JICA to Create SME Development Centres

The government of Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, is working on creating centres for the development of Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) in Cameroon. JICA's Director for Africa, Inui Eiji, said government has set the base for the centres and hopes that when they go operational, giant companies like Toyota from Japan that emanated from the SMEs would crop up in Cameroon.

He was speaking to the press on Thursday October 24 after holding talks with the Minister of Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa. "There are a lot of possibilities to develop SMEs in Cameroon because there are good natural resources and high initiative by the government. Also, Cameroon has good human resources. We hope that we will have good results when we will begin the training of stakeholders of SMEs," Inui Eiji said.

Minister Etoundi Ngoa said in the SMEs sector, Japan, through JICA, entertains good relations with Cameroon based on entrepreneurial studies and on the ways of promoting the development of entrepreneurship. "Government had solicited Japan for the creation of a centre for the development of SMEs in the country's regions.

Given that the Head of State has already created the Agency for the Promotion of SMEs, the programme of the centre can work within the framework of the agency." The Director, he said, came to ascertain that the agency has been created, that a link is created between the functioning of agency and the bank for SMEs and above all, to be sure that aid from Japan through JICA to the agency and the bank is judiciously used.