(Business in Cameroon) - On November 12, 2020, entrepreneurs based in Cameroon met, in Douala, with public sector actors to share the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic. They also reflected on how African solutions can converge, to provide answers in the case similar situations occur in the future.

 "We have a wonderful lever for the development of Africa. This lever is African culture. We must realize that we can use it to develop our leadership on the international scene. We have been thinking for many years about launching this Pro Meet-up & Learn platform but given recent events, with Covid-19, we believe, more than ever, that we should launch it. Indeed, we noticed the tremendous resilience shown by African entrepreneurs because they dig deeper into their resources to get through the ordeal,” said Carole Mbessa Elongo (photo), co-founder and CEO of Business Facilities Corporation SA, who initiated the meeting.

For this first meeting, the entrepreneurs had the opportunity to exchange with Stanislas Zeze, CEO of Bloomfield Investment on the theme: “the resilience of post-Corona African economies, the challenge of Cameroonian companies.” The promoter of the first financial rating agency in French-speaking Africa insisted on the urgency of a new social, economic, demographic, health, and military model with a long-term perspective. From the rich exchanges (focused on African coherence) with the participants, it appears that Africa must make a radical break with its previous societal models.

"I am a great supporter of solutions and exchanges initiated by Africans and I think that solutions for the development of the continent and the emancipation of Africans will have to be found by Africans. This is why I encourage this type of meeting, and I participate in it with great pleasure," said Stanislas Zeze.

The initiators of the meeting plan to expand the initiative to other African countries. For international analysts (who rely on some set of indicators), the continent is one of the least credible. However, faced with the economic consequences of Covid-19, African countries spent nearly $44.6 billion of budgetary resources,  according to data provided by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Also, in the absence of massive bailing plans, African companies were flexible enough to deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Idriss Linge