(Business in Cameroon) - Three years after its launch in 2011, the Cameroon Private Sector Development Support Programme, co-financed by the government and implemented by the Corporate Development Centre (CDE), a joint entity of the EU and ACP countries, will be presenting its first round of results at the 5^th Business, SME and Partnership Fair. 

A total of 15 Cameroonian SMEs and microenterprises received technical, financial and logistical support for their participation in this major business event held in Yaoundé every three years. The 15 companies brought by the CDE operate in agro-foods, industrial maintenance and wood/leather processing. 

While most are unknown, there is also Cameroon Tea Estates (CTE), an agro-foods company that currently produces between 5,000-7,000 tonnes of tea on its plantations in the North-West, and plans to quadruple its production in the next two years to concquer the Central African market.

Through the support provided to SMEs at Promote, the CDE is joining the 81 Cameroonian corporations that have sponsored the majority of the 350 SMEs that participated in what the event’s promoter, Pierre Zumbach, describes as the “first Central African economic gathering.”

Apart from the above-mentioned Cameroonian SMEs and microenterprises, the CDE also supported the participation of 15 companies from the Republic of the Congo that work in fishing, agriculture, agro-foods, courier services, animal husbandry, mining, construction and tourism, stated the CEEAC representative at the opening of the fair.

Promote No. 6 to be held in February 2017

Generally held in the month of December, the next Promote Fair will break from this tradition. According to Pierre Zumbach, President of the Interprogress Foundation, “after an extensive investigation”, the organising committee for the fair decided to hold the next event in February 2017.

The same will be done in subsequent years for this “meeting which aims to boost business, partnerships and everything that can enhance the Cameroonian economy’s development.” A “half of the exhibits” are Cameroonian, stated Mr. Zumbach.