A protocol accord between GICAM, the African Guarantee Fund and some banks was signed in Douala Wednesday October 31, 2013.

Some banks have set up a common fund to assist small and medium-sized enterprises and industries (SMEs/SMIs) in the country to boost their productivity. The initiative comes in the wake of the promulgation into law of an Investment Code for Cameroon by the Head of State in April 2013.

The initiative was concretised in Douala on Wednesday, October 29, 2013, with the signing of a protocol accord between BICEC, Ecobank, Société Générale Cameroun, Afriland First Bank, BGFI Bank, on one side and the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises on the other, as well as GICAM as the uniting structure. General Managers, CEOs and representatives of the financial institutions and business association penned the agreement under the watchful eyes of the Minister of Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa in Bonanjo.

Driven by the desire to support local economic growth, the pool of banks in partnership with the Cameroon Business Cartel, GICAM, and the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises set up a fund of FCFA 50 billion to be given at low interest rates of 10 per cent to interested enterprises which are members of the cartel. Loan to an industry or enterprise will not exceed FCFA 200 million and a period of five years.

The initiative is a part of private sector efforts to facilitate access to financing. The financial experts hold that the problems are mostly due to lack of guarantee, accountability and strict bank conditions that at times limit access to financing, thus the new fund has come to solve the problem. As a measure to circumvent the hurdles, the bank pool will far from just providing investment financing also harmonise and simply procedures to obtain loans. GICAM will vulgarise the arrangement, train and mobilise, as well as select eligible enterprises/industries, and provide necessary logistics for administrative functioning.

GICAM President, André Fotso, underscored reasons for the creation of the fund: the economy holds a good perspective in the horizon, government’s willingness to promote public-private growth, on-going vast infrastructural investment, and the expansion of free movement of people and goods in the CEMAC zone.