The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Boots on the Ground: NATO on eve of Invading Libya?

Nigeria: Africa's Newest Failed State?

Abuja Bleeding: Car bomb hits Nigeria UN building

By Ben Nakomo

A bomb blast tore through United Nations offices in the Nigerian capital Abuja killing more than 16 people on Friday, August 26, 2011. This is in line with a series of bomb blasts that have rocked the country for the past twenty months.

The unleashing of bombs accross the country follows on the heels of kidnappings and hostage takings in the Niger delta. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of almost 150 million people, has a notoriety of being unable to supply electricity to its people for one hour continuously, water taps even in mansions do not flow lest from a stale storage tank. Running water and stable-constant electricity supply are basic necessities that even the citizens of Togo and Chad enjoy.

The omipresence of armed robbery, cyber-robbery and a mountain of corruption has rendered the country ungovernable. However, because of its rich oil resources under the control of a corrupt wealthy elite and their cronies in-and-out of the military, the Abuja regime has friends from Washington DC to London, Sidney to Paris being courted for its oilm whilst more than 50% of its population (about 75 million) people parasite on less than 2 US dollars per day.

The Shock Doctrine in Haiti

An interview with Patrick Elie
 
Naomi Klein's book, the 'Shock Doctrine', refers to imperial nations capitalizing on the misfortune of other countries. In Haiti, the near total exclusion of Haitians in the reconstruction and humanitarian effort strongly suggests that foreign powers wish to profit - both politically and economically - from their supposedly humanitarian interventions. Haiti's reconstruction must come from within because, as history has shown repeatedly, foreign intervention has been disastrous for this poor Caribbean country...more

Cameroonian invents Coffee pulping Machine

By Bright Lokenge

A Cameroonian born technologist, Piam Fokam has invented a coffee pulping machine. The coffee pulping machine has the capacity to pulp 30 tons of coffee daily. It was presented to the public at the Chamber of Agriculture in Yaounde, December 28, 2009. The invention and a series of other agricultural machines are expected to revolutionise the rural setting in Cameroon. Cameroon is aiming to double its coffee production in the next few years. At its peak during the 1960s, According to Michael Ndoping, general manager of the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, Cameroon produced 120,000 tonnes of coffee each year but that level has fallen to around 40,000 tonnes today. “ By 2013, we want it to be at 80,000 tonnes" (Read Coffee News). Mr Fokam's invention is therefore timely in contributing to Cameroon's new vision for the coffee sub-sector. Most of Cameroon’s coffee is grown by small landowners on plots of two to 10 hectares, and nearly all of it is grown in mixed-cropped farms. Its unique profile comes from the rich volcanic soil as well as from the benefits of growing in a diversified crop environment. More about Cameroon Coffee . © The Entrepreneur Newspaper 2010. All Rights Reserved . Follow The Entrepreneur News on Twitter. See Our Events in Face Book.

Drame: Le marché central de Douala dévoré par un incendie

L’impressionnant déploiement mobilisé pour y faire face s’est avéré très impuissante, et l’on estime les dégâts matériels à plusieurs milliards de Francs CFA.

Par Pierre Alexis Kaptchouang

C’est la veille de Noël ; et comme d’habitude, c’est déjà l’effervescence dans les marché où commerçants et acheteurs se battent chacun pour tirer son épingle du jeu. Mais hélas, cette effervescence s’est subitement convertie en scandale malheureux hier pour les milliers de commerçants qui ne savent déjà plus à quels saints se vouer. En effet, jusqu’ici, il est difficile de dire avec exactitude l’origine d’un incendie qui s’est déclaré hier au marché central de Douala, et a consumé plus de 4 blocs de l’est du marché.   Selon des sources concordantes, c’est aux environs de 14hrs ce mardi 15 décembre que les premières que les premiers cris de détresse se sont faits entendre dans les grands bâtiments de ce marché réservé aux vêtements et aux chaussures prêt-à-porter.

Cameroon's Minister of Higher Education Launches Entrance into School of Translation

The Minister of Higher Education has launched entrance examinations for the selection of 20 pupil interpreters and 70 translators into the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters of the University of Buea , to read for an MA in Interpretation and an MA in Translation. The entrance examination will be written on 3 and 4 September 2009 in Buea only.

Cameroon Economic Outlook, 2008 - 2010

Cameroon's Real Economic Growth accelerated to 4.1 per cent in 2008, up from 3.4 per cent in 2007, thanks to good results in the oil sector, ongoing infrastructure work, increased energy supply and programmes to boost agriculture, livestock and fisheries. It is expected to slow to 3.1 per cent in 2009 due to the global recession pushing down prices and demand for the country’s main commodities exports (chiefly oil, wood, cotton and rubber) and to electricity supply problems resulting from severe drought, but should pick up again in 2010 to reach 3.4 per cent. In view of the economy’s extreme – and growth-compromising – dependence on oil, a major challenge facing the government in 2009 is to increase revenue from the non-oil sector...MORE

Philemon Yang is Cameroon's New Prime Minister

By Ben Nakomo

The President of the Republic of Cameroon has appointed a new cabinet. The Cabinet comprises of recycled older members of previous ministerial appointments. The appointments provide an indication that the President is already strategising for the 2011 presidential race or succession. Having dropped a seasoned economist Chief Ephraim Inoni as Prime Minister, the President is seen playing chess as he appoints Mr Philemon Yang to pacify the more vocal rulling CPDM party officials and boisterous opposition politicians, all from the northwest region, from where the new Prime Minister hails.

Nine Cameroonian 'Bushfallers' Arrested for Fraud

A group of nine Cameroonians have been arrested for cheating a Chinese woman out of more than 267,000 yuan (US$39,265) in a "black money scam," Shenzhen police said yesterday. The nine people persuaded the woman, surnamed He from Fuzhou, Fujiang Province, into paying more than 267,000 yuan to purchase a "magic" chemical fluid that would restore US$5 million in bank notes that had been dyed black so they could be smuggled into China, police said.

Sept morts dans une attaque de coupeurs de route

par Pierre-Alexis Kaptchouang

Le convoi des commerçants a été attaqué dans le village Belel Dibbi, alors qu’ils se rendaient dans un marché de la localité.La région de l’Adamaoua était récemment sous le choc du drame qui s’est produit lundi dernier autour de 10hrs sur l’axe Ngaoundéré – Meïnganga. La scène était plus qu’effroyable. Un convoi de dix voitures de commerçants se rendant au marché de Kognoli, une petite localité située entre Ngaoundéré et Meïnganga, et connu pour son marché de bétail florissant, est tombé dans une embuscade tendue par les coupeurs de route, alors qu’elle était sous escorte des éléments du bataillon léger d’intervention (BIR).