In any economy, the private sector is the leader in sustainable job creation. In Cameroon however, according to the World Bank, only 4.5% of the adult workforce is part of the formal private sector. The government employs more than 45% of the workforce. With general unemployment greater than 30 percent and youth unemployment above 40 percent, the need for private sector growth has never been this pressing. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship program is focused on providing the tools for establishing and expanding businesses in the private sector to spur economic growth. The program has a strong focus in empowering women in the private sector to establish and grow small and medium size enterprises. Currently, more than 45 percent of all private sector jobs are in small and medium size enterprises – companies with less than 50 employees.

Why do we focus on small and medium size enterprises?

In Cameroon, as in many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, large businesses have not created jobs on the scale needed to lower the high unemployment rate. Small businesses help drive economic growth by creating employment and allowing the growth of a veritable middle class. By fostering growth in small and medium size enterprises, there is an increase in formal sector employment with concurrent increases in government revenues.

Join Our

SBEC Network

Become SBEC member and benefit from all the advantages of our network

Learn More

The foundation seeks to help establish a comprehensive small business strategy that amongst other things:

Ongoing Project

“Powering Prosperity and Economic Freedom For Women and Youth In Cameroon”

Training / Boot Camp

SME Flagship Training

What is the SME Flagship Training?

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center (SBEC) is currently implementing a six (06) months training program for Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) by offering a comprehensive capacity-building kit of modules to enhance the know-how of SMEs across 5 regions in the country, namely the Centre, Littoral, West, South-West and North-west regions.

The ultimate goal of this venture is to ensure SMEs accelerate their growth pace to contribute significantly in playing the role expected of them in stimulating economic development.

Four reasons basically account why SMEs need to take part in this SME flagship trainings

To efficiently pilot the growth of your business;
To have a mastery on business induced risks;
To be eligible to a seed fund capital of 1.500.000 FCFA;
To join the SBEC network for close assistance.

To register for this training, click here

Job-preparedness Boot Camps

Do you want easy access to employment or develop your soft skills? Then the job-preparedness Boot camp is just the right solution for you!

This solution takes you through a one-week intensive training sessions, scheduled quarterly in 5 regions (North-West, South-West, Littoral, Centre and West). The trainings combine:

Technical workshops to enhance the capacities of your business,
Job applications and interview strategies to get you ready for the job market,
Experiential work-based learning opportunities and skills to improve overall work performance.

Our training, designed from a participatory process, focuses on basic life skills, technical skills development, income generation skills and soft skills development.

Target Groups

Marginalized persons Women and youths aged between 16 and 35,
Individuals with disabilities or without formal education
Vulnerable persons Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in conflict regions

Target Regions

Northwest and Southwest
Littoral, West and Centre regions

Most importantly, the trainings tailored to target job seekers needs offer 03 incubation sessions to secure a job or to be self-employed. At the end of these, you may boast of: