Cameroon

Corporate Trainer and Innovative Social Entrepreneur Javnyuy Joybert in a session in Douala has urged participants to be Innovative and proactive if they must survive to difficult business climate in the country. Joybert, one of the speakers at a training conference of young business leaders organized by the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation says proactive businesses “should create solutions not only for today’s problems but for future problems”

The training that took place at Lewat Hotel in Douala comes in line with the objectives of the Denis and Leonora Foundation which aims at catalysing Africa’s Economic Transformation. The program dubbed “Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship skills”, is an onsite training in partnership with the Canadian Fund for Local Initiative that seeks to empower young business owners and entrepreneurs on three areas notably Business Management, Access to Finance and Tax Requirements, Registration and Declaration Procedures.

Small and medium size enterprises contribute around 36% of Cameroon’s GDP according to statistics gotten from the Denis and Leonora Foretia Foundation. The statistics found in the training program’s concept note also reveals that these enterprises also make up over 90% of business in Cameroon and employ above 60% of the population. Yet the statistics show how glaring realities indicate that enormous potentials inherent in this sector are unfortunately not fully harnessed especially given that more than 70% of SMEs still operate informally.

The concept note also reveals that though access to finance is a key factor to the growth of SMEs, these structures hardly have access due to the difficulties faced by financial institutions on the borrower-solvency, lack of reliable financial statements of SMEs, absence of guarantee or inadequate collateral and lack of detailed business plans. Citing a 2009 IMF study report, the civil society group noted that heavy taxes and 15% interest ceiling on loans to SMEs also discourage these institutions from financing the sector.

The training therefore seeks to equip owners/managers of small and medium size enterprises with basic managerial and entrepreneurial skills, to familiarize participants with the available options of financing their businesses and how to access finance, to equip participants with basic managerial and financial management tools, acquaint business owners with different tax systems in Cameroon and also demonstrate the importance of moving from the informal to the formal sector. It brought together small business owners in the formal and informal sectors, business women association, famers and agribusiness persons

Participants also ended the session with the final module focused on Access to Finance by Small Business owners and facilitated by Usmanu Baba, Director of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center(SBEC) of the Foretia Foundation

Meanwhile Module 2 of the training taught by Mr. Awungjia Christopher, managing Partner of ACN & Co focused on the different tax systems in Cameroon aimed at getting participants familiar with the different systems. A member of ONNECA Cameroon, and member of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Nigeria (ICAN), Awungjia Christopher is a certified chartered accountant with several years of working experience

Source: Bantu Voices

Others Related links:

https://panafricanvisions.com/2019/10/cameroonfinance-guarantees-survival-of-businesses-sbec-manager-tells-entrepreneurs/

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