PM to chair 12th Cameroon Business Forum in Douala today.

State authorities and leaders of the private sector are expected to use the Forum to discuss issues affecting the country’s business climate. The CFB returns six years after the 11th session which took place in Yaounde in October 22.

Six years since the last session, a lot of issues have transpired with a bearing on the competitiveness of the

Cameroonian economy. Business actors have during the time when the Forum has not held relied mostly on press outings and memoranda to raise concerns on certain issues to authorities.

The holding of the Forum also comes one year after the presidential election of October 12, 2025, that resulted in tensions especially in the economic capital Douala.

Among the actors that tried to assess the scale of damage of the post-election violence on the economy were the Association of Enterprises of Cameroon best known by its French acronym, GeCAM.

GeCAM had carried out a study on the billions of FCFA businesses lost during the weeks of political instability. 

It has also been vocal on issues such as taxation and administrative procedures among others, decrying their impact on the overall wealth creation chain and resilience of the economy.

Beginning from proposals of last Forum

One thing that would enhance this year’s Forum is that most of the key actors of the last session are still active in political and business leadership. 

In October 2020 in Yaounde, Joseph Dion Ngute was already Prime Minister. He took part in discussions and was aware of recommendations arrived at to improve the business climate. 

At that time, Celestin Tawamba was already leading the grouping of business leaders. But for changes in areas such as the country’s taxation leadership, participants at the 12th CBF, are largely those who attended the last in 2020.

Revisiting 2020 proposals 

When delegates rose at the 11th CBF in Yaounde, there was a blueprint that government and the business community especially the private sector had agreed upon.  It touched on almost all sectors of the economy.

The communique that sanctioned the 11th CBF called for several reforms. Among them were those relating to business start-ups, planning permission, access to electricity, land transactions, cross-border trade, commercial justice and taxation. 

The Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, were in particular, urged to reduce the minimum capital required for limited liability companies incorporated without the involvement of a notary from 100,000 FCFA to 5,000 FCFA. This was especially for startups. The deadline had been set for March 2021.

Delegates to the Forum in 2020 had also called for the online publication of notices of incorporation of companies standard practice, at a reduced cost.

In the area of planning and authorisations, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, one-stop shops and relevant local authorities were equally charged with simplifying procedures, reducing processing time for files and handling such electronically. 

They had even proposed that by December of that year, statistics be published on processing time and number of permits issued.

In the electricity sector, the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy and the then Energy of Cameroon, ENEO, were tasked to reduce the time taken to draw up connection quotations. 

The same stakeholders were mandated with putting in place out automated tools to manage power cuts and publish service continuity indicators.

There was also the recommendation to improve land registration and communication on land transaction statistics and disputes.

On foreign trade, businesspersons had drummed the need for paperless procedures in favour of electronic systems. There were recommendations on taxes on profits and incorporations as well as the publication of rulings on business cases by the Ministry of Justice among others.

Revisiting the proposals of last session, evaluating ground

Reviewing ground covered and finding common ground on the way forward are expected to be the centre of exchanges. 

Delegates like the theme of this year suggests, are equally projected to come up with suggestions on how Cameroon can best benefit from the opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3947 of Thursday October 22, 2026