Cameroon’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) has unveiled new legal powers, streamlined procedures and a projected CFA700 trillion investment portfolio to foreign investors during a business forum in Yaounde on 3 March 2026.
The strategic meeting, organised under the theme “Leveraging on the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Five-Year Strategic Plan to Build Resilient and Integrated Economies”, was convened by the IPA in collaboration with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) and the National Shippers’ Council of Cameroon. The objective was to convert Commonwealth membership into tangible trade and investment flows, with emphasis on exports, South-South cooperation and integrated markets. Organisers said discussions focused on aligning policy, strengthening SME financing, advancing digital priorities and agreeing on follow-up mechanisms.
Opening the session, IPA Board Chair Dr Diane Acha-Morfaw said the agency now has full legal authority to operate as a one-stop shop following the 2025 investment law. Addressing investors from across the 56-nation Commonwealth bloc, she said the platform offered access to diverse markets and capital pools.
“We are ready, we’ve been advocating it, we’ve been doing it, and we intend to continue doing it. So today this space is for you to talk to each other and see what you can do. Our role here is to link you up and once you’ve done that IPA is here to accompany you all through,” she said.
Interim GM details 10-day investment process
IPA Interim General Manager Boma Donatus said the agency was accelerating reforms to improve efficiency and investor support.
“With the 2025 law, the IPA now operates as a one-stop shop for all investments in Cameroon, where within a period of 10 days you’re capable of going through the whole investment process and reaping all the benefits thereof,” he said.
He announced that the IPA would participate in the next Commonwealth Investment Summit in London and host the fifth edition of the Cameroon Investment Forum in November 2026. The event will feature an “investment market” connecting financiers with shovel-ready projects. Boma added that the agency was also digitalising its services to make procedures more fluid and was exploring the creation of a combined investment and trade promotion framework.
The Interim General Manager further revealed that since the 2013 investment charter and the 2025 reform, projected investments registered with the IPA stand at about CFA700 trillion, alongside hundreds of thousands of projected jobs across sectors. He said cooperation between government and the private sector remained central to building resilient industries.
Investors reassess trade ties
Global Chairman of CWEIC, Lord Jonathan Peter Marland, said global supply chain disruptions and rising tariffs were prompting countries to reassess trade relationships. He noted that several Commonwealth exporters were facing higher costs in the United States market and said closer intra-Commonwealth cooperation could offset those pressures.
“To be here with the Investment Promotion Agency, to help Cameroon export and import and get investment into the country is what I’m here for, and it’s a privilege to be part of it and to work so closely with the IPA,” he said.
Lord Marland described Cameroon as an active Commonwealth member and said the council would continue facilitating business partnerships and inward investment.
Mercy Fosoh
