Business

The advent of e-Kiosque has come to revolutionise the newspaper business in Cameroon.

E-Kiosque is a platform created by Kiama SA, where publishers can put their papers for readers to buy.  Instead of CFA 400 for the hard copy of a newspaper, e-Kiosque proposes CFA 200 for the online version.

The online copy of newspapers would not be different from the hard copy.

Access to this platform is obtained by creating an account. The subscriber pays by Mobile Money, credit card or by an e-Kiosque card.

The company credited with creating the platform claims that newspapers on the platform are well secured. A newspaper bought on e-Kiosque cannot be shared.

This initiative which has been in place since 10th February 2017 has come to solve the complications and problems involved in the distribution of newspapers in Cameroon.

For decades now, the main distributor of newspapers in Cameroon has been Messa Presse. Newspaper publishers have had to go through very tough times coping with the rush for scoop. Sometimes, it takes about two days for some papers to reach some remote parts of the nation, especially the north.

So far several newspapers have reached agreement with e-Kiosque. However, most Cameroonians do not yet have a clue about its existence. Two out of three journalism students from the Advanced School of Mass Communication are still unaware of the invention.

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Tasha Seidou

05.May.2017

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(Business in Cameroon) - Chinese company ZPMC, world leader in the construction of port heavy-lifting equipment, has just delivered a latest generation gantry crane to the port of Douala, the main port infrastructure of Cameroon, the Autonomous Port of Douala (Port Autonome de Douala - PAD), the public company charged with the management of this port, announced officially.

With this new acquisition financed by Douala International Terminal (DIT), the operating company of the container terminal, the port of Douala now has three gantry cranes. Although acquired by DIT, these equipment which cost the sum of FCfa 5.5 billion are the assets of the port of Douala, according to the concession agreement signed between DIT and the State of Cameroon, we learn.

According to the management of PAD, the arrival  of this new gantry crane marks "the strengthening of the port of Douala to the port and maritime challenges for decades to come". Indeed, we learn, the gantry crane that has just been received in the Cameroonian economic capital is capable of handling full containers, unloading as well as loading, thus doubling productive efficiency.

Furthermore, this equipment is, according to experts in port matters, capable of going to containers that are further up in the ship (15 row against 13 for current gantry cranes), has a lifting capacity of 45 tons against 40 tons for others, and allows more rapid manoeuvring.

BIC

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Rita Akana

05.May.2017

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Whether it is economic hardship or sheer dishonesty, the business climate in Yaounde , in particular; and Cameroon in general, leaves much to desire. The gap between quality and quantity keeps widening at an alarming rate.

After a long period of critical investigation, I have realized that business in Cameroon survives more on dishonesty than truth. Well, by truth, I am not insinuating the implementation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in business. People may not have to tell buyers the real cost prices of their goods.

However, there is need to tell the truth in terms of the quality and quantity of goods a customer is paying for. What we observe with some business persons in Yaoundé is the complete reverse.

It suffices for a buyer to lose a bit of concentration for the seller to package the worst of their items for them.

Last month I went to one of the  most popular markets in Yaounde called Marche Mokolo to buy some foodstuff.

After buying a few items already,  I went to buy tomatoes from a certain lady  who was in her mid twenties. She had displayed very fresh fruit in front, which caught my attention.

But when I tendered CFA 200 to her, she gathered a heap of rotten fruit and dumped them into a black plastic material  and held it out to me. I tried to feel them, and to my greatest dismay, none of the fruit was solid enough to merit the money I had given her.

Instantly, I revealed to her that she had given me bad fruit. Like a sheep to the slaughter, she took the package and changed the fruit, without uttering any word, as if to tell me that she knew what she was doing.

This reaction of mine came after a series of similar misfortunes had kept me wondering several times back. Previously at the same market, another woman had given me terrible fruit because I was rather inattentive.

There are many more instances where I have personally been duped by business persons, especially women.

These so-called “buyam-sellam” have such dishonest tactics of taking advantage of the carefree nature of some men in doing shopping.
This show is not limited to foodstuff. More frequently, people are duped by their compatriots selling clothes.  You bargain for a nice pair of blue jeans,  for instance, and they package a piece of tattered rough cloth for you.
Another group of dishonest business persons in Cameroon are shoes sellers. Not only do they use their intelligence to make old shoes new, they also make sure that the naïve buy what they did not intend to buy.
 They paint fake Chinese shoes with such dexterity that a less careful observer would get the just the stark opposite of what they wanted. I got this insight from a close friend who sells shoes in Yaoundé.

However, if you are vigilant enough, nobody deceives you, for fear of being caught.

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Tasha Seidou

05.May.2017

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As people, organizations, enterprises and trade unions celcbrate the 31st Edtion of the International  Labour Day, some persons have been hired to march for centain groups in a bit to inflate the team. After attempting several failed interviews with some persons in working uniforms, we discovered that some of the people had been paid to march as if they were workers of the company in question.
“I don’t have any idea; I know nothing about the company. You can ask that man….” said a certain young man in his early twenties. The humble-looking boy wore a pair black trousers and a T-shirt name of the company inscribed in white.
When asked about his perception of the working atmosphere in his company, he declared sincerely that he knew nothing about the life of the enterprise. We repeated the question several times in different ways but he did not change his answer. Instead, he pointed at a man whom he thought could shed enough light on questions.

That sent us wondering, forcing us to enquire if he had been in the company for a while already, yet he smiled and told us he was new, as if to tell us that we were already going too far with the questions.

This confirms the rumours that always go round during every Labour Day march past, that companies hire non-employees to inflate their teams.

This usually masks the real face of unemployment in the nation, demonstrating the prevalence of corruption at every level in our country.

We also asked some questions to several other presumed employees on queues, but most of them declined to talk. While some attributed it to the heat of the sun, some just seemed to not know what to say, probably because they were not real employees or simply because they did not feel comfortable expressing themselves before strangers.

The march past took place at the 20th May Boulevard in Yaounde.

 

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Tasha Seidou

01.May.2017

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The Cameroonian Minister of Public Procurement, Abba Sadou, has just published a list of 334 companies that risk being suspended from public procurement if they do not provide proof. It concerns companies, we learn, who "have abandoned the execution of at least one contract during the fiscal periods 2014, 2015 and 2016", and who are invited "to regularise their situation in completing the execution of the abandoned contracts", at the risk of falling under the circular letter of 25 January 2017. 

According to the Minister of Public Procurement, this circular letter stipulates that "the failures of co-contractors in the execution of prior contracts are henceforth considered as elimination criteria in the award of new contracts". Including the case of groups formed with at least one company under the sanction of this measure, emphasises the Minister Abba Sadou.

The head of the ministerial department in charge of Public Procurement specified that this measure falls within the scope of "the clean up of the system of public contracts", in Cameroon, and consists in removing from the list of state service providers "companies which compromise the effectiveness in using the Public Investment Budget. 

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Rita Akana

30.Apr.2017

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Mefiro Oumarou has been sacked as the board chairperson of Camair-co after a critical board meeting in Yaounde today.

The former chairperson of the lone airline company of Cameroon has been replaced by Njipendi Georges Kuotu.

The decision is contained in a presidential decree executed by the Minister of Transport, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o.

Mr Oumarou’s appointment last year met with sharp criticism from some Cameroonians as he doubled as minister delegate at the Ministry of Transport.

The presidential act does not state any reason to back up the dismissal. However, there had been growing concerns over Mr Oumarou’s management of the Cameroon Airlines Corporation.

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Tasha Seidou

25.Apr.2017

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