(Business in Cameroon) – Renowned Central African infrastructure financier and port development expert Joël Daniel Monefong has secured one of the most ambitious contracts of his career by signing, through his company Innovendi Data Technologies and Communication Ltd, a far-reaching public-private partnership with the Port Authority of Douala (PAD) for the complete digital transformation of the Douala-Bonabéri port into Central Africa’s first fully operational Smart Port.
The agreement, signed on 17 November 2025, gives Innovendi the responsibility for the design, full financing, construction, operation, maintenance and future upgrading of a dedicated hybrid 4G/5G telecommunications infrastructure, coupled with a comprehensive suite of Smart Port digital services aimed at dramatically improving operational performance, slashing cargo and vessel dwell times, and restoring the port’s regional competitiveness.
According to the terms disclosed by the PAD, the entire project is 100 % financed by Innovendi and its financial partners, meaning the Cameroonian port authority will undertake this large-scale digital revolution at zero initial capital cost. The technological package includes a private hybrid 4G/5G network delivering ultra-high-speed, low-latency connectivity across the entire port zone; Internet of Things (IoT) platforms for real-time cargo tracking, predictive maintenance and equipment monitoring; edge-cloud infrastructure for on-site critical data processing; state-of-the-art cybersecurity systems; and intelligent digital interfaces to modernise access control, traffic management, video surveillance and overall cargo handling.
In exchange for these exclusive rights, Innovendi will pay the PAD an upfront entry fee, an annual fixed fee, a variable fee indexed to port traffic volumes, plus all applicable regulatory charges — thereby creating a new and recurring revenue stream for the public port authority.
Cyrus Ngo’o, Director-General of the PAD, declared that the convention is the culmination of several months of intense negotiations and announced that technical specifications will now be finalised urgently to allow work to begin in the coming weeks. He underlined that the new digital ecosystem will bring “considerable gains in operational fluidity, a sharp reduction in vessel and cargo waiting times, strengthened security and a drastic limitation of human error”.
For his part, Joël Monefong, CEO of Innovendi, described the project as “an extremely ambitious undertaking that will definitively position Douala-Bonabéri as the first truly accomplished Smart Port in Central Africa, with digitalisation acting as the primary growth and competitiveness driver”.
This landmark contract perfectly aligns with the PAD’s strategic objective of consolidating Douala’s historic role as the leading logistics hub of the Gulf of Guinea, at a time when the port is facing increasing competition from the more modern facilities at Kribi (Cameroon), Lomé (Togo), Tema (Ghana), Pointe-Noire (Congo) and Lagos (Nigeria). The expected efficiency gains are set to attract new shipping lines, improve service quality for shippers and freight forwarders, and enable the port to absorb the region’s fast-growing trade volumes.
Beyond its operational impact, the project is also presented as carrying major socioeconomic benefits: direct and indirect job creation, advanced training programmes for young Cameroonian engineers and technicians, systematic involvement of local SMEs in implementation, and a structured transfer of cutting-edge technological expertise throughout the duration of the partnership.
Although Innovendi Data Technologies and Communication Ltd remains a relatively young player with a still-limited public portfolio, the contract takes on an entirely different dimension when seen through the lens of its promoter. With this Douala Smart Port project, Joël Monefong — already a recognised heavyweight in African infrastructure finance who has personally structured multi-billion-dollar PPPs, advised presidents and port authorities across the continent (notably as Technical Advisor No.1 at Kribi and lead financial architect of the >USD 1 billion Banana deep-water port in DRC alongside DP World) — opens a new and highly strategic chapter, this time combining his financial engineering mastery with direct operational responsibility for one of the most emblematic digital transformation projects in sub-Saharan Africa today.
Mercy Fosoh
