(Business in Cameroon) - The chain store Carrefour will enter Cameroon’s distribution market, and Central Africa’s also by the way, by opening its first store in the country, in Douala to be precise. This was revealed in a tweet by Gilles Thibault, the French ambassador in Cameroon, on October 10, 2017.

“Carrefour’s store at Bonamoussadi, in Douala, is coming soon. It is expecte to create 350 direct jobs and valorize the country’s agricultural sector”, the French diplomat tweeted along with pictures of a large site under construction.

After the store in Douala, Carrefour will turn to Yaoundé, the country’s capital, where it plans to invest CFA30 billion in the construction of an ultramodern mall at Ekoudou.

During the official signing of a lease contract of 3.5 hectares, in April 2017 in Yaoundé, between Cameroon’s government and CFAO Retail, Carrefour’s partner for its expansion in Central and West Africa, we learned that the Cameroon real estate company Sogimcam will be in charge of constructing the Carrefour’s Douala store, which will be delivered in 2019.

Let’s remind that in the framework of their expansion in Africa, the two French groups plan to spend  CFA309 billion to build 20 malls in Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

Brice R. Mbodiam