Cameroon: SBEC Annual Forum Chats Way Forward to Boost SMEs Competitiveness

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

YAOUNDE, August 4, 2023 – The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Centre (SBEC) of the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation has successfully organized its SBEC Annual Forum that brought together state representatives, entrepreneurs, business support organization, professional associations, to boost the structural transformation of the Cameroonian economy.

The SBEC Annual Forum that ran from August 3-4 at Djeuga Palace in Cameroon’s political capital, Yaounde, was done with financial support from the Rising Tide Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.

"The role of SBEC is to work with small businesses, SMEs to improve their productivity, and efficiency so that they can create more jobs and opportunities," Jean Blaise Nkonga, Interim Chief Operating Officer of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation said.

"We brought the SMEs together so that they can network and then they can improve their capacity and productivity. They can also meet with financial institutions, government officials and other stakeholders and discuss the vital challenges they are facing so they can improve themselves."

“The number one problem SMEs currently face is access to finance. You cannot have access to finance if you are not formalized. You cannot have access to finance if you still have a symmetry of information and you cannot have access to the market. We (SBEC) are trying to bring solutions for them to face these challenges and improve their businesses,” Jean Blaise Nkonga added.

Discussions during the forum centred on the Role of women and youth entrepreneurship for inclusive development in Cameroon, funding growth – access to financing for Cameroonian SMEs, digitalization and role in improving SME performance amongst others. Some three pre-selected SMEs equally pitched their products to prospective customers.

“As a small business owner, sometimes we have to use our profits to get into communities to do community mobilization to get them together, so we get the right beneficiaries to make the impact felt,” Kabi Mong, participant and owner of Nature’s Golden Vitality Health told Pan African Visions.

“This forum will be me (as a young woman), working with other elderly women who are into small businesses and entrepreneurship. I am going to network with them and get more ideas on how we can finance our activities and go far with it.”

SBEC is a Pivot Center for SMEs

According to Isidore Asongalem, SBEC Manager, SBEC has been a vital pivot centre for SMEs within the Cameroon ecosystem. He said: “We have been training SMEs on how to ameliorate their management tools. We have been having stakeholder meetings with various actors within the ecology of entrepreneurs, whose reports are forwarded to appropriate quarters that need to reform policies within the sector to ensure that the sector meets the standards.”

The SBEC Annual Forum is in line with the PEF Project funded by the Rising Tide Foundation and John Templeton Foundation. The project targets five regions of Cameroon and teams from the SBEC network had engaged SMEs in the assigned regions with training on business creation amongst others.

“SBEC plays a vital role in linking SMEs to the market and financial institutions. Most of the entrepreneurs complained that they do not have access to financing. This is a big issue that we are trying to address within the ecosystem so that financing should be opened to the SMEs, so that they should not have lapses in advancing their business ideas,” Isidore Asongalem added.

“The importance of the forum is that we have brought together so many actors on board to discuss the needful and insightful collaborations between SMEs and their stakeholders which from all indications it has been fruitful. Recommendations from this forum will be tabled to other stakeholders, so that they can use it in enacting positive policies for the development of SMEs within our country.”

About SBEC

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Centre (SBEC) was founded by the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation to support SMEs across the country and to promote business-friendly policies that stimulate innovation and job creation. Through SBEC Network, member SMEs receive training and administrative support to increase productivity and efficiency.

About the Rising Tide Foundation

The Rising Tide Foundation supports studies and programs that deliver results for cancer patients and empower individuals to develop their skills to make a difference for themselves and the greater community. Based in Schaffhausen Switzerland, but with a truly global reach, it strongly believes that the market economy, in concert with limited government and rule of law, holds the greatest promise of freedom and prosperity for all. Through its philanthropic activities, the foundation supports efforts that promote financial prosperity, individual flourishing, and sustainable income generation.

About the John Templeton Foundation

Founded in 1987, the John Templeton Foundation supports research and dialogue on the deepest and most perplexing questions facing humankind. The Foundation funds work on subjects ranging from black holes and evolution to creativity, forgiveness, and free will. It also encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, theologians, and the public at large. With over $2.8 billion in assets and annual grants of $220 million in 2021, the Foundation ranks among the 25 largest grantmaking foundations in the United States. Headquartered outside Philadelphia, its philanthropic activities have engaged all major faith traditions and extended to more than 190 countries around the world.