At defense of business plan: Yaounde Int'l Business School students marvel jury with innovative projects.

The academic exercise, held August 23, 2025, was supervised by the President of the Board of Trustees and Founder of YIBS, Acho Godfred Taku.

The students defended the business plans or projects in groups, as part of the YIBS’s requirement from students prior to their thesis defense.

According to the YIBS Director of Academic Affairs, Dr Bin Joachem Meh, the presentation of business ideas is one of the key aspects of activities in the development of students’ skills in entrepreneurship. 

Dr Bin explained that the students, formed into 32 groups and three groups of juries, presented enticing business ideas with the prospects of developing them into real business enterprises. 

“We have seen interesting business ideas that have been presented by the students; with some of them coming up with ideas on beating the services of Yango. Some came up with the ideas of producing quality liquid soap that is better than what is found in the market,” he said. 

Going by Dr Bin, each of the three juries had the task of selecting four good business plans for a pitching competition; before potential investors, business gurus, and potential partners.

He said during the said pitching competition, the best and most feasible business ideas will be selected for sponsorship. 

“Even at the school, we have an incubator centre that nurtures the activities of small businesses within the school. So, this will be part of their activity to be able to nurture them to maturity,” Dr Bin added. 

Following the business plan presentation, the students are expected to make their final thesis defense prior to their graduation in the coming months.

Dr Din also affirmed that the idea of presenting the business ideas is in line with the higher education vision of Cameroon as envisaged by the President of the Republic; to transform universities into entrepreneurial universities. 

Jury member hails students’ performance

Financial analyst and member of the jury, Atam Sab Sperry, lauded the efforts of the students during the business ideas defense.

“We are seeing students who have really gone back to work and have been able to upgrade their work and bring in more materials, perhaps from research, in-depth discussion with supervisors. So, the business plans that I've gone through are just exceptional,” Atam said as he assessed the students’ performances. 

“We are stemming from AI to agriculture, to the service industry, just laudable ideas,” Atam further noted, before congratulating YIBS management for putting in place such capacity-building initiatives for its trainees.

Students react to pre-defense 

Reflecting on the presentation, the group leader for the pitch FRESH, Climbom Frederick, said they conceived the idea of creating 100% natural fruit juice company with the aim of reducing the gap in the market concerning diabetic health situations and hypertension.

“This is not just an exercise but as well, it will enable us to continue with our business. We already have this as a guide to follow. We know what to do and what not to do, which are going to guide us,” Climbom said.

He appreciated YIBS management for grooming and broadening their minds to be able to conceive such feasible projects. 

“Before this exercise, I don't think any of us here could be able to do something like that, like a business plan, but now we have the idea and we have the support,” he asserted.

Another group leader, Tagha Sylvia, explained that their motivation for coming up with a liquid soap product, called ‘Bubble Bliss,’ is to help solve the problem of importation of liquid soap, especially from Asian and European markets.

“This team brought the idea of Bubble Bliss with the slogan: ‘Once used, three times shine’. Once used, your hands will shine. Once used, your energy and confidence bubbles even brighter,” she said. 

About YIBS

It is worth noting that the YIBS offers training at the Higher National Diploma, HND, Bachelor and Master’s degree levels. 

It operates professional training programmes for Accountancy, Insurance, Banking and Finance, Project Management, Human Resource Management, Customs and Transit Management, Software Engineering, Computer Graphics and Web Designing, Computer Science and Network, Fashion Designing and Clothing, Educational Management and Administration, Nursing, Midwifery, Physiotherapy, and Medical Laboratory Sciences amongst other fields.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3547 of Thursday August 28, 2025