Cameroon: Statistics In 2012

I have recently read a great brochure on investment in Cameroon 2012  by Jeune Afrique, and I wanted to share the findings with you. Here they are.

Economic powerhouse of Francophone Central Africa, and accounting for half of its population, Cameroon is strategically positioned with its Atlantic coast, its borders with six major countries and its natural situation on the borders of  Western Africa and Southern Africa.
Vast country, stretching from the Atlantic coast, not far from the equator to the heart of the African continent, towards Lake Chad. It offers a wide variety of landscapes and climates, many forests, mineral resources in quantity (52 minerals) and 7.2 million hectares of arable land (10% of total 54 African countries).

Determined to attract foreign investors, Cameroon offers a political and economic stability, many natural and human resources, and a great development ambition.
Here are sector by sector the key statistics of Cameroon:

• A robust and mature economy

In steady growth (4.5% in 2012), Cameroon's economy has sound fundamentals. The country is not in debt (less than 4% of GDP), exports and imports are growing steadily, the trade balance is in surplus (0.8% of GDP) and inflation is contained (2%).

• A large market

With 19.4 million inhabitants, 52% in urban areas, Cameroon is one of the first sub-Saharan African markets and the first in Francophone Central Africa. Distribution, transportation and, more generally, services are promised a great development.

• A well-trained and  bilingual youth

Cameroon has 80 colleges, which graduate nearly 4,000 students per year. 48% of Cameroonians are under 15 years in a country that has one of the highest enrollment in the region (over 50%). French and English are both official languages.

• A solid network of business

The country has more than 90,000 companies with fifty large companies (revenue of 20 million dollars to over a billion dollars), and 86% of SMEs. They have a favorable institutional environment for their expansion (coaching, access to credit and government procurement, etc..).

• A favorable business environment

The Cameroonian civil and commercial codes are similar to the French codes (also harmonized with those of all French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa). Many organizations facilitate investments: stop, simplified procedures (delay of starting a business was reduced to three days) ... Taxation is also suitable for business facilitation and trade, particularly with neighboring countries.

•  Investment

Many sectors are available for investment:

In services
The service sector represents 51% of GDP and 85% of companies. The ambitions of the economic development of Cameroon promise a strong development, especially in distribution and trade, transportation and tourism.

In manufacturing and mining
Manufacturing and mining represent the secondary sector and account for 22% of GDP, and it is changing rapidly. Very dynamic, BTP achieved annual growth of 12.5%. Gas and its transformation, and the exploration and mining industry offer many opportunities.

In Agriculture
Large producer of cocoa, wood, rubber, banana, coffee, tea and cotton, Cameroon accounts for 27% of its GDP through the primary sector, which has several strengths. Three quarters of the arable lands are available for new crops and food industries are in short supply.

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Business Opportunities And Risks In Africa

          Investment in Africa is growing and more money is actually coming in. But some companies are still skeptical and hesitate to put their money in Africa. The truth is, the perceived risks about doing business in Africa are by far greater than the actual risks.  Lots of European companies have actually invested in more than 40 African countries and those businesses are doing very well, making lots of profits in sectors like telecommunication, transportation, agro business and so on. And we already can see an overall growth in GDP in the entire continent.

• Nigeria: Nigeria is the United States' largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa and supplies a fifth of its oil (11% of oil imports). It has the seventh-largest trade surplus with the U.S. of any country worldwide. Nigeria is currently the 50th-largest export market for U.S. goods and the 14th-largest exporter of goods to the U.S. The United States is the country's largest foreign investor. According to Citigroup, Nigeria will get the highest average GDP growth in the world between 2010-2050. Nigeria is one of two countries from Africa among 11 Global Growth Generators countries. 
• Angola: Overall, Angola's economy has undergone a period of transformation in recent years, moving from the disarray caused by a quarter century of civil war to being the fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the fastest in the world, with an average GDP growth of 20 percent between 2005 and 2007. During 2001–2010 Angola has the world's biggest Annual average GDP growth with 11.1 percent. In 2004, China's Eximbank approved a $2 billion line of credit to Angola. The loan is being used to rebuild Angola's infrastructure, and has also limited the influence of the International Monetary Fund in the country.
• South Africa: At the start of 2000, the President Thabo Mbeki vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment by relaxing restrictive labor laws, stepping up the pace of privatization, and cutting unneeded governmental spending. His policies faced strong opposition from organized labor. From 2004 onward economic growth picked up significantly; both employment and capital formation increased. South Africa is ranked 25th in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) as of 2008, and is considered a newly industrialized country. By UN classification South Africa is a middle-income country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange that ranks among the top twenty in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the entire region.

         In fact, all over the continent, entrepreneurs, foreign business owners, investments companies and banks are getting involved and are learning how to deal with the execution and political risks of doing business in Africa and getting local partners to help them with local problems.  One of the greatest needs for Africa’s growth is the infrastructure. This creates the biggest opportunity for investment. The potential to trade with this new infrastructure is huge and we are all looking forward for that. Lots of business analyst forecast an overall economic growth in Africa and the good news is that almost all type of investment can take advantage of such a growth:

• The infrastructure sector,
• The telecommunication sector, with a phenomenal growth,
•  Financial services,
• Consumer businesses for the middle class with huge demographic numbers,
• Energy supply,  Hotels.

We also have other sectors that support the consumer sector like logistics; banking and mortgage activities with are important issues for new entrepreneurs. Some other challenges we need to overcome to accelerate this growth are: 

• Facilitate the business environment and then lets the private sector to come in,
• Remove government in order to reduce barriers to the private sector,
• Reduce the overall time it takes to open a business,
• Create an information pole or stop shop to have an ecosystem where, instead of an investor coming to a country and having to go to 10 different ministries, they can go to one place and get all the information they need. 
• Provide funding and permit banks to lend more than 1 year: African banks need help because they can’t finance long term projects, making lots of great ideas by young entrepreneurs never get funding. 
• Create a dialogue between the private sector and the public sector: The government needs private sector businesses to boost the economy; it should therefore listen to their problems and try to find solutions to mitigate them.

The risks

Doing business has always been risky. Every time you are starting a business in a new place (different from what you’re used to) you will surely encounter some difficulties and there are always risks. Some of the African investment risks are civil war, unreliable judiciary procedures and court. And many people are afraid to invest just because they imagine that a civil war in any given country will propagate to the entire continent; that’s simply not true.

African countries are really trying to improve their exposure to the world and build their credibility by adopting democracy, opening borders and avoiding civil wars. And a good way to get a real sense of what are the risks in the African market, is to talk with someone already established in Africa and ask him or her about what the situation really is and what are the ongoing improvements that are being made to the system to facilitate investments as a whole and to enable an environment for business creation both for local and for foreign investment.

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Investing In Africa’s Emerging Market

      Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continent, the result of a variety of causes that may include the spread of deadly diseases and viruses (notably HIV/AIDS and malaria), corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations, failed central planning, high levels of illiteracy, lack of access to foreign capital, and frequent tribal and military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide). All these problems make the international community believes that Africa, with only 1.5% of global trade, is the less active continent in the trade world.

         Now that Energy prices and commodity prices are up all over the world, Africa is becoming a strategic location for all parts of the world. With the demographic explosion of middle class, with lots of resources and commodities that are attractive to the world, with lots of investment commitment in the infrastructure sector, we believe that these opportunities can translate to investment opportunities and that Africa will rise and contribute to the rest of the world. As evidence, those foreign companies which are already installed in Africa are doing well and are seeing the results of their investment.

          In term of investment, Africa is becoming an investment destination and a trading block. We can divide the continent in to economic blocks where the East Africa for example, with more than 150 million of inhabitants, builds custom protocol to increase trade between countries in the region. This reduces barriers and frees the market so that people, goods and commodities can move within the region. And other region like the south SADEC region is building infrastructure to support the growth and is opening borders as well to welcome more trade and attract investors. So if you are doing business in one country, let say Kenya for example, you also have other countries of the region with you.

Chinese investment in Africa           China came in Africa, 11 years ago; they found it very difficult to be adopted by the continent and the countries were hostile and uneasy. But after years of hard work and good strategy execution, china has really penetrated the continent and African countries are more receptive to the Chinese ideas and interest to the continent. China started off studying the continent and the large African market. They found the urbanization and the demographic explosion of the countries as a huge opportunity. One famous quote says “The difference between Africa and the western countries is the abundance of business opportunities”.

Unlike other western countries that extract African resources to only profit their countries, China appreciates these resources and uses them to serve the African market. They also have the strategy and qualified human resources to import goods and build product in Africa. Most of the Chinese investment is in infrastructure sector for opening up the continent. All new investors will have to compete with china because it’s pretty well established.

Other investments:

India is also systematically getting involved but their interest in not known yet. They are mostly focusing in the IT retail sector which is quite developed in India. Other countries like Russia or Brazil are also interested in Africa, and lots of African immigrate are coming back to build their country given the recession and global crisis faced by the western countries. And really what Africa offers now that the western countries don’t is “business opportunities”. The overall western contribution also played a productive role with goods and services distribution, job creation and transfer of practices and this value chain is backed up by setting up manufacturing in their industry and bringing telecommunication and financial services to the continent.

         In conclusion, we can agree that foreign investment is always welcomed, but to the question “what role Africa has to play in its own future”, I believe that Africa should drive its own economic growth because our future depends on us. We should drive the behavior and the development as opposed to being in the receiving end of whatever the international community gets interested in, in Africa.

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How To Start A Successful Business In Africa

For business, Africa offers vast potential markets, and significant natural and human resources. But the continent now accounts for only two percent of global economic activity and encounter serious financial difficulties. As a result, millions of people continue to face hunger and lack of opportunity to improve their lives in our beloved continent. In previous articles: Article 1 and Article 2, I talked about the importance of entrepreneuship for economic growth and have also shown how this was achieved by countries like China, India and Brazil. In this article, I will highlight some fundamental principles and best practices for business creation in Africa.

How to start your own businessAlthough the idea of entrepreneurship can be exciting, it can also be intimidating and this even for someone who already has a successful career behind him. But nevertheless, by following some basic principles, starting a business is simpler than you think. It is a simple process, but not easy at all. It’s simple because the steps you have to go through are known, but each step in itself is complex and difficult to implement and complete.

You have an idea or a project more or less precise about your future business and want to get started, here are the general steps for starting a business in:

• Choose a niche or a product: Business creation is a task that requires perseverance because you probably will encounter many difficulties along the way, it is important to choose a niche that fascinates you, so that your love will overcome the difficulties and tedium of hard times. It is not necessary to be an expert in the field or sector in which you want to create the company. But one must know enough to have the necessary perspective to manage and direct your business and your employees. 
• Do market research: Market research does not need to be complicated, but it is important to ensure that there is a need for the product or service you are intending to sell because it is useless to invest money and ressources in products that no one will buy. Depending on the chosen area and your product or service, you may be face competition. But if your offer is unique and fills a particular demand in the market, you have a good chance of success. For example, you may be able to offer a transport service in an academic area off the road or public transport to develop a new kind of healthy snack when there is demand but no supply. 
• Make a business plan: Writing a business plan is the designing of a roadmap, a kind of route. Because you are not likely to reach your destination if you do not know where you are going and what you'll need to get there. You need three or four pages of detail information that will give your company operational and financial direction to follow.  
• Choose an investor: When looking for investments, choose a company that has specialized knowledge of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the community and the industry in which you intend to work. This could be one of the most important decisions you’ll have to make for you and your business. 
• Have the right people: Not all start-ups recruits from the beginning, but if you do, it is important to wisely choose your employees. In a small business, people spend much of thier time together, if you need to have employees that you feel you will be able to work with. Also, choose the people who have experience in the area of your business. This will give you a valuable support system. But remember that as a leader, you have to be able to engage and motivate your work force continuously. 
• Promoting Your Business: Marketing is the most important aspect for the success and prosperity of a business, because you can have the best product of the world, but if nobody knows then nobody will buy it. Even the smallest business needs marketing to promote its goods and services. We can therefore for example, place ads in local newspapers, distributibute leaflets, display ads in malls, recreation centers and schools and develop special offers for special needs or opportunities.

          But the points above are only recommendations for starting a business, but in the reality of business in Africa, the process of finding good customers is a very tedious process. Being such a big continent, with more than 53 countries, marketing products and services in African markets is indeed a difficult task. However, for a successful marketing effort, it is imperative to identify and partner with business partners reliable and effective in key African countries. This marketing should also be very focused to be effective, taking into account the needs of the prospects and respond to a specific problem or a special fustration.

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Entrepreneurship in Africa (Problems / Solutions)

Business creation is not a new thing in Africa. Indeed, history teaches us that Africans were big traders. Time has passed and entrepreneurship has not really changed. But as you know, set up a business in Africa, large or small, is sometimes a long and difficult road to walk into. It takes knowledge, resources, tools, and ideally a mentor or a sponsor to support you and give you that helping hand to progress into this administrative and financial jungle. Often times in Africa, the lack of financial solution prevents young business and management students to follow through their ideas and create profitable businesses.

There is no doubt that the creation of small businesses would allow economic recovery of certain villages, cities, and would offer to youngsters the opportunity to stop the exodus in search of an imaginary Occidental paradise and work for the development of our continent. But, for this to happen we must first, create an environment conducive to entrepreneurship.

Problems Encountered
Indeed the issue of entrepreneurship in Africa is a problem we must address at the core. As an African proverb says, "The construction of a house, always start with the foundation"; thus develop entrepreneurship at its core and base concepts. And that can be done by addressing the factors that hinder the development of entrepreneurship in Africa. Here are a few:

• Low entrepreneurial culture in Africa: Young Africans face a socioeconomic environment that does not promote the spirit of entrepreneurship. We must educate the public about the benefits of entrepreneurship which in principle is the key to Africa’s development. The lack of support and mentor to young entrepreneur is also a problem to solve.
• The lack of access to adequate financial services: opportunities for business financing are very slim. It is difficult to find an appropriate financial institution for adequate and long term funding. This funding problem does not arise with the same intensity for all genres or regions of the continent, entrepreneurs need a financing for working capital, financing for advances on markets, project financing (investments). Many entrepreneurs here have to resort to the tontine system as found in Africa. It is a savings that could be called informal and is often used and invested directly in the small family business or craft and substitute bank credit to finance the informal sector; Thus Africa’s financial systems must be adjusted in order to address these deficiencies. Basically we need to multiply the institutions of venture capital, to increase tenfold guarantee funds, to improve the financial market and diversify funding.
• Cumbersome administrative procedures and Justice: The process of business creation is complex and distributed among several agencies or institutions. With the scourge of corruption in some African countries, we must "put hand in pocket" if we want the process to be accelerated. In general we have to wait long enough and put the price in order to finally open a business. At this level the politics must allow the centralization of administrative procedure, lower legal steps and cost to reduce the time to create a business.
• Lack of skilled workforce for business management: Business and management schools are increasing in Africa, but there are not many young people who are capable of managing large firms and assert themselves as entrepreneur. We have to reform our education system to have even in science major, courses in business management, marketing, sales and economy. Because most of our graduates are skilled but don’t have any knowledge about money and business management.

Examples of suitable financing
Despite all these difficulties, it would be incorrect to say that entrepreneurship is dead in Africa because there are hundreds of successful private companies in our soil and some whose sponsors had faith in them and were able to find good financing suited to their projects here is a partial list:

• SITRAFER: rehabilitation of the railroad in Madagascar.
• 3T: specialized in transit, has raised funding from IFC leasing.
• TUNDE Group: First printing craft, became a structure involved in the printing industry, transportation and agribusiness through Cowrie Investment.
• Ecobank: Deploying the west and center, plans to open a subsidiary that specializes in investment (IFC).
• People Input: IT, West Africa and Central Africa.
• Les Moulins du Burkina: privatized mills, viable structure with the support of EBID.
• TRADEX: imports petroleum products, distributes petroleum products, made the "bunker" at sea.
• Niger Milk: industrial manufacture of milk derivatives by BOAD and Cowrie Investment.

The development of entrepreneurship in Africa will require the creation of an African concept of entrepreneurship and not necessarily an exact copy of what exists abroad. We must combine the best practices in Western business creation with African context and concepts. The concept of African entrepreneurship is based on the value of African culture but also on the joint development by highlighting the socioeconomic environment.

Think African entrepreneurship is also up to resolve once and for all the problems of finding adequate funding and the cumbersome procedures, the development of local initiatives such cooperatives in the countryside and village groups.

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What Is Entrepreneurship / Qualities Of A Good Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is the act of creating wealth and / or employment through the creation or acquisition of a company. An entrepreneur is thus a person who is engaged in an effort to transform his knowledge, ideas and innovations concepts in economic goods. This may lead to new organizations or perhaps to the revitalization of certain branch of an existing organization in response to a perceived opportunity.

In fact many definitions of entrepreneur can be found in the literature, another broader definition by the French economist JB Say (1800) says "The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of lower and into higher productivity and greater yield."

Types of entrepreneurship
The most widespread form of entrepreneurship is starting a new business, but in recent years the term has been extended to include social and political forms of entrepreneurial activities. Thus we can distinguish three types of entrepreneurs that can be differentiated by their motivations:

• Social Entrepreneur: A social entrepreneur is motivated by a desire to help improve and transform society, environment, education system and economic conditions.
• Serial Entrepreneur: A serial entrepreneur is one who always has new ideas and creates new businesses. He is more likely to take risks and overcome or bounce back from business failure.
• LifeStyle Entrepreneur: These entrepreneurs put passion before profit when launching a business. Their motivation is a combination of personal interests and talents with the ability to earn a living.

Be or become an entrepreneur is not easy; indeed you must be highly motivated and fully determined, because it requires hard work, many sacrifices, dedication and perseverance. It is a profession where the risk of failure is very present; besides the vast majority of businesses (80%) fail in their first years. Apart from qualities in Business Management, a good entrepreneur must be a good leader. It must communicate its corporate vision, persuade his partners and his team members and boost their performances to ensure maximum productivity for the attainment of corporate goals.

Qualities of a Good Entrepreneur
It is clear that anyone can become an entrepreneur, but only the good entrepreneurs are successful and manage to get the fruits of their investment. There are some distinctive qualities that are required to be a successful entrepreneur. A number of these qualities are probably already built into your personality, while others may need to be worked and developed. Here is a list of some of these qualities:

• Passion: It almost goes without saying that to become a successful entrepreneur, you must be passionate about your business. This does not necessarily mean you have to build a business around something you love. You can (and should) identify a profitable market and grow your business from there. The fact that you love your company will also help you to persevere in your efforts in difficult times like the development stage (quite painful), and other obstacles ahead.
• Leadership: Although the definition of a leader is not easy, we recognize one when we see him in action. Basically, it's the ability to be in charge of people and guide them to achieve their objectives. A leader must be able to plan, motivate, coach and evaluate his staff. A leader must also have both managerial and interpersonal skills.
• Interpersonal skills: Business management is about managing people, you will therefore need to be good at communication if you want to succeed. Whether with customers, suppliers or employees, it is important that you learn to effectively communicate your entire message to ensure your business is run as smoothly as possible.
• Organization and time management: Time management will help you organize and make sure you do all your work as efficiently as possible. It is very easy to give in to procrastination when working alone, so you need to find ways to solve this problem. Maybe you can create a task list or use time management software to help you manage your workload and increase your productivity.
• Risk-Taking: A good entrepreneur must be willing to take calculated risks if he wants to succeed. Sometimes in business you will need to trust your instincts and walk on water, when you do not have enough information or time to make a rational decision. However, you will need to distinguish between craziness and calculated risk. Make sure you do your research and ensure that your business plan is feasible before starting the project. This may prevent you from having an unpleasant surprise in the future.
• Competitiveness: Competition is everywhere. Business is strictly based on out compete your competition. If you can establish your presence in the market, differentiate yourself from your competitors and surpass them by providing a product with better quality and affordable price, your chances of being a successful entrepreneur will be much larger. It’s a struggling game that you play to win, but never sacrifice your integrity for the sake of a few bank bills.
• Confidence: Confidence is a key competence for entrepreneurial success. It is easy to be demoralized or frustrated if you do not have confidence in yourself. Confidence concerning your capacity and performance. A successful entrepreneur believes in his abilities. He is not afraid to explore new areas or opportunities, take risks and make difficult decisions in very little time.

Ultimately, there is no substitute for hard work when it comes to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Most people choose the most simple and fast way when it comes to work. If you want to be successful, you must devote to persistent and productive work, leadership and rational time management.

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Why Be An Entrepreneur In Africa

Africa is not going well, its entire economy is at risk, plus, Africa appears to be abandoned by the international community who’s looking at Africa dying. It is time for us Africans to fight against this scourge by providing an environment or a platform that’s conducive for the creation and development of small and medium businesses and attractive for foreign capital. We must not only train and educate continuously our workforce but also create markets by engaging in various business sectors.

Problems and challenges of Africa.
Africa is a continent full of resources, both material and human. With a population of over 1 billion inhabitants (2010), Africans account for 16.14% of the world population. But unlike the economies of other continents, the African economy continues to plummet. The share of Africa in world exports fell from 4.5% in 1990 to 1.1% in 2008 and foreign direct investments fell from 5.8% in 1990 to 1% in 2008, according to a statement from the FAO. The contribution of Africa in world trade is very low, and in permanent decline from 8% in 1990 to 2% today, and its exports are 80% oil, minerals and agricultural products. This is what makes Africa a continent totally abandoned in globalization.

In other words, Africa is going bad and it's all alone with his destiny. There are fewer foreign investors in the continent, thus exports are less and less possible. We must therefore start to take these problems more seriously and find ways to solve them by ourselves, ways that will enhance the image and status of African economy to attract new foreign investors. These are difficult and complex tasks; and to have any chance to succeed we must take action in a distributed manner, in fact each one has a role to play in this battle: politicians, governments, large, small and medium enterprises and each African.
Given that I am not a politician, I'll just talk about the private sector. How to change organizations, create jobs, impact the economic growth, have a solid and steady income by being an entrepreneur or business owner in Africa.

Why Entrepreneurship is a practical solution for these problems.
In general the first cornerstone for a flourishing economy is employment. But either in private or public sector, Africa is the continent where there is more unemployment in the world. Despite the proliferation of education and the increasing number of graduates, there are still not enough jobs for all fresh graduates, thus you will find graduated students doing hand labor like masonry or other jobs less lucrative, and irrelevant to their intellectual background. If Africa wants to get out of this mess, Africans we must step ahead and transform ourselves into entrepreneurs and create jobs, inspire and motivate others to do likewise, because at the end of the day, it is a work of mentoring, collaboration and sharing. Many others continents and countries have done this, and why not Africa?

Example of countries where entrepreneurship has been the solution to problems.
The current world economic prowess continually covers entrepreneurs whose successes opened new doors and contribute to finding new markets and new opportunities. The discovery of lucrative markets attracts foreign capitals that contribute to increase the brand and economy the country. Two examples of countries that were once poor just like us, but now have a rapidly growing economy: China and India. 

China: It is a country whose economy is experiencing a remarkable rise, with a system which promotes the growth of the private sector and attracts foreign investors. Globally, on average, the volume of Chinese exports rose by 14% between 1990 and 1999, and by 20.5% between 2000 and 2008. Imports grew a bit slower: 13% per annum during the 1990s, and 16% between 2000 and 2008. China generates about 9% of world exports and 7% of world imports in 2008, against 1.2 and 1.1% in 1983. The presence of foreign firms on Chinese soil is largely responsible for the sharp acceleration in export growth.
The establishment of "market socialism" has established many factories in China, which has been called the world's workshop, because of the social dumping of its manufactory. China attracted the skilled workforce in coastal areas where they are located. Only 41% of Chinese exports come from enterprises fully Chinese. Today, 39% of exports from China are made by companies whose capital is one hundred percent foreign and 20% of exports are the result of partnerships between foreign companies and Chinese companies. China maintains its attractiveness for companies with cheap, skilled and docile workforce. That’s why China is the King in outsourcing.  

India: Like other BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the Indian Union is emerging as a new major industrial country. In recent years, investment flows are increasing rapidly, up 25 billion dollars in 2005, but $ 66 billion in 2006. In 2007, India is the 12th largest economy with a GDP of $ 1,171 billion or 2.15% of world GDP (World Bank, GDP 2007). Among all sectors (agriculture, industry, service), the computer services industry is one that stands out and supports a dramatic increase in recent years.
The service environment is very important in the economy, with employment of millions of people to sustain the production of software, hardware, advanced data capture and high technology. The advantage for multinational companies like IBM, to expand and settle in Indian Territory, is again the low cost of workforce compared to other countries.

Synthesis
With these two examples, we can see that it is possible to move from the current status of the African economy, to a growing economy with attractive and lucrative markets for foreign companies. These markets can be in primary sectors like agriculture, fishing and mining, as well as in some secondary sectors such as banking, transportation and information technology. Private companies more than public companies are those catalyzing economic development in these countries. Hence it is great time for us as Africans to create businesses, train young people in all business sectors in Africa in order to have a skilled, not necessarily cheap, workforce for foreign investors. The capital and energy to invest depend on the type and size of the business to create.

What is important to remember is that we can all take action and do something in our level, there are sectors that require little financial and human resources for their launches, the technology and informatics industry is one of those sectors. Indeed, India, China and Brazil are currently well ranked on the world market by offering such services.


In my next articles, I will propose a list of the different sectors of interest in, with details and tips that can help and guide you to success as an entrepreneur in Africa.

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Doing Business In Cameroon

Entrepreneurs wishing to do business in Cameroon must follow a number of steps before the actual opening of the doors of their company. Presently Cameroon has an economy based on oil and agricultural resources, and with the advent of globalization and modernization, Cameroon is very poorly represented in areas such as world trade, new technologies, online business etc.. To create a successful business in Cameroon, one must have sufficient knowledge of the economic and financial status of the country, as well as the various markets available locally because it is necessary to clearly identify the population's needs and pains, and then make a business plan to meet and fulfill those needs.

Entrepreneurship
It is obvious that the process for opening a business in Cameroon depends largely on the type of company we want to open, because the process for someone who wants to open a clothing shop, will not be the same as someone who wants to open a bank for example. But in general, the process of starting a business in Cameroon is long, tedious, and time consuming. It is also one of the reasons why the private sector is very underdeveloped. People wants to go out and start businesses, but the complicated legislation around business creation and those long processes are not encouraging. Although there are formal and published deadlines, the execution part of those deadlines are never respected.
The procedure can take 45 days and beyond, and this is simply too long. To better understand the extent of this delay, let compare it with the one in another African country like the Seychelles. There it takes 24 hours, no more, to create a business. The complexity of this procedure in Cameroon is that it is distributed. In fact it affects several jurisdictions that have different guardianships and contribute to prolong the delay.

Regarding the procedure itself, it depends on the legal structure adopted. The Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) adopted in April 1997, a series of texts constituting the foundation for a modernized economic and common law to the countries of the Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). Among the documents signed, we have the Uniform Act on the right of Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Grouping, which enables the liberalization of economic activity, with strong legal guarantees.
In addition to acts of OHADA, the companies in Cameroon are also governed by the Civil Code and Law No. 90/031 of 10 August 1990 governing commercial activity in Cameroon. These texts thus permit the entrepreneurs to choose from various types of companies the one that suits the best the activity they want to start.
It was thus:

• The General Partnership (SNC: Société en Nom Collectif)
• Limited Partnership (SCS: Société en Commandite Simple)
• The Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• Société Anonyme (SA)
• The Economic Interest Group (EIG)

For more information about each of these types of companies, visit the OHADA tests or read this very interesting article on setting up a business in Cameroon.

Discussions
The difficulties here may be encountered at several levels:

•     Procedure

As we said above, it is expensive, and very dispersed. Thus you really need to know where you are going and what you really want to do because it requires a lot of eagerness, desire and patience. Organizations such as the CFE (Centre Camerounais de Formalités des Entreprises) may also be a great help; Established in 1994, CFE is a private organization supporting the creation and development of companies in Cameroon. It assists project sponsors and sponsors and mentors young companies in all phases of their corporate life.

•     Implementation, Business Culture

Many people remain skeptical about the future of business in Cameroon and are reluctant to invest. It is clear that as in any market, there are always risks of failure, but this should not take precedence over your desire to contribute to the enhancement of the image of Cameroon's economy and your need to create a company that will change the lives of many people. Of course we need to deepen our market study and pick some promising sectors of the market. Then we need to associate global business best practices with the business culture "Made in Cameroon."

Like the whole Africa, there are many opportunities in Cameroon, because they needs are unresolved or resolved in half. And to compete with the world, we need to take more action. It is time for us to wake up as an African, and strive for a sustainable development of our dear and beautiful continent.

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Cameroon's Economic Situation

Cameroon is a "rich" country, since it has many natural resources, namely in agriculture, forestry, mining and many oil companies. According to Wikipedia, its GDP is half of the one of the whole Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), which gives it an important place at the regional level. But the Cameroonian people experience great frustration with their economic and social difficulties. With an unemployment rate that continues to grow, a private sector that is almost non-existent and some states that try somehow to limit the damage by recruiting fresh graduates in the public sector, in short there are very few offers for a huge number of job seekers.

This should in fact be seen as a challenge, and as an open door, that motivates Cameroonians and the whole African community to continue to fight for a better exploitation of our resources and a call for investors and entrepreneurs, nationals or foreigners, to boost and reshape the way business is done in Cameroon. In this article, we present the business climate in Cameroon, and ends with a discussion on prolific sectors.

Cameroon's Economic Situation
As a relatively rich country, Cameroon recorded since 1987, major drops in his economic activities and a serious financial crisis that forced the authorities to heavily cut jobs in public services, to compress investment in the country and to suspend the payment of the debt. Despite government efforts with the intervention of World Bank Group, with the resumption of recruitment programs, workshops and discussion forums consistent with the initiatives undertaken by the Government to promote and encourage business environment, but the results do not follow yet. With a growing population and an increasing number of unemployed graduates with, it is therefore essential to find solutions to:

• Strengthening the institutional framework for improved economic management and service delivery. 
• Support for private sector development to diversify the economy and accelerate growth.
• Improving the investment’s climate, in addition to building support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the continuation of direct investment transactions with the local private sector.
• The investment not only in the exploitation of natural resources, but also in sectors such as ICT where countries like China and India managed to dominate the world and boost their economies.

These are just a few examples of things that can be done, and changed in the way business is done in our dear country. And to continue this momentum, the culture of entrepreneurial spirit is also very important. Because in big countries like the United States and Germany, economic growth and unemployment reduction are driven by small and medium businesses. So as young generation, we must not only look for work, but also learn to make a difference by creating a business and change people lives by giving them jobs and financial security. That's how it works and has always worked.

Some prolific sectors
For those who want to start a business but are short of ideas; many possibilities are opened for you. They depend heavily on your industry or market or niche and your individual aspirations and determination. Then one can either:

•     Exploit an existing market

     It is clear that the majority of jobs created in Cameroon are in farming, oil, food, manufacture; and so by choosing one of these areas, you take less risk because many others are already there and they have laid the foundation so that you can easily master all the process of creating monitoring a project in these sectors. An example here is the food sector: opening a restaurant, a McDonald's, a supermarket ect. A disadvantage here is that competition is great and to keep your customers, you should compete in prices or in service.

• Doing in innovation

Here there is more risk but less competition. In fact, innovation is more difficult and requires more critical analysis. Here you must create your own market by educating the public about the benefits of the service you are offering. A good example here is the new technologies, although the population and business are giving increasingly more important to computers and new technology, it is always difficult to convince a CEO to shift from the old school papered business management to an computerize the management system, or creating a website and take advantage of internet marketing to boost sales and popularity. But once past this lock and if you have managed to acquire a certain reputation for the quality of your services or products, and with the fact that there is less competition you will lead the market and make much more profit.
Many companies are investing in computer maintenance and selling computer and other hardware equipments. For the moment, they have enough success against companies developing software products (Software).

But since I am a computer engineer and advocates for innovation, and education of African about the goods and benefits of new technologies, my advice for you is to start an IT business, so that in future we may be like India or China.

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