Director of the Agency for promotion of SMEs takes up role

Jean Marie Louis Badga was officially installed in office on Friday in Yaoundé.

With poor structuring, inadequate training of promoters and difficult access to financing, the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME Cameroon) remains in a precarious environment which does not give room for competition.

Hence, a huge expectation has been placed in the Agency for promotion of SMEs (MEPA) and the huge challenge faces Jean Marie Louis Badga, its Director-General, to allow this sector to fully contribute to the strengthening of the economy of Cameroon.

It was under the sign of modernization that Jean Marie Louis Badga placed his mandate as the head of the APME. Specialist in analysis and evaluation of projects, he has already designed Cameroon’s SME makeover plan.

The main aspects of his strategy were support and capacity-building, "We will rearrange the structuring basis of the SMEs and strengthen its capacity for access to finance. A focus will also be on the modernization of its management," said the first Executive Director of APME.

By officially installing him to his functions, Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (Minpmeesa), Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, invited him to remain attentive to the expectations of SMEs in effectively contributing to their industrial take-off.

Among the missions of the first Executive Director of the APME was improving SMEs access to the capital markets. With regard to the expectations placed in the structure, he must, according to Minister Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, structure himself around an optimal combination of human and financial resources adapted.

Michel Nkenfack, president of the Group of SMEs in Cameroon, said he is worried about the apprehension of the merits of the APME by the promoters of companies. “We will mobilize the economic actors and organize meetings between the Bank and the APME and operators in the sector to reflect on hoe to continue modernizing SMEs,” he said.

A first step for the Agency will be an agreement with Microsoft for the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and therefore, the modernization of its day-to-day management. A note of intent to this project which will be signed in the coming days was presented by the team of this computer giant at the beginning of the ceremony.

In the light of the rich career of Jean Marie Louis Badga, dedicated to the promotion of the Cameroonian economy for over 30 years, the Minpmeesa was satisfied with the bright future that awaits tSMEs. During the ceremony, the Medal of Chevalier of value was awarded to the new DG.