The Cameroon Employers Association (Gicam) and Enterprises du Cameroun (Ecam), the two most representative employers' organizations of the private sector in Cameroon have agreed to join forces to form a single entity. The announcement was made in a letter sent by Celestin Tawamba to the members of his association on March 31. 

The president of Gicam did not specify the nature of this merger, but said that the objective is to build a "stronger and more powerful employers' association at the service of businesses". In the absence of the creation of a new entity, Gicam, which has more than 1,000 members, could well absorb Ecam without however addresing the concerns of SMEs. Chaired by Protais Ayangma, this grouping of SMEs currently has about 600 members.

"This merger will further strengthen our advocacy and enhance our ability to persuade in our ongoing struggle to improve the competitiveness of businesses in general and SMEs in particular," said the president of Gicam who also announced the imminent signing of the merger treaty with Ecam.

This merger comes after the establishment of a consultation body in 2019 between these two organizations dubbed "Coordination patronale". The latter covered five areas: taxation, macroeconomic issues, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), State-private sector relations and employer-worker relations.  "Since its creation, Coordination patronale has carried out several actions and obtained convincing results, particularly in the area of improving the business environment," says Célestin Tawamba.

Source: Business in Cameroun