The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Cameroon's Date with History: Presidential Elections - October 9, 2011

By Simon Tanyi

The Republic of Cameroon, Africa's last bastion of peace and civility under the guide of its leader, President Paul Biya shall hold its presidential election on October 9, 2011. This was made public following a Presidential Decree on August 30, 2011. Cameroon has 278 political parties, and 6 leading opposition parties some with representatives in parliament. The major political party in the country is the Cameroon's People Democratic Movement (CPDM) which Mr Biya is the chairperson. The leading opposition party, regularly mounting checks on the ruling party, is the Social Democratic Front (SDF) headed by 72 year old Ni John Fru Ndi. Both parties are yet to nominate their presidential candidates. The CPDM shall be holding its congress on September 15 - 16, 2011 to nominate its presidential candidate. Whilst it is expected that Mr Biya may seek another term, political analysts in the country are cautious on the possibility of surprises since Mr Biya has been tight-lip on a possible successor. However, given the divided and weak opposition in the country there is very little threat to the hegemony of the CPDM on the state of affairs in Cameroon. Some pundits think the CPDM candidate, standing against a fractious and boisterious opposition, may be rewarded by the electorate for the peace and tranquility, progress and development reigning in the country. © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2011. All Rights Reserved

Planned Expansion at SONARA Oil Refinery

By Simon Tanyi

Despite Cameroon's declining oil reserves, the Country's national oil refinery, SONARA is planning to expand. The upbeat of the officials comes amidst the expanding oil exploration in the neighbouring states of Equatorial Guinee and Gabon, and further afield along the West African Atlantic coast to Ghana. The SONARA refinery is to be equiped to process Ghana's and Equatorial Guinee's heavy crude. To meet its expansion plans, the refinery recently sourced for external financiers. According to Charles Metouk, the general manager, SONARA will soon receive 75 billion CFA francs ($164 million) from eight banks to fund its expansion. This will allow it to increase capacity to 4 million metric tons by 2015 from the current 2.1 million tons. The lender institutions include London headquartered Standard Chartered Plc (STAN), Societe Generale (GLE) SA’s unit in Cameroon, Lome-based Banque Atlantique and Commercial Bank of Cameroon. The refinery, which is currently able to only process light crude, will start refining heavy crude after the refurbishment. © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2011. All Rights Reserved

Cameroon Economic Outlook

Cameroon, a relatively small and mature oil producer, where oil production is declining with depleting reserves, seems to be relying on alternative sources of revenue to marshal its economic grwoth. Following recent measures taken by the authorities to stimulate domestic production, real GDP growth in 2010 is estimated to have reached 3.2 percent, compared to 2 percent in 2009. Most of this recovery was driven by the tertiary sector, which accounted for more than half of the estimated growth. The sector benefitted from a pick-up in timber-related transport and continued strong activities in mobile telephony stemming from a greater use of fiber optic and the roll-out of new products...More

© The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2011. All Rights Reserved

Douala Stock Exchange: séance de cotation

Le Douala Stock Exchange a terminé sa séance de cotation du 24 août 2011. Pour le marché des actions, les valeurs SEMC, SAFACAM et SOCAPALM suivent un trend stable en clôturant respectivement à 108.000 FCFA à 48.002 FCFA et à 41.810 FCFA. En termes de physionomie du marché, le marché des actions n’a réalisé aucun chiffre d’affaires. La capitalisation boursière se chiffre à présent à F CFA 94.002.020.550 FCFA. Pour le marché des obligations, les obligations « MOABI IFC 4,25% 2009 – 2014 », « ECMR 5,6% net 2010-2015 » et « BDEAC 5,5% net 2010-2017 » restent stables respectivement à 97%, à 96.99% et à 100%, pied de coupon. Le marché obligataire n’a enregistré aucune transaction. La capitalisation du marché obligataire s’établit à 219.335.000.000 FCFA. © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2011. All Rights Reserved

East Africa Could Match Japan in Ease of Doing Business

By Kimberlee A. Brown

A recent World Bank report has assessed the potential of East African states in garnering new investments and promoting entrepreneurship development. According to the report, "if the best of East African regulations and procedures were implemented across the board, the business regulatory environment in East Africa, as measured by the report, would be comparable to that in Japan." The report, Doing Business in the East African Community 2011, draws on data from the annual global Doing Business study and takes a detailed look at business regulations in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The report states that East Africa could benefit from sharing good practices in business regulation as measured by Doing Business.

Libyan Ambassador thrown out of Zimbabwe

By Ben Nakomo

Robert Mugabe has always been on the right-hand side of the oppressed, from the colonial wars against British colonists to today's economic independence of his people. In righting the injustices by corrupt Libyan officials and traitors who find it expedient to switch sides, Robert Mugabe's government has gentlemanly upheld the basic tenets in diplomacy and foreign relations. Zimbabwe thus expelled the Libyan ambassador and his staff on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 for switching allegiance to NATO backed Libya's terrorist rebels. Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, said ambassador Taher Elmagrahi and his staff had lost their diplomatic status after burning the flag used by the Gaddafi administration. "The government of Zimbabwe does not recognise the NTC as the government and representative of the people of Libya," Mumbengegwi told journalists, referring to Libya's rebellious National Transitional Council. "Once you renounce the authority that gave you the letter of credence and then proceed to pledge allegiance to another authority ... it means that act deprives you of your diplomatic standing." Mumbengegwi said the ambassador and his staff had 72 hours to leave the country. He added that Zimbabwe reserved the right to reject diplomats from Tripoli. Robert Mugabe and Muamar Gadhafi are the truest sons of Africa who face a mountain challenge of 're-righting' centuries of wrongs on Africans by racists of caucasian stock and their cheerleading media. © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2011. All Rights Reserved

NATO backed Genocide on Black African's who saw Greener Pasture in Libya

The mainstream media is already engaging in widespread damage control in an attempt to mitigate the fallout of the reality of the situation in Libya and the withering NATO-sponsored narrative of post-Gaddafi Libya...They are called “Gaddafi loyalists”, “Sub-Saharan mercenaries” and other phrases all pointing to the unfortunate reality that every single black person is now considered by the rebels to be a mercenary hired by Gaddafi...The Libyan rebels and those carrying water for them in the Western media are now attempting to conceal the fact that they are now committing crimes against humanity in the active targeting of innocent black Libyans....Some call the attacks “reprisals” or “revenge,” but in reality they are hateful murders carried out by the al Qaeda-affiliated, Western backed and trained rebels...These killings are irrefutably tied to the wildly racist and wholly unfounded claims that Gaddafi hired Sub-Saharan African mercenaries to murder his own people during the uprising...More

Is Gaddafi Winning?

Libya: Tripoli Stands in Defiance of NATO
Reports of rebel leaders presiding over Tripoli a confirmed lie.
By Tony Cartalucci

Despite sweeping headlines claiming the Benghazi rebel terrorists have shifted their leadership over to Tripoli after continuous claims of the city falling to rebels after over a week of continuous fighting, BBC has slipped out the fact that this claim is a verified lie. Buried within an article titled, "Horror scenes at Tripoli hospital," BBC conceded that the rebels have constructed a makeshift landing strip in the western Nafusa mountains where they are "reported to be staying," only visiting Tripoli in daytime for quick photo opportunities. The article continues by also conceding the self-proclaimed, unelected leader of the rebels, Abdul Jalil and "other key leaders" are staying in the east because of "the lack of security in Tripoli." That is of course when these "key leaders" aren't groveling in Doha, Paris, and Rome before their Western sponsors.....This definitively exposes the current operations inside Libya as a desperate psychological war with the corporate media explicitly deceiving the public with misleading headlines under which facts are buried by mountains of minutia, carefully worded propaganda, unverified innuendos, and outright lies...More

In handing Libya to Al Qaeda, the line has been forever crossed

First - let's not labor under any delusions. Obama, Cameron, and Sarkozy are heads of state in name only. It is the depravity and megalomania amongst the banks, corporations, and the institutions they have contrived, that are responsible for the most egregious betrayal in Western history. For 10 years the West's leadership have stirred up hatred and fear amongst their populations to justify a lengthy and very costly global war (on terror) that has sent US, British, Canadian, German, French, and many other troops, around the world, into dangerous adversity, and ultimately to their graves to fight "the (evil) forces of terror...Read More