Members of the steering committee for the Private Sector Support Operation in Cameroon gathered on Wednesday, 15th of May 2024 in Yaounde under the chairmanship of Minister Delegate, Paul Tasong.
OSSP-CMR in its French acronym, is a program set up by the government of Cameroon in partnership with the Arab Bank for Economic Development and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the general objective to strengthen the resilience of businesses in order to build sustainable and more inclusive growth.
The program which comes as a sign of relief for several small and medium-sized enterprises in Cameroon was officially unveiled in Yaounde, Cameroon during the first steering committee meeting of its members.
As indicated by the project Coordinator, Isaac Tamba, this program aims to ensure the recovery of target enterprises affected by crises and improve the business environment; strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises, and improve access to finance particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs).
The zones of intervention targeted are the: Centre, Littoral, West, North-West, South-West, and Far-North Regions with a total budget of 18.9 Million US Dollars disbursed by the Arab Bank for Economic Development that takes charge of 90% of the project with the government of Cameroon and UNDP having a 5% financial charge each.
Mr. Tamba, Project Coordinator said apart from the fact that the economic model of the OSSP-CMR program is very innovative, it takes mostly into account regions where SMEs have been affected and crippled financially.
Thus the strategic areas of this project are centered on: Providing SMEs with access to appropriate financial products and services; diagnosis and mapping of opportunities; empowering target enterprises to improve their productivity, competitiveness, and capacity to innovate preserving the survival of SMEs and improving the business climate.
In her key address, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Cameroon said this newly put-in-place project enters within the framework of the 20230 National Development Strategy (NDS30), which in its roadmap promotes a more competitive and resilient private sector for sustainable entrepreneurship.
Madam Aissata DE said the program officially launched in January 2023 will help boost the structural transformation of over 1500 enterprises by 2025 and she outlined that, access to credit facilities will be done through strict and transparent criteria.
Also, in her address to members of the steering committee and the press, Mrs. DE Aissata underscored that this innovative program will positively impact the 17 sustainable development goals(SDGs) as it will in one way or the other solve issues of poverty, nutrition, inequalities, climate change and so on.
UNDP’s Resident Representative did not fail to reiterate her appreciation to the government of Cameroon as well as the Arab Bank for Economic Development for its incumbent role in financing the project.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Economy, planning, and Regional Development, the Minister Delegate in charge of planning who chaired the meeting said SMEs in Cameroon which represent almost 90% of the entrepreneurship sector continuously face difficulties of all sorts.
Minister Paul Tasong praised this new initiative piloted by the government and its partners BADEA and UNDP. He said the project coming in the aftermath of COVID-19 and crises affecting some regions will greatly help in addressing and alleviating issues of unemployment and upgrade the production capacities of many start-ups.
Representatives of strategic ministries engaged in the project were convened in this first steering committee meeting to assess the operational actions undertaken since the launch of the program in 2023.
Elise Kenimbeni
