19 months after launch: Foretia foundation counts achievements of project to empower youth, women.

The results of the projects activities carried out so far was presented to the press by officials of the Foretia Foundation. This was at a press lunch organised in Yaounde March 15. 

Speaking during the exchange with the press, the Director of Programmes and Strategies at the Foretia foundation, Ebenezer Fouefack, said SBEC which initiated the project, advocates for a business climate that fosters entrepreneurship and supports the aspirations of women and youths in Cameroon.

Within the scope of the project, the Director of Programmes explained that SBEC has so far carried out capacity building activities for SMEs and groomed job seekers on job preparation techniques as well as income generating skills to bridge the gap between employment demand and supply. 

He added that several meetings have been held with stakeholders to advocate for policy change on the state of business through periodic report. 

“As we reach the midpoint of the project's implementation, it is crucial to assess the qualitative changes achieved this far in enhancing the sustainability of SMEs that have received technical and administrative support,” Fouefack stated.

The project powered by the Rising Tide Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation, is being implemented in five Regions of Cameroon, notably; Centre, Littoral, North West, South West and West Regions.

Progress made

On his part, the SBEC Manager, Asongalem Isidore indicated that a number of activities have been carried out with far reaching results. 

He cited activities such as job preparedness bootcamps, SME financial inclusion, SME flagship business management training, mentoring and in-depth coaching of selected SMEs as well as the holding of an annual SME forum. 

According to the SBEC Manager, as part of the SME Network Development, it had registered 85 members as of December 31, 2023, under the three categories of members; simple, premium and champion memberships.

Also, as part of the SME flagship business management training programme, which targets 1,800 SMEs for the project duration, a total of 926 SME representatives have attended training with a completion rate of 83% in all 8 modules. 

The participants of the training from the five regions cut across the primary (21.7%), secondary (11.9%) and tertiary (48.8%) sectors of the economy.

Under the mentoring and in-depth coaching activity, some 126 SMEs from the five Regions are said to be currently benefiting from administrative support with practical capacity building from 5 business and 5 accounting paid external consultants. 

In addition, some 1,429 youth have attended the job boot camps. Going by the official, a survey launched by SBEC last February 10 for 1,401 job seekers trained in 2023, revealed that 30% have gained employment or improved on their job, 46% gained internships and 44% have attended job interviews.

Asongalem equally mentioned that from their weekly B2B conversations with the SMES, it was realised that 50% of the 926 trained SMEs have either activated or created a bank account, there by upping their financial inclusion

Challenges

The Director of Economic Affairs at the Nkafu Policy institute of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation, Dr Jean Cedric Kouam, explained they are facing a number of challenges in spite of the huge progress made in the implementation of the three-year project. 

He cited the problem of internet connectivity, availability of stable power supply amongst other challenges that SBEC faced in implementing certain activities.

He further emphasised that despite government’s effort to facilitate the creation and formalisation of businesses, SMEs have a major problem of sustainability within a rigid economic context. 

“You can create an enterprise in Cameroon within 3 days. A centre for the training of SMEs has been created but the SMEs are still faced by a number of challenges notably access to financing. Much has been done towards facilitating the creation but much still has to be done to ensure the sustainability of enterprises,” Dr Kouam declared. 

The economist revealed that SMEs in Cameroon contribute only 36% of the country's GDP, despite their huge potential in boosting economic development.