have visited filling stations since 1st January 2016 have confirmed the effectiveness of the new prices. While some are happy with the drop in prices, others are yet to be satisfied, demanding a more significant drop since in 2014, fuel prices increased by at least 80 CFA Francs. Some consumers have opined that the drop in fuel prices if not accompanied with a relative drop in taxi fares, will not benefit many.

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Ngwa Bertrand

05.Jan.2016

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In the past few years, ‘njangi,’ usury, and thrift and loan groups were significant avenues of saving money for most families. Given the ever-expanding informal sector with several small businesses cropping up everyday, there is need for more trustworthy means of saving money. This has led to the proliferation of microfinance institutions such as cooperatives, credit unions ...., with each devising strategies to woo clients. Such institutions have won the confidence of small businesses in Douala by going to traders in their various business places to collect savings.

Ambulant savings collectors work in the afternoons in collaboration with financial institutions. The money collected is recorded in the client’s booklet and saved in a special account created for the collector. Savings collectors are generally people well-known to clients. Liza M., an ambulant collector in Akwa, Douala for a credit union in the Mboppi neighbourhood, explained that for FCFA 30,000 collected each month, FCFA 1,000 is deducted. With over 60 clients daily, she collects between FCFA 4-5 million a month, and receives interest of about FCFA 250,000 to FCFA 300,000. From this amount, over 80 per cent is given to her and 25 per cent remains with the financial institution.

Another set of collectors have personal savings accounts whereby money so collected is saved and the entire interest is not shared out. Celine Nsombet, a hair dresser in Bali, Douala, saves at least FCFA 2,000 a day and Valentine Nfor, shoe mender in New Bell, saves FCFA 1,000. Didier, a shopkeeper in Ngangue, says the FCFA 2,500 he saves each day does not only help secure more articles, but also boosts his capital. To many clients, this method of saving saves time and cost and even the stress that comes with commuting across the city during peak traffic hours to get to banks and microfinance institutions.

The amounts saved each day are usually small, but build up over time to enable petty traders resolve pressing problems. Though lucrative, challenges abound: “As we move from one client to another, robbers sometimes attack us and seize the money and we have to bear the loss. Some people are afraid of saving with us because they think that the microfinance institution might close down like it has been the case in the past,” an ambulant savings collector revealed.

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Ngwa Bertrand

31.Dec.2015

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Cameroon’s commitment to the 2006 Geneva Agreement that marked the end of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Regional Radio-communication Conference heralding the development of ‘all-digital’ terrestrial broadcast services for sound and television and which set June 17 as deadline for complete switchover ushered in a new communication dispensation. Public authorities by virtue of this engagement were compelled to ensure that the pubic adhere to the exigencies of the agreement by replacing their hunchback TV receivers with flat screen receivers. This, of course needed a lot of tact, for, many people, in fact, the majority did not seem to understand the difference between analogue and digital. Seminars were organised and guidelines proposed. The new situation sent shockwaves down the spines of traders and many trading in TV sets suspended importation.

Some stepped down prices of old TV receivers. It was really an uphill task for the administration and telecommunication technicians to get the message across. To effectively demonstrate the advantage digital TV would have over the television they have been used to. They were told that the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting will create new distribution networks and expand the potential for wireless innovation and services. The digital dividend accruing from efficiencies in spectrum usage will allow more channels to be carried across fewer airwaves and lead to greater convergence of services. The inherent flexibility offered by digital terrestrial broadcasting will support mobile reception of video, internet and multimedia data, making applications, services and information accessible and usable anywhere and at any time. It will open the door to new innovations such as Handheld TV Broadcast (DVB-H) along with High-Definition Television (HDTV) while providing greater bandwidth to existing mobile, fixed and radio navigation services.

What a complex explanation that many ended up not understanding. In fact, those who pretended to, said they prefer to wait and see the difference when it happens. Their hopes were further rekindled when authorities of the national television assured viewers of getting into the new dispensation urging people to acquire flat screens and decoders for better quality images and a package of a multiplicity of TV channels. Today, Cameroonians including those who sacrificed their hunchback TV sets continue to wonder in darkness. The decoders promised viewers are nowhere to be found and there is an apparent blackout as to when things effectively go operational.

The year ended with no iota of information on where things went wrong for the digital TV not to function and not projections for 2016. This delay does not however erase the advantages digital television would bring when it finally goes operational. Pending this period, it is important the population continue to receive information on the disadvantages of not acquiring digital equipment. The ITU has made it clear; countries that refuse to switch will not be able to receive signals from abroad or their own signals will not be able to be transmitted to neighbouring countries because of interferences. But the trouble looming on the country is how soon will digital TV effectively become a reality.

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Ngwa Bertrand

31.Dec.2015

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Cameroon is now among the 84 countries whose nationals do not need visas to enter the Republic of Indonesia. The Southeast Asia nation decided on December 21, 2015, to suspend the visa for Cameroonian nationals wishing to travel to the country. Indonesia hopes to increase the number of tourists visiting the country to 20 million in 2019.

Cameroon's Ministry of External Relations has seen the measure as a business opportunity for Cameroonian investors in areas of mining, agricultural and commerce. Mohamadou Moustapha, Director of Asian Affairs and Relations with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quoted as saying that "Indonesia is a country with a very important demographic and economic weight and could be an important axis for the diversification policy of Cameroon and its other Asian partners".

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Dec.2015

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