Economy

SMEs ministry, partners train 100 entrepreneurs on product standardisation.

by Mercy Fosoh
08 Jun 2024 11:07
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Minister Basellikin III visiting exhibition stands of some locally made products

Some 100 Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, SMEs, in the country have received training on product standardisation, quality norms and product labelling as well as packaging.
The entrepreneurs were also edified on the opportunities offered by the Cameroon-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA. This was during a two-day workshop held in Yaounde.

The workshop took place under the auspices of the Minister of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, MINPMEESA, Achille Basselikin III.

The event was organised in collaboration with the Standards and Quality-agency, ANOR, and the National Laboratory for Quality Control of Medicines and Expertise, LANACOME.

As explained by Minister Basselikin III, the workshop was in line with President Biya’s Import-substitution Policy.

He said it was organised following instructions from the Head of State on the need for government to speed up the implementation of the policy.

“Foreign trade figures confirm that the country has a trade deficit linked to imports of agro-food products that is why we have mobilized around a hundred SMEs and craftsmen to raise their awareness of the quality approach so that they can align themselves with certification requirements, in order to have products that are competitive, meet consumer demands, and enable them to export with peace of mind to competing markets or EU markets where quality requirements are high,” the Minister stated.

Participants take picture to immortalize training

For two days, experts from LANACOME, ANOR, and MINPMEESA briefed the entrepreneurs who were selected from priority sectors including agro-food, cotton-textile-clothing and forestry-wood, on a number of modules essential to promoting the ‘Made in Cameroon’ brand.

The modules included the product certification process in Cameroon, European standards and certification, good hygiene practices within a production unit using the 5M method, the quality of ‘Made in Cameroon’ products on the domestic and foreign markets and the impact, challenges of the manufacturing process in the agro-food industry and transfer of technology tool for the development of SMEs.

Minister Bassilekin III while visiting exhibition stands of some ‘Made in Cameroon’ products at the launch of the workshop, encouraged producers to vie for access to international markets which will increase their production and export opportunities and make them more competitive at the national level.

This, the minister said, can only be possible if they take the capacity building training seriously and effectively implement the lessons learned.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No3132 of Wednesday June 05, 2024