Business

WorldRemit, the British firm presented as the world leader in digital money transfer, announced on the 14 October of 2016 that it had  concluded a partnership with Express Union, leaders in money transfer in Cameroon.

“WorldRemit’s clients can now send money from abroad to Cameroon, with the guarantee that this money can be withdrawn via the 700-plus shops of Express Union”, highlighted the British firm operating in the new technologies sector.

“The act of adding these new withdrawal points to our network in Cameroon is not only proof of the improvement in our service, but also of our determination to offer to our clients and their families services which are better adapted to their needs and can withstand any competition”, commented Catherine Wines, co-founder and Executive Director of WorldRemit.

According to Charès Nghoguo, MD of Express Union, this partnership with the world leader in digital money transfer, “is mainly meant to create an additional link between Cameroonian migrants and their loved ones who remained in the country, between local economic operators and those abroad”.

Express Union is the 2^nd company partnering with WorldRemit in Cameroon in less than a month, after the local subsidiary of the Ivorian banking group Banque Atlantique in September.

BIC

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Rita Akana

17.Oct.2016

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Samsung has announced a total halt to production and a recall of its troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, citing continued safety concerns over the device bursting into flames.

Analysts have said the move could cost the world's top smartphone maker $17bn, a huge blow as it fights Apple for domination of the market.

"We recently readjusted the production volume for thorough investigation and quality control, but putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note 7s," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Earlier, the tech giant had urged owners to switch the phone off over safety concerns.

Samsung said it had asked all global carriers to stop sales of Note 7s and stop exchanging original devices for replacements, while it worked with regulators to look into the problem.

"Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device," the South Korean firm said in statement.

Samsung's decision to pull Note 7s off the shelves for the second time in less than two months has raised doubts about the firm's quality control, while industry commentators have questioned transparency at the tech giant.

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Rita Akana

11.Oct.2016

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Cameroon’s top state-owned agribusiness plans to help boost palm-oil output in Africa’s third-largest producer by about 65 percent by 2020.

The Cameroon Development Corp. wants to help increase the country’s annual production to 450,000 metric tons, according to a statement obtained from the company’s head office in Limbe on Friday. Output will total 270,000 tons in the 2016-17 season, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.

That’s less than annual consumption estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at about 385,000 tons. To meet demand for the oil -- used in everything from snacks to lipsticks and fuel -- the government often allows imports under preferential conditions, including tax exemptions and reduced customs duties. CDC officials recently visited Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest producer, to study production techniques.

“The Malaysian performances are the result of the use of cutting-edge technologies, the use of high-yield seedlings” and other production procedures, the CDC said in the statement. “If Cameroon could implement just a quarter of these, then we will see results almost instantly.”

Cameroon, which ranks behind Nigeria and Ivory Coast in terms of output, has about 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of palm plantations, Ministry of Trade data show. The ministry has allowed 60,000 tons of crude palm oil imports this year to satisfy processing plant needs.

To help farmers, the government is providing subsidies to buy fertilizers and distributing 6 million high-yielding palm plants for free. The Institute of Agricultural Research in 2015 introduced a program to boost production by 26 percent in three years by establishing an extra 10,000 hectares of plantations annually.

Bloomberg

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Rita Akana

10.Oct.2016

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In order to get a foothold on the very competitive telecom market in Cameroon, British firm Vodafone, who entered into partnership with Afrimax group to move into the LTE market, has already acquired the services of Antoine Pamboro. The telecom engineer has been Deputy MD of Camtel Mobile, the mobile-specialised subsidiary of national operator Camtel, which was bought in 1999 by MTN International as part of a privatisation process.

Holding the same position at MTN Cameroon, Antoine Pamboro, well into his fifties, then left the Cameroonian subsidiary of the South African telecom group six months later, for a long African adventure. Adventure which successively led him to head Celtel Congo, Airtel RDC and Airtel Gabon.

At the end of more than a decade at the head of the African subsidiaries of well-known telecom companies, Antoine Pamboro, a native of Mindjil in the Mayo-Kani department in Cameroon’s Extreme-North, came back to his country a few years ago to launch Sahel Agro. This agro-industrial unit is specialised in the processing of maize into flour. “I chose to get involved in the agro-industry to make a direct impact on the population”, he confided to Quotidien de l’Economie.

This project is mostly a kind of catch-up for this farmer’s son, who, after his baccalaureate C obtained in 1978, dreamed of being an engineer in agronomy, by joining the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie (ENSA). But, this ambition was cut short by the Ministry of National Education, who offered him a grant to study in France. Studies at the end of which he received a Master in Electronics in 1982, a considerable prerequisite for a career in telecommunications, which has followed him throughout his career.

BIC

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Rita Akana

10.Oct.2016

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In its recent 2016 report on the “geographic distribution of financial resources allocated to developing countries”, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks the European Union in the lead of biggest providers of Public Development Aid (PDA) to the Republic of Cameroon.

According to figures taken from the report, the EU and its member-States provide 57% of the Public Development Aid to Cameroon, with a global amount peaking at USD 487 million, thus approximately FCfa 285.5 billion.

The main bilateral sponsor of Cameroon, in terms of PDA, is France with USD 167 million, thus about FCfa 98 billion. France is followed by the United Kingdom, who will soon start its exit process from the European Union after the Brexit, with USD 88.2 million (FCfa 51.6 billion).

These two countries, main providers of PDA to Cameroon, are closely followed by the Federal Republic of Germany (USD 87.4 million), the United States of America (USD 40.7 million), and Japan (USS 25.1 million), etc.

Acording to an internal source at the European Union delegation in Cameroon, China is not featured in this ranking, because the financial support provided by this country to the Cameroonian government is not assimilated as PDA, but rather investment.

An expert contacted by Invest in Cameroon, rather talks about “contracts”, to describe the many funding given to Cameroon by China during the past years, and which now make this Asian country the main financial partner of Cameroon through Exim Bank of China.

According to OECD, the “statistical data cover the support in public development aid and other public and private funding given to each recipient country by each member of the Development Aid Committee of the OECD, by multilateral organisations as well as other providers”.

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Rita Akana

08.Oct.2016

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Free computer programming classes are always a blessing and for those in #Silicon Mountain – Buea Cameroon, there is a huge opportunity for you.

On the 15th of October 2016, the Google Developers Group of Buea is launching a set of 10 programming courses, in partnership with Skademy.com, the online learning platform and ActivSpaces, the number one tech incubator in Cameroon. The program will be launched in the office of Skylabase, another Silicon Mountain startup.

The P/L Meetups, as the program is called, is an initiative started by the Google Developers Group Buea, in partnership with Skademy and ActivSpaces Cameroon to foster the development of computer programming and digital product development skills in Silicon Mountain (Buea, South West Region Cameroon). Last year saw the first edition of the P/L Meetups with 5 programming languages thought in 8 sessions each summing to a total of 40 sessions.

This year, 2016, The P/L Meetups will see 10 different programs each having 24 sessions summing up to 240 sessions. We are also featuring new interesting programs like Deep/Machine Learning which will be handled by SiQueries, a machine learning/ visualization startup that hails from Silicon Mountain. This year, the P/L Meetups is not all about code as Graphic Design features in the program.

At the end of these free computer programming classes, we hope to see 100 persons enriched with the skills needed for high-tech product development needed by Silicon Mountain startups.

The following programs and technologies will be taught during the free computer programming classes:

• Machine Learning
• Android Programming
• Graphics Design
• C Programming
• C# Programming
• C++ Programming
• Java Programming
• Python Programming
• JavaScript Programming
• Node.js

The Silicon Mountain community is fast becoming a power tech hub in Africa and this program is a response from the cry of startup founders who always complain of the lack of relevant skills. There are over 5 higher institutions of learning in Buea that offer Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and Computer Science. But these institutions are still struggling to deliver the recent skills needed by these startups.

The partnering organizations believe that free computer programming classes will go a long way to supply more skills in needed by startups to survive and become profitable businesses.

The organizers of P/L Meetups are also inviting people across the country who would want to move to Buea and benefit from these sessions, should do so without hesitation.

The only requirements to register is that all entrants must have a laptop, have an A Level certificate and will be in Buea during the complete period of training.

Afrohustler

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Rita Akana

06.Oct.2016

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