Fonds-Proto initiative: SMEs ministry supports 20 innovators with 40 million FCFA.

The ceremony, chaired by Minister Achille Bassilekin III, held in Yaounde recently.

In his address, Minister Bassilekin III described the 20 projects as the outcome of long-term creative work by young entrepreneurs.

“For five years now, the Fonds-Proto initiative has been on track. The train is moving forward, certainly with its constraints, but especially with the opportunities it offers. It is about supporting innovative enterprises in their growth and, above all, in their contribution to the industrialisation dynamic of our country,” Minister Bassilekin III said.

He was joined at the event by the Minister of Youth and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou, who stressed the role of young people in the innovation ecosystem.

On his part, the General Manager of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Promotion Agency, SMEPA, Jean Marie Louis Badga, underlined the need for projects to progress towards industrialisation.

“These tangible results show that Fonds-Proto is not a simple support mechanism, but rather a structuring lever of the Cameroonian entrepreneurial and industrial ecosystem,” Badga noted. 

He, however, added that a major challenge remains that of enabling the innovations cross the crucial stage of scaling up and engaging in the path of pre-industrialisation when market testing with a pilot series has been successful.

Enter fifth edition winners 

The selected innovators received cheques ranging between FCFA 1.5 million and 4 million to develop their prototypes. Among them, six projects stood out for their originality and impact.

Christian Vata received the President of the Republic’s Special Prize, valued at FCFA 4 million, for his project on manufacturing MDF panels using wood shavings, sawdust, and waste. The Best Female Innovation Prize went to Dorice Yvanna Tikeng Yegem for her project on the recovery of residual calcium carbonate for the production of eco-friendly school chalk.

The Special Senior Innovator Prize was awarded to Patrice Sock, 41, for his solar and electric energy storage project. The Best Young Talent Prize was conferred on 21-year-old Haziela Christiana Simoni Ngufac, for her project on producing ecological candles and wax from used frying oil. Meanwhile, Kevin Tessa Labeuou received the Special Prize for Best Innovation, valued at FCFA 500,000.

The award ceremony also marked the conclusion of the second edition of Fonds-Proto Expo, a fair dedicated to the promotion of technological, industrial, scientific, and environmental innovations. The exhibition offered a platform for young innovators to showcase their work and explore partnerships with investors.

About initiative

Since its creation, the Fonds-Proto programme has identified 134 young innovators, developed 86 prototypes, and obtained 71 intellectual property titles, including 47 patents. 

Products from the prototyping stage have generated a cumulative turnover of nearly FCFA 2.9 billion. In the same period, 78 SMEs have been formalised and more than 600 direct jobs created.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3558 of Monday September 08, 2025