At awareness raising seminar: CCIMA drills economic stakeholders on optimising investment incentives.

The stakeholders were drilled during an awareness raising seminar held in Yaounde Tuesday. The seminar was line with the implementation of Ordinance No. 2025/002 on investment incentives in Cameroon. 

Officials said the training aims to encourage economic operators to make better use of existing schemes, with the view to fostering strong, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, as well as job creation. 

In attendance were representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Investment Promotion Agency, API, and private-sector companies officials. 

Discussions focused on procedures for accessing investment incentive schemes, building applications for approval, investment opportunities and support for SMEs. It also touched on changes introduced in the new investment ordinance. 

The Centre Regional Secretary for CCIMA, Yemene Samuel, said the seminar aims to encourage economic operators to invest and promote the import-substitution policy and that aimed at structural transformation of the economy. 

“We want them to knock on the doors of organisations such as the API, the SME Promotion Agency, and also the Chamber of Commerce to support them in setting up their projects and to benefit from these incentives, and especially to invest,” Yemene said. 

He said CCIMA has noticed that very few economic operators take interest in the law since its existence. 

Yemene said through the sensitisation, government’s desire to accelerate the country’s industrialization, promote import substitution, strengthen the local processing of raw materials, and to sustainably improve the competitiveness of national enterprises, in line with the guidelines of the National Development Strategy 2020-2030, SND30, will better be made known.  

“CIMA has the mission to support economic operators, promote investment, contribute to the continuous improvement of the business environment, and facilitate dialogue between the private sector and the public sector,” he said. 

Yemene said despite progress recorded in recent years, the country's economy continues to face structural challenges.

He cited available economic estimates that put GDP growth rate at 4% in 2026, driven mainly by the non-oil sector, noting that the level of investment remains insufficient to support a rapid structural transformation of our economy. 

Yemene underscored the need for job creation given demographic growth and the massive influx of young people into the labour market, insisting that private investment appears more than ever to be an “essential lever for growth, competitiveness, wealth creation, and sustainable employment”. 

Aware of the decisive role of private investment in the structural transformation of the national economy, CCIMA official said the State has initiated the procedure to modernise its legal and institutional framework for investment promotion. 

Yemene said through the seminar, authorities intend to encourage productive investments, promote job creation, strengthen business competitiveness, support exports, and foster the local processing of natural resources. 

He was clear that the incentives have assisted many investment projects across various sectors, helped the expansion of many enterprises, contributed to strengthen Cameroon's attractiveness to both national and foreign investors and supported the development of certain industrial units that have created many jobs.

To address challenges, he emphasised simplification of administrative procedures, improving access to economic information, strengthening support for SMEs, increasing the effectiveness of incentive mechanisms, and adapting frameworks to new international economic realities. 

Investors urged to utilize opportunities 

He said knowledge shared during the seminar will permit economic operators to better understand the innovations introduced by reforms and to identify the concrete opportunities it offers to Cameroonian businesses. 

“Many opportunities for investment, cost optimization support, or access to the benefits provided by regulations remain underutilised, often due to lack of awareness of existing mechanisms, eligibility criteria, or access procedures,” he said.

Another CCIMA official, Dimala Olivier, said the incentives concern sectors such as agriculture, food processing, health, education, industrialization, covering tax incentives, custom incentives, administrative incentives, and financial incentives. 

A stakeholder present at the event, Roger Penka, said Cameroonian investors, many times don't know the law, but are familiar with the law of foreign countries or border countries, making them invest outside the country because of its attractiveness. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3806 of Wednesday June 03, 2026