DOUALA, CAMEROON AFRICA, NOVEMBER 2010 (NEWS.CAMEROON-TODAY.COM) - Having reviewed the results of a study conducted recently the government of Cameroon has decided to enhance the performance of the businesses.
MINPOST Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications Cameroon vu du Lac
The findings of a study that was aimed at determining measure to enhance the competitiveness of the various businesses in Cameroon was announced in Yaounde on Wednesday November 3, 2010.
The production capacities of at least 200 companies which functioning fast growing and robust sectors like agro-industry, textile, public works and wood is proposed to be ramped up in the coming four years and these will come within the purview of the National Programme to Upgrade Cameroonian Companies more popular under its French acronym, PNMAN.
The results of the study was made public on Wednesday November 3, 2010, in Yaounde at a seminar conducted under the auspices of United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO, with full support and guidance of the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT.
While brining in the finer aspects of the study Chouki Chaib Cherif, consultant, clarifies that the survey encompasses a thousand small, medium and large sized businesses which were studied in great detail and depth nit just in terms of their operations but also on the basis of the competitive environment in which they function .
The research, he said, showed that in spite of lucrative awards deployed by the government to increase activity in the industrial sectors , the sector continues to be suffering and this is mostly due to reasons including increasing financial concerns, reduced availability of loans, tariff restrictions in the sub-region, which are just the beginning of the story. With the deployment of the economic partnership agreement fast approaching and the numerous drastic transformations happening to global businesses, he ascertained that industries in Cameroon require advancing their operations to meet global standards.
One of the former speakers, the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze said that the deployment of the clauses of the economic partnership agreement inked with the European Union on January 15, 2009 had created a lot of fears amongst the industrialists in Cameroon that when the markets become free they are at a higher risk of being subject more easily to global competitive pressure which they would need to handle without prior preparation.
“Several sectors will be threatened if the appropriate measures are not taken to strengthen the capacities of local businesses,” he emphasized. This, he stated, provided the real explanation as to why the government conceptualized the National Programme to Upgrade Cameroonian Companies as a prelude and first level preparation for the deployment of the economic partnership deal and go-getting economic programme that is a very integral part of the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper.
If the experts who conducted the researches can be trusted, the research, the PNMAN programme will enhance the capabilities of companies who come under the purview of the research in order to guarantee that the industries can opt to produce products that keep up to higher standards of quality so that the country as well as the individual businesses can concentrate on peaking their export capacities and maximizing exports. The first leg of this ambitious project is expected to cost the government a whopping FCFA 21 billion and the project is expected o span across a period of four years.
As the workshop progressed, a partnership deal was inked between MINEPAT and the Douala-based Ken Atlantic company by means of which the latter was given a financial aid of FCFA 19 million to equip the business to maintain the global standards that would be a mandatory requirement for it to improve both its production as well as exports in textile and clothing to essentially American markets under the American Growth and Opportunities Act, AGOA.
