(Business in Cameroon) – Cameroonian SME Afatex International seeks “at least CFA50 million to strengthen its cash flow and resume exports halted nearly two years ago,” founder Jacqueline Tientcheu (photo) announced. She made this statement during a workshop on optimizing the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Central Africa, held from July 18-19 in Douala by the Central Africa Sub-Regional Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
As a reminder, on October 6, 2022, Gic Afatex became the first Cameroonian company to obtain the AfCFTA certificate of origin for its products exported to Ghana. Since then, the company has only managed a single export to this West African country, sending 200 cartons of dried safou fruits, dried pineapples, and ginger tea. After this initial shipment, exports ceased due to a lack of financing.
“From January until July, I have been seeking funding from financial institutions to restart exports, but to no avail. The most generous offers have been a CFA4 million loan, which isn’t even enough to cover my product packaging costs,” Tientcheu said. She believes the AfCFTA provides opportunities, but the market remains largely inaccessible to SMEs due to insufficient financing, which she describes as one of the “necessary tools for energizing this trade area.”
According to Tientcheu, SMEs that meet AfCFTA requirements cannot fully expand without financial partners. To date, four Cameroonian companies have obtained export certificates to African countries since AfCFTA came into effect on January 1, 2021. The most recent company is the Cameroonian Aluminum Company (Alucam), which exported 100 tons of aluminum ingots to Algeria from the port of Douala on July 5.
