Female entrepreneurship: CONFEJES set for agri-digital fair in October.

The event is scheduled to take place from October 20 to 23, 2026. It will bring together 110 participants. A total of 100 young women will be selected from Cameroon’s ten Regions, while 10 others will come from abroad. Selection will be based on a national call for applications. 

The initiative was presented during a press conference, attended by officials of CONFEJES and representatives of Scope Consulting & Services, the organisation’s partner for the event.

Speaking to reporters after the press conference, the Secretary General of CONFEJES, Louisette-Renée Thobi Etame-Ndedi, said the fair is designed to respond to challenges facing women and girls seeking to build businesses in the current economic environment. 

She explained that vulnerable groups are increasingly finding it difficult to secure financing and that many aspiring entrepreneurs require additional training and guidance to strengthen their projects.

According to her, the fair will not only provide learning opportunities but will also establish a long-term mentorship mechanism for selected participants. 

The Secretary General said organisers want to help participants strengthen their skills, improve their understanding of financing systems and integrate more effectively into value chains.

“Today, vulnerable people have less and less access to financing. One of the main reasons young girls and women struggle to obtain funding is sometimes the lack of training. She added that they are also not sufficiently mentored, which is why we want to create a chain of mentors for each of them,” Thobi Etame-Ndedi stated.

She added that the organisers had observed a limited understanding of financial systems among many aspiring entrepreneurs and therefore decided to involve credit institutions in the programme.

“We are also facing an international crisis that is reducing access to development assistance. We must reinvent ourselves. That is why this salon will enable the best participants selected at the end of the process to benefit from long-term mentoring and stronger links with financing institutions,” she said.

Nationwide call for applications

The Secretary General called on the media to ensure that information about the initiative reaches girls and women across the country, including those living in remote communities. 

She stressed that equal access to information would be critical to ensuring broad participation in the selection process.

According to CONFEJES, only 100 places are available, with ten candidates expected to be selected from each region of Cameroon. 

The organisers indicated that the national call for applications will determine the participants who will take part in the October fair.

Enter Scope Consulting 

Speaking after the presser, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Scope Consulting & Services, Alain Blaise Batongue, said his organisation accepted to support the initiative because it represents a major opportunity for young women entrepreneurs and for Cameroon. 

Batongue noted that one of the firm’s main responsibilities will be to facilitate collaboration between CONFEJES and a wide range of stakeholders involved in the project. 

He said the objective is to build a network around the project and create opportunities for participants to access training, contacts and potential funding.

“Our task will be to connect all the actors involved so that the project can be shared and supported collectively. We also want to give 100 Cameroonian girls, together with 10 participants from abroad, the opportunity to make the leap from a personal or family initiative to a very small business and, later, perhaps a small or medium-sized enterprise,” Batongue said. 

He added that a digital platform will be used after the launch of the call for applications to help identify the most deserving candidates through an independent selection process.

Zoom on fair

The event is being organised under the auspices of CONFEJES as part of its Programme for the Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship, PPEJ, which has supported youth enterprise development across the Francophone space since 1989. 

Organisers said the fair will focus on two sectors identified as major drivers of innovation and job creation: agriculture and digital technology. 

Participants, they added, will take part in capacity-building workshops, conferences, professional networking sessions, exhibitions and business-to-business meetings designed to connect entrepreneurs with potential partners and investors. 

The programme, it was added, will also provide opportunities for young business owners to showcase products and services, exchange experiences with fellow entrepreneurs and engage directly with technical and financial partners. 

Expected to attend the fair are public institutions, development partners, financial institutions, private companies and investors. 

CONFEJES says the initiative seeks to strengthen entrepreneurial skills among young women, promote successful business models in agriculture and digital technology, facilitate new partnerships and expand access to opportunities that can support the growth of women-led enterprises.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3871 of Friday August 07, 2026