The Seminar organized by the Cameroon National Shippers’ Council (CNSC) in collaboration with the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Promotion Agency (APME) ended today Thursday, 30 March 2023. Day-2 of the seminar which started yesterday was chaired by CNSC’s General Manager, Mr. Auguste Mbappe Penda, assisted by Mr. Jean Marie Louis BADGA, General Manager of the SME Promotion Agency.

Still in line with the ordained theme of the seminar, “The Importance of Private Investment Incentives in the Development of Local Value Chains and the Promotion of the Import-Substitution Policy,” presentations on Day-2 centred on the elaboration of financing facilities offered by the SME Bank in an economy where SMEs represent about 95% of the country’s economic fabric, and on anticipatory SGS procedures prior to importation.

Honoured with the presence of both top officials of the organizing institutions, the questions and answer session was an opportunity for participants to table some of their concerns and to which they received satisfactory answers. Some of their concerns highlighted issues of personnel management and complexities in the actual implementation of some incentives granted to SMEs. These were motives to plead for more assistance in the conduct of their activities.

Mr. Auguste MBAPPE PENDA and his co-chair were keen to listen and took turns in reassuring participants of their determination to see their businesses grow while recommending that they should come together as associations to better face the high demands of new markets now accessible with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). An appointment was taken with APME for a follow-up training seminar to be organised in Yaounde in the near future.