(Business in Cameroon) – On November 1, 2024, Cameroon Postal Services (Campost), Cameroon’s public postal operator, signed a strategic partnership with Cameroonian start-up FindMe in Yaoundé. This collaboration aims to enhance the national address system, an effort that should boost Campost’s operational efficiency and benefit the Cameroonian economy. After a successful rollout in Senegal, Campost reached out to FindMe to adapt its innovative postal addressing model specifically for Cameroon. FindMe’s system has been operational since July 2024.
According to Campost’s Director General, Pierre Kaldadak, the partnership with FindMe is a valuable asset for the company. “This strategic collaboration with FindMe represents a promising opportunity for our economy. It aligns with our vision of modernizing and transforming Cameroonian postal services. With the boom in e-commerce, it is crucial for the postal service to reinvent itself to better satisfy customers. We must address last-mile delivery needs and optimize our financial services by improving customer identification, in line with KYC (Know Your Customer) standards,” he said.
FindMe’s CEO, Brandon Wanguep, highlighted that the long-term ambition of this partnership is to create a national address registry that public services can use to support various operations. This project responds to an urgent need, especially as e-commerce grows, for reliable and efficient address systems in Cameroon.
The address solution developed by FindMe enables users to create a postal address in just two minutes via a mobile app. Each generated address provides critical details, including occupancy number, street name, postal code, and city, integrated with global GPS systems like Google Maps and Waze. A recent initiative by Cameroon’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has assigned postal codes across the entire national territory, allowing Cameroon to modernize its address system further. With FindMe, any Cameroonian can obtain the postal code for their community by generating an address through the app. Supported by the government, FindMe is committed to making these codes accessible, meeting a demand for accurate locations in a country where most people do not have an official postal address.
It is noteworthy that the FindMe app allows users to generate a postal address at no cost. However, to obtain a certified address, users can purchase a Postal Location Plan (PLP) for CFA2,000. This document provides a certified postal address recognized by GPS systems, which can be used for various administrative tasks such as opening a bank account or applying for credit, as well as other procedures requiring proof of address. Through this service, FindMe aims to replace the often inaccurate handwritten location plans with a document that meets KYC standards.
This partnership between Campost and FindMe comes at a time when Cameroon is seeking a seat on the Quality of Service Improvement Fund (FAQS) Council of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). This move is part of Cameroon’s goal to enhance the quality of postal services in the country and strengthen its presence in Africa’s postal sector.
