A delegation of businessmen and women from Bordeaux together with their stakeholders from France and Cameroon met last December 23 at the Chamber of Commerce in Douala to consolidate and expand their existing programme of upgrading, reorienting and sponsorship of young Cameroonian entrepreneurs.
The programme started in 2010 and is intended to assist the initiative of actors in reinforcing business ties between Bordeaux and Cameroon in domains related to economic, scientific, socio-cultural, institutional and even university considerations.
The Founder of the Bordeaux-Cameroon-France Club, Pierre de Gaetan Njikam Mouliom who is also an official there in charge of business partnerships with Africa South of the Sahara, explained that aside from contributing to a more sustainable economic development and rubbing minds to have more adequate solutions towards the consolidation of this program, the initial results of having selected six Laureates from Cameroon has been very satisfactory and further acts as an encouragement for them to continue. So, they are to meet with this Laureates in Yaounde to exchange ideas and listen to their experiences.
Mr. Gaetan Njikam said that the president of the Chamber of Commerce, who has always been very welcoming, is in charge of the Commission to choose the Laureates, and with their new stakeholders MAZA France and MAZA Bordeaux, selection of participants will expand to other domains in this their third edition.
Other innovations to be introduced are that the Chamber of Commerce is to work closely with MAZA for follow up, the introduction of seminars, to introduce more norms and to professionalise further the selections.
The President of the Chamber of Commerce, when asked as to what profit this arrangement is to the Chamber of Commerce, stated that they are operational to assist in the growth of SMEs following the norms laid down by the Commission.
Christophe Eken further introduced some innovations in his recommendations some of them were to include industrial maintenance and timber processing into the activities of future laureates. Presently, activities to choose from include agro-industry, information technology Communications technology (except the distribution of related spare parts), and arts and crafts.
Selected Laureates will have free air tickets, lodging, continuous upgrading and certificates after attending Kedge Business School, excursions to specialised business organs to develop entrepreneurship, and related invitations to have meetings with white collar or senior managers and economic decision-takers.
Candidates must be between 20-40 years old; must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce or affiliate: the company or enterprise must have been existing for at least one year and not more than 5 years; the candidate must be a holder of at least BAC or GCEA-Level, and must obtain statistical or fiscal declarations.
