(Business in Cameroon) - Luc Demez (Managing Director of the local subsidiary of French group Carrefour in Cameroon) recently announced that his group would open new stores in Douala (the Douala Grand Mall notably) and Yaoundé before the end of 2021.

These new stores present numerous opportunities for local producers and suppliers. Indeed, most of the products sold by Carrefour come from local suppliers and producers. In an interview with Ecofin Agency, Luc Demez explained that the group was collaborating with local suppliers who provide most of the goods sold in Carrefour’s stores to offer Cameroonians the same products they used to buy in markets. Therefore, new demands will rise with the launch of the new stores.

To date, the group has about 500 suppliers that provide local products or imported goods that are much-in-demand in local markets.

According to some observers, with the recent boom of the middle-class, the need for purchase points that are more structured than mainstream markets has arisen. Such demand will be met by large mass retail brands, which has brought the quality and supervision requirements necessary to develop a sector that will later transform the livestock and agriculture sectors in Cameroon. The sector will help shift the production mode from subsistence to commercial.

Idriss Linge