Business

For a week now, the Cameroonian airline company, Camair Co, has no presence in the sky. The five aircraft in the fleet of this airline facing huge management and financial difficulties, are grounded for various reasons.

“The Boeing 767 is grounded due to navigation issues. A 737 is in South Africa and should be back in the fleet by the end of the next week. For the other 737, which is grounded, we will receive the necessary equipment to have it back in service surely by the end lf next week. The two MA60 are operational. It is just that their crews have gone back to China to renew their licence”, revealed Ernest Dikoum, MD of Camair Co.

At the same time, we learned from media sources, the public Cameroonian airline is in the process of disbursing FCfa 11 billion to definitely acquire, by January 2017, the two Boeing 737 which it is currently using, to take out the rent charges Camair Co often has problems paying.

The funds, according to our sources, come from a pre-payment given to the management of the company by the Cameroonian State, as part of the implementation of the first phase of the stimulus plan for Camair Co developed by the American firm Boeing.

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Rita Akana

22.Dec.2016

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After stagnating at 2% for a long time (at the time when ADSL was at its peak); and increasing to 7% thanks to the dynamism observed in the use of mobile telephones, the internet access rate in Cameroon reached 25.6% as at end December 2015, we learned on 13 December 2016 in Yaoundé. This was during the presentation of the report on mobility published this past November by equipment manufacturer Ericsson.

According to the management of the Cameroonian subsidiary of this Swedish telecoms firm, these statistics were revealed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the June 2016 Ericsson Mobility report.  

Analysing the same figures leads to the assessment that the internet access rate in Cameroon is higher than the one for the sub-Saharan African region, which was at only 20% over the same period.

Upon further observation, the spectacular growth noted in internet access in Cameroon corresponds to the year the 3G and 4G services were launched by the two mobile market leaders, MTN and Orange.

This double monopoly of approximately 15 million mobile subscribers (out of 22 million inhabitants) in Cameroon, joined operator Nextell, first beneficiary of a 3G licence in country who had entered this market segment six months earlier, on this technology.

“4G started very quickly in Cameroon. Operators rolled it out very quickly. It is not often the case in other countries”, noted Olivier Vandermoten, MD of Ericsson Cameroun.

However, Appolinaire Mebanga, Account Manager at Ericsson Cameroun, insists, “in March 2015, Cameroon was one of the two countries in sub-Saharan Africa to lag behind in the deployment of 3G and 4G services, which MTN and Orange finally launched the same year”.

But, apart from the roll out of the 3G and 4G, the high growth in internet access rate in the country, in particular through mobile internet, can be explained by the equally lightning growth in the use of smartphones by mobile subscribers.

From this point of view, in its financial statements as at end June 2016, the South-African telecom group MTN International, announced that the number of smartphones on its network in Cameroon reached 2.6 million devices, in increase by 34.1%.

Driven by the advent of 3G and 4G, then by the smartphones trend followed by mobile subscribers, the progress in internet access in Cameroon also attracts new operators, certainly interested by the opportunities this market has to offer. This is the case for Vodafone, who has been positioning itself for some months now on the LTE market.

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Rita Akana

19.Dec.2016

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Through an agreement signed on 9 December 2016 with the Yaoundé II-Soa University, Vodafone Cameroun, an internet provider recently established in the country, officially launched the implementation of its “Youth Program”. This initiative, according to Antoine Pamboro, CEO of this telecoms company, is meant to enable the Cameroonian youth to reach their full potential through three components. Among them is the programme “Brand Ambassador”, in which students will have the possibility of co-op work with Vodafone Cameroon, while continuing their studies.

The 2^nd component of the “Youth Program” of Vodafone Cameroun will consist in a “Graduates” forum, which according to the management of this telecoms company, has been created to provide graduates with their first professional experience at Vodafone Cameroun.

Finally, there will be the launch of the digital platform “Jump”, through which Vodafone Cameroun is planning to make available to young people and students contents on training, education, entrepreneurship, independent work, personal development, etc.

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Rita Akana

15.Dec.2016

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The company Medcem Cameroun, owned by Turkish group Eren Holdings, will officially commission on 16 December 2016 in Douala, the Cameroonian economic capital, its cement factory with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons, we learned from sources within the company.

The first cement bags produced by Medcem Cameroun appeared on the Cameroonian market in October 2015, before disappearing altogether. For some months now, this cement has been making a timid return on the market, available only at Quiffeurou, a hardware chain store presented as the leader in the distribution of building material in Central Africa, with whom Medcem Cameroun signed an agreement.

An investment worth approximately FCfa 13 billion, this cement factory benefits from the advantages provided in the 2013 Act on promoting private investment in the Republic of Cameroon; which grants exemptions of 5 to 10 years to companies, during the installation as well as the operational stages.

Medcem Cameroun is the 3^rd cement production unit to launch its activities in Cameroon within 3 years; and the 4^th cement factory of Cameroon, alongside Cimencam operated by the Lafarge Holcim group, Nigerian Dangote Cement, or Moroccan Cimaf.

This Turkish cement factory will bring to roughly 4.3 million tons, the annual cemrnt production capacity in Cameroon. As it happens, even though the production of cement more than doubled in the country since 2013, with the arrival of Cimaf, which put an end to a 48-year old monopoly by Lafarge on this market, the introduction of competition has not yet led to a decrease in prices.

Indeed, the price of one bag of cement oscillates between FCfa 4,550 and 4,600, against FCfa 5,000 in the past. A situation which will not change with the entry of a new operator in the market, as Medcem already matched its prices to this price interval, by selling a bag of cement at FCfa 4,550 in Quiffeurou’s hardware stores.

During a meeting with the players in the building material production chain in October 2015, the Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, openly suspected cement producers of price collusion and ordered an investigation on the phenomenon. The results of this government investigation on cement prices, which were expected to be released after 10 days, have not yet been revealed after more than a year.

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Rita Akana

14.Dec.2016

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 The Cameroonian Ministry of Agriculture just launched in Kumba, in the South-Western region, the 2bd phase of the Project to support the use of fertiliser in the cocoa-coffee sector. 24 producer cooperatives and other GIC in this large cocoa production area received a cargo of 35 tons of chemical and organic fertiliser. 

According to the Cameroonian government, this new phase of the above-mentioned project will enable the distribution to cocoa and coffee producers, of a total of 2,800 tons of fertiliser over a 6-year period. This is, as highlighted by the Ministry of Agriculture, a contribution of the State to achieving the production goals set in the stimulus plan for the cocoa-coffee sectors which implementation started this year.

This plan assumes a production of 600,000 tons of cocoa by 2020, against a current annual average production of 210,000 tons. It is also planned to produce 125,000 tons of Robusta coffee by the same dare, against 35,000 tons of Arabica coffee

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Rita Akana

07.Dec.2016

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The agreement involves both online sales and POS payments through electronic payment terminals

PARIS, France, November 30, 2016/ -- Societe Generale (www.SocieteGenerale.com) announces that it has signed a merchant acquiring partnership with American Express (www.AmericanExpress.com) in eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where the Bank operates. These countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Senegal. 

The agreement involves both online sales and POS payments through electronic payment terminals. This means that any retailer wishing to accept payments from American Express Card members can now sign a contract with Societe Generale.

This is an opportunity for the Societe Generale Group to be more competitive and to grow its presence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its subsidiaries can also expand their POS service offering through secure multi-network acquiring.

Societe Generale des Banques en Côte d’Ivoire (SGBCI), Societe Generale’s subsidiary in Ivory Coast, is the first to offer the service in the region, before it is rolled out in the seven other countries before the end of 2016. This will enable the Group to strengthen its unique positioning as a universal bank combining the advantages of a strong local presence with the expertise of a major international bank.

Commenting on the partnership, Alexandre Maymat, Head of the Africa region at Societe Generale, said: “We are pleased to enter into this agreement to offer merchants in West Africa the ability to accept American Express. It will allow us to better serve our clients as well as acquiring new corporate customers, and it will also strengthen the bank’s footprint in the region.”

Andrew Stewart, Vice President and General Manager, Bank Partnerships, at American Express said: “We are delighted to partner with Societe Generale, one of the top international banks operating in Africa, to expand the scope and reach of the American Express brand. This new partnership will grow our merchant network in Sub-Saharan Africa, and will benefit American Express Card members in Africa, as well as those visiting the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa has high potential for economic growth, and this new partnership presents a number of unique and exciting growth opportunities.”

Distributed by APO on behalf of Societe Generale.

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Rita Akana

30.Nov.2016

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