(Business in Cameroon) - In May 2022, at the age of 48, Xavier Pierre Jean Legrand assumed leadership of Cimenteries du Cameroun (Cimencam), a subsidiary of Lafarge-Holcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA). He took over from Benoît Galichet, who had been at the helm since July 2018. A graduate of the École des Hautes Études d’Ingénieur in Lille, France, and with a quarter-century of industrial experience under his belt, Legrand is firmly committed to restoring Cimencam’s position as a market leader in Cameroon’s cement industry.

Cimencam, which had held a monopoly on the market for 48 years, saw its leadership position taken away in 2017 by Dangote Cement, which by 2023 had claimed a 33% share of the Cameroonian market. Despite maintaining its status as the production leader with a combined capacity of 2.3 million tons, Cimencam now finds itself competing not only with Dangote Cement but also with four other cement manufacturers that have gradually made their mark in Cameroon since 2015: Cimaf, Mira Company, Medcem Cameroun, and Cimpor.