Cameroon: Fresh Hope For SMEs After Foretia Foundation’s Flagship Training

By Boris Esono Nwenfor & Synthia Lateu

BUEA, June 9, 2023 – Small business owners have given a thumb up to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center, SBEC, of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation for the SME Flagship Training in Buea, the chief town of the South West Region.

The 2-day training that ran from June 8-9, saw the business persons trained on Business planning for SMEs, Human Resource Planning, Legal (business formalization and taxes), Operations and business management, Marketing and Sales, Accounting and Finance, Technology and the growth of SMEs. The SME Flagship training in Buea follows a similar training organized in Yaounde, Bafoussam and Douala.

“I am overwhelmed with what I have gotten; I have gotten information which I had never got before. I now know several ways on how to manage my business, mistakes that I have been making to cause my business not to grow,” Loh Jorame, a farmer and participant said in appreciation of the training gotten.

“I now know how to manage those mistakes so that they do not happen again and at the end of the day realize a profit I have always desired of my business,” Jorame added while adding that he looks forward to joining and gaining more from the SBEC Network. He said: “I have come to understand that they have consultants, people I can table my problems to, people who can help me solve the problems I cannot solve by myself. I know they can help me emerge from the world market and create a platform for me to become the successful businessman I have always loved to be."

Launched on January 19, 2023, the SME Flagship and Job Preparedness Boot Camp Training seeks to build a more robust and diversified middle class, foster economic freedom and empower women and youth. This project offers a comprehensive training program for young entrepreneurs for 6 months to enable them to acquire viable skills in management and business, regulatory processes, finance and other capabilities necessary for overall improvement.

The main objective of this 6-month SME flagship business management training is to assist businesses establish a comprehensive small business strategy and growth. The training program is open to business owners/entrepreneurs, Business managers, especially women and youth.

"I am happy for the seminar that has been given to me. I am an IDP having lived most of my life in Ekona. They have taught us a lot and now my head has opened. I have been doing business for some time now but this training has added to the knowledge I already had,” Mbapgong Patricia, a participant told Pan African Visions.

“The training has been enriching especially the one on technology and also that on the business path of a business. This will enable me to go and start my own business. I am a farmer and this training will help me to know the avenues I will take to spread my product to the community,” Lydia Ngieh Ngasong, a participant told Pan African Visions while appreciating the work done by Foretia Foundation to mobilize business persons for such training.

To address all the root causes of SME underperformance and access to employment in Cameroon, foster economic freedom, and empower both women and youth in the country, SBEC is implementing a project titled “Powering Prosperity and Economic Freedom for Women and Youths in Cameroon” funded by the John Templeton Foundation and Rising Tide Foundation.

About 90 per cent of businesses are in the informal sector, while 80 per cent of the businesses created die before their first 5 years of existence. Hence, Foretia Foundation through these various pieces of training is to turn businesses into the formal sector. According to recent statistics from the National Institute of Statistics, about 90 per cent of the labour force in Cameroon remains trapped in this sector.