Cameroon’s second Green Jobs Week, held in Yaoundé from 16 to 20 October 2026, comes amid efforts to align vocational training with the demands of the ecological transition. The country aims to create or green 120,000 decent jobs by 2030, while plans call for 50 new training standards to be developed in collaboration with industry professionals. These initiatives seek to prepare workers for emerging occupations and equip businesses with the skills they need to grow. Their strategic significance extends beyond employment: it concerns Cameroon’s ability to turn its human potential into economic value that can be retained and developed within the country.

Skills: The Foundation of Competitiveness

Resources do not become an economic advantage simply because they are available. They must be harnessed, transformed and brought to market. This applies to renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, waste recovery and environmentally friendly materials alike. On 12 June 2026, Cameroon’s Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training (MINEFOP) and the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) launched the development of a national training framework for the bamboo and rattan sectors. The initiative includes a competency framework, training programmes and assessment methods tailored to labour market needs. It illustrates a fundamental challenge: developing the expertise required to turn available resources into productive activities that Cameroonian businesses can master and commercialise.

This approach becomes meaningful when skills are linked to actual market opportunities. Training solar installation technicians, waste recovery specialists or bamboo-processing professionals will deliver lasting results only if businesses can employ them, the necessary equipment is accessible and products can find buyers. Training must therefore be designed around entire value chains, from sourcing and production to distribution and sales. Otherwise, the country risks training people without creating the economic conditions needed for their employment. Conversely, programmes developed with employers can improve productivity, support local entrepreneurship and strengthen the competitiveness of Cameroonian businesses.

From Jobs to Productive Capacity

The objective is not merely to increase the number of people trained, but to expand what the national economy can actually produce. A competitive green industry requires complementary occupations: technicians, operators, engineers, maintenance specialists, managers, sales professionals and entrepreneurs. Their combined expertise determines a company’s ability to meet standards, control costs, maintain equipment and respond to market demand. Modernising vocational training can therefore support a deeper transformation: turning the workforce from a pool of available labour into productive capacity that businesses can effectively mobilise.

This transformation also requires skills to be aligned with local conditions and market opportunities. The needs of an agricultural area differ from those of an industrial hub or a city facing waste-management challenges. Tailoring training to activities with genuine development potential in each territory could bring workers closer to employers and encourage the emergence of new value chains. Yet proximity to resources does not guarantee economic success. Access to finance, reliable infrastructure, appropriate equipment and the ability to reach markets remain decisive. The objective must be to build industries that can endure, expand and retain an increasing share of the value they generate within Cameroon.

Turning Skills into National Power

In Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth, President of the African Center for Competitive Intelligence (CAVIE), examines the foundations of national power through the relationship between demographics, the economy and collective intelligence, among other themes. Part Four, “The Drivers of Power,” includes Chapter XIX, “Green Energy and Power.” These themes provide a relevant framework for examining current reforms: a population becomes an economic asset only when its capabilities can be developed, coordinated and mobilised towards productive objectives. The ecological transition therefore raises a question that extends beyond job creation: will Cameroon develop the skills required to participate in emerging industries, master their processes and capture the value they generate?

This analysis does not claim to reproduce specific recommendations from Chapter XIX that have not been verified against the full text. Rather, it applies the themes identified in the book to a current economic challenge. Looking towards 2050, the strategic value of vocational training will depend in part on its ability to supply competitive businesses with qualified workers, foster entrepreneurs capable of transforming local resources and develop expertise that can be replicated on a larger scale. The number of training programmes delivered or jobs announced will not, by itself, demonstrate success. More meaningful indicators will include productivity gains, sustainable businesses, locally generated value added and the ability of Cameroonian companies to compete in their markets.

What Stays in Cameroon When Value Is Created?

The ecological transition offers significant opportunities, but it does not automatically confer a competitive advantage. Cameroon’s challenge is to establish lasting links between training, business needs and control over value chains. Only then can green jobs become more than a response to employment pressures: they can serve as a lever for productive transformation and national economic power. This challenge aligns with the ambition of Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth’s strategic reflection on the conditions required for Cameroon to build its power by 2050.

The Editorial Staff 

Mobilising savings from Cameroonians living abroad requires more than offering attractive financial products. The funds raised must inspire confidence, serve clearly defined priorities and contribute to a coherent national ambition. Cameroonian banks have called for a central coordination hub to bring together financing mechanisms targeting the diaspora. Their proposal raises a broader strategic question and gives practical relevance to the ideas developed in Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth’s book on Cameroon’s strategy for achieving national power by 2050.

Mobilising Capital Is Not Enough to Build National Power

As Cameroon prepares its future National Strategy for Mobilising the Cameroonian Diaspora (SNMDC), banks are calling for a common framework to coordinate existing initiatives. The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Cameroun (CDEC) is preparing an savings product called Diasdev, while the Société immobilière du Cameroun (SIC), the country’s real estate company, is developing a proposed “Diaspora Bond” to finance housing projects. These instruments may serve different purposes. Their coexistence, however, raises a crucial question: how can Cameroon prevent the multiplication of financing mechanisms from fragmenting available resources instead of directing them towards coherent investment priorities?

The diaspora should not be treated as an automatically available pool of capital. Investment decisions depend on confidence in institutions, transparency in the use of funds, clear terms and conditions, and credible safeguards. Attachment to one’s country of origin can encourage contributions to its development, but it cannot replace the economic and institutional conditions that make an investment worthwhile. Cameroon’s ability to mobilise diaspora savings sustainably will therefore depend as much on the quality of its financial instruments as on the confidence those instruments inspire.

From Savings to National Capacity for Action

In Chapter X of Power 237, entitled “Diaspora and Power”, the diaspora is presented as one of the potential drivers of Cameroon’s national ambition. This perspective extends beyond remittances. Cameroonians living abroad also possess professional expertise, international networks and knowledge of foreign markets that can support the country’s development and global reach. The strategic value of these resources lies in their ability to strengthen Cameroon’s capacity to act, rather than simply in their availability.

The value of these resources must be assessed in terms of what they enable Cameroon to achieve. Mobilised savings can finance housing, support productive investment or contribute to infrastructure development. Their strategic importance, however, depends on how these investments fit into national priorities and whether they strengthen the economy over the long term. Ultimately, what matters is not merely the amount of diaspora capital collected, but the extent to which these contributions are converted into economic capabilities and greater national capacity for action.

Coordination as a Tool for Strategic Coherence

The banks’ proposal would be particularly valuable if it helped clarify the roles of different financing mechanisms, make their terms easier to understand and ensure that they complement one another. A central coordination hub would not necessarily require every product to be managed by the same institution. Rather, it would provide a framework in which objectives, responsibilities and monitoring arrangements are clearly defined and understandable to both investors and public authorities. Without such coherence, even well-designed instruments could end up competing with one another or financing isolated projects with limited impact on the wider economy.

Resource allocation is equally important. The capital raised must be linked to identifiable projects whose implementation and results can be assessed. This requirement connects investor confidence with development objectives: the more transparent the use of funds and the more verifiable the commitments, the easier it becomes to build lasting relationships with the diaspora. Coordination will therefore be strategically meaningful not simply because an administrative structure exists, but because it improves the quality of financing and its contribution to national priorities.

Making the Diaspora a Pillar of Cameroon’s National Power

The future SNMDC will be shaped by the breadth of the relationship it seeks to establish with Cameroonians abroad. A policy focused primarily on remittances and financial products would mobilise only part of the diaspora’s potential, without necessarily drawing on its expertise and international networks. A broader approach would recognise these different resources as complementary while respecting the distinct ways in which each can be mobilised. The objective would extend beyond attracting funds to fostering the diaspora’s sustained participation in Cameroon’s economic development and international standing.

Cameroon’s national power will also depend on its ability to make the diaspora an active partner in development: an investor who understands how their capital will be used, a professional whose expertise can be shared, and a connector who can link the country to international networks. The coordination of diaspora financing advocated by the banks will achieve its full strategic significance only if it contributes to this wider ambition, allowing financial resources, professional capabilities and international relationships to reinforce one another.

The Editorial Staff 

In Sangmélima, a plant designed to process 120 tonnes of cassava per day did not conduct its first trials with raw material until May 2023, nearly ten years after its creation. This experience highlights a recurring challenge in agricultural industrialisation: processing capacity depends on the economic organisation that connects raw materials to markets. A new pilot tapioca-processing project announced between Cameroon and Indonesia, backed by a planned allocation of 4,000 hectares, brings this relationship into focus.

Fresh Cassava Cannot Be Managed Like Stored Inventory

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), fresh cassava roots can begin to deteriorate within 24 hours of harvesting, with most varieties showing significant deterioration within two to three days. Harvesting, transportation and processing must therefore follow one another quickly. The distance between farms and the processing plant, available transport capacity and the regularity of deliveries all influence the quality of the raw material when it reaches the production line.

This biological constraint makes logistics central to industrial planning. Harvesting seasons must be understood, accessible production areas identified, collection points organised and deliveries coordinated with the plant’s operating schedule. Processing capacity must therefore reflect the volumes that the surrounding area can supply consistently. This balance affects not only the plant’s location, but also its utilisation rate and operating costs.

Land Area Alone Cannot Determine a Plant’s Capacity

The experience of Sangmélima offers a useful point of comparison. Agricultural estimates reported during the preparation of that project indicated that more than 4,000 hectares of cassava would need to be cultivated over five years for the Sangmélima Industrial Cassava Processing Company (SOTRAMAS) to reach full capacity. The plant was designed to process 120 tonnes per day. The new project with Indonesia also involves a planned allocation of 4,000 hectares, but publicly available information does not specify the future plant’s daily processing capacity. These figures do not allow for a direct comparison between the two facilities. They do, however, highlight the importance of aligning agricultural production plans with industrial requirements from the outset.

Several steps separate an identified land area from a reliable supply of cassava. The land must actually be cultivated, yields must be estimated under realistic conditions, and harvesting must be scheduled to meet the plant’s needs. Seed availability, support for farmers, purchasing arrangements and transport costs also influence the equation. A quantified supply plan would help bring these variables together and anticipate operational requirements. Sangmélima illustrates why agricultural production and industrial capacity should be treated as two interconnected parts of the same system.

Market Demand Must Shape the Plant’s Design

The project announced with Indonesia aims to produce tapioca, but the available information does not yet detail the expected output, target buyers or commercial terms. These factors will shape the technical choices. A facility supplying the domestic market will not necessarily face the same requirements as one targeting neighbouring countries or more distant export markets. Quality standards, packaging, transport costs and acceptable prices will all influence market access and profitability.

The contract between Indonesia’s PT Asindo Tech and Cameroonian company Nego-Titans PLC is valued at US$15 million, equivalent to approximately CFAF 8.5 billion. According to Indonesia’s ANTARA news agency, the agreement covers the supply of processing machinery and technical facilities. While the amount indicates the project’s financial scale, its economic viability will also depend on the planned production capacity and the markets it can realistically serve. The cost of producing tapioca, compared with prices in target markets, will be an important measure of competitiveness. A clear understanding of demand will therefore help determine production volumes, equipment requirements and the additional investments needed.

Technology Transfer Is Measured by the Capabilities Acquired

PT Asindo Tech is expected to supply equipment and technical facilities, with Indonesian engineering expertise and skilled personnel also involved. This cooperation could facilitate access to specialised industrial processes. Its long-term value will also depend on the skills developed in Cameroon to operate the plant, maintain its equipment, adapt processes to local raw materials and improve yields. These capabilities are essential to production continuity and could create opportunities for technical training among local workers and businesses involved in the project.

The allocation of responsibilities after construction will therefore be important. Training local teams, documenting procedures and involving Cameroonian companies in technical operations could support the gradual transfer of expertise. The knowledge gained could then be applied to other processing projects, provided that methods and results are properly documented. Industrial cooperation becomes more sustainable when the skills acquired can be used beyond the initial facility.

The Pilot Plant Must Inform Future Decisions

A pilot plant provides an opportunity to test a process under actual production conditions. In the Cameroon–Indonesia project, trials should establish processing yields, tapioca quality, raw material procurement costs and equipment performance. Energy consumption, water requirements, losses and delivery consistency will also need to be monitored. These findings will help assess the model’s economic viability and identify adjustments before any potential expansion. Commercial results, skills acquired and the involvement of local suppliers should form part of the evaluation as well.

This approach connects with the perspective on national power developed in Power 237, the book by Dr Guy Gweth. Economic power also depends on the ability to master productive activities, learn from experience and reproduce successful results. The project with Indonesia could contribute to this ambition if agricultural supply, industrial choices, market access and workforce training are planned as parts of a coherent system. The objective is to turn the pilot into a source of knowledge that can inform future investments and, over time, strengthen Cameroon’s industrial capabilities.

The Editorial Team 

At the World Food Forum in Rome on 12 October 2026, Cameroon’s National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) showcased the country’s agricultural products and investment opportunities across both sectors. International awards received by producers in 2026 have further raised their profile. Yet between an award-winning coffee, a sought-after cocoa bean and an economy that benefits from this recognition lie several stages that will shape the future of these industries. Cameroon does not simply need to reach more markets. It must also expand the share of the agricultural value chain it can master.

Reputation Does Not Determine Bargaining Power

An award draws attention to a product, but it does not determine the terms on which it will be purchased. To turn recognition into a commercial advantage, producers must be able to demonstrate quality, identify buyers willing to pay for it and understand the requirements that distinguish different markets. Consistent supply, traceability and the ability to fulfil contracts matter just as much as the initial distinction. Without these capabilities, the benefits of a product’s reputation may accrue mainly to operators who already control access to customers, rather than to those who produced the recognised quality.

Commercial intelligence therefore becomes a tool for negotiation. Understanding prices, market opportunities, standards and buyers’ strategies helps producers decide where to sell, whom to work with and which requirements to accept. This is one of the strategic principles explored by Dr Guy Gweth in Power 237, where economic power is understood not simply as the possession of resources, but also as the ability to determine how they are used and defend national interests. For Cameroon’s agricultural value chains, this means making market intelligence a lasting capability among producers, cooperatives and businesses.

Investment Will Shape the Next Stage of Both Value Chains

Investor interest should not be measured solely by the amount of capital announced. It should also be assessed by the activities established, the skills developed and the income retained within the national economy. Storage, quality control, processing, logistics and distribution address different needs. Developing these activities can ease some of the constraints facing producers and open up new markets, but the economic benefits will depend on how projects are structured and what role they reserve for local operators.

Cameroon therefore has reason to assess investment projects beyond their financial value. A processing facility, for example, will have different effects depending on whether it purchases regularly from local producers, develops skills locally or relies almost entirely on imported services and inputs. This does not imply that commitments of this kind were secured in Rome. Rather, it provides a framework for assessing the opportunities presented by the NCCB against a broader national ambition. Attracting capital matters, but directing its contribution towards lasting productive capacity matters just as much.

Agricultural Data Goes Beyond Production

A harvest alone does not establish the precise quality of a batch, verify its origin or confirm that it will be available when a buyer needs it. Traceability tools and geospatial data can connect this information, while precision agriculture can improve crop monitoring and resource use. Their value therefore extends beyond yields. They can make supply more predictable and facilitate trade with markets that impose increasingly demanding requirements for proof of origin and compliance.

On 10 September 2026, the NCCB and German company COOKO renewed their partnership for three years, placing traceability, quality, research and data infrastructure among the priorities for Cameroon’s cocoa sector. However, publicly available information on the previous agreement’s results and the new partnership’s quantified targets remains insufficient to assess its impact. This matters because technology creates an advantage only when it is used effectively, accessible to producers and capable of improving commercial decisions. In Power 237, innovation has strategic value when it strengthens a country’s ability to anticipate and act, rather than merely modernising its tools.

Agricultural Positioning Is a Question of National Power

The choice is not simply whether to export more. Cameroon can consolidate its position as a supplier of quality raw materials while also developing processing, brands, services and commercial relationships that extend beyond production. These approaches are compatible, but they require coherent investment, skills and policies. Their relevance should be assessed through tangible results, including producer incomes, diversified market access, skilled jobs, locally processed volumes and a stronger presence for Cameroonian businesses among buyers.

The defence, attack and influence framework set out in Power 237 offers another way to understand this trajectory. Defence means protecting producers’ interests and gaining greater control over sales conditions. Attack means entering new markets and expanding into higher-value activities. Influence means gaining a stronger voice in the commercial relationships and decisions that shape these industries. Cameroon’s presence in Rome gives its agricultural products greater visibility. The lasting value of that visibility will depend on what the country does with it: building stronger commercial relationships, expanding local capabilities and securing a more advantageous position in the global agricultural economy.

The Editorial Staff 

Mastering a sector begins with mastering the information needed to manage it. In livestock farming, this requirement is particularly important: ensuring herd traceability, protecting productive assets, anticipating risks and improving performance all depend on reliable data. Through LightCow, Yves Bertrand Solanga shows how technology can help make Cameroon’s livestock sector better documented, better managed and more capable of generating value.

From an Under-documented Asset to a Managed Resource

In May 2026, LightCow, a solution developed by Yves Bertrand Solanga, won first prize in the second edition of the Agritech Innovation Challenge. The technology is designed to monitor cattle in real time and collect information on their location, condition and biological indicators. It is already being deployed across thousands of cattle in the Adamawa region and other parts of Cameroon.

The strategic significance of LightCow goes beyond GPS tracking, sensors or the Internet of Things. What matters is the shift in how a productive resource is understood and managed. A herd that is poorly documented and difficult to monitor is also difficult to manage efficiently at scale. By making information on livestock movements, health indicators, risks and production cycles more accessible, technology gives producers a stronger basis for decision-making. Data becomes an instrument for understanding, securing and managing an economic activity.

Adamawa as a Testing Ground for Productive Transformation

Adamawa offers a particularly revealing case. Cattle farming in the region is largely extensive, with herds moving across vast areas. This creates practical challenges ranging from livestock losses and theft to limited health monitoring and a lack of reliable information about herds.

LightCow addresses part of this challenge through connected technology. From the perspective of Power 237, however, the strategic lesson goes much further than livestock farming. A territory’s economic strength also depends on its ability to identify its resources, secure them and organize their productive use. Adamawa therefore illustrates a broader national challenge: how can Cameroon turn its productive assets into sustainable sources of economic value and national power?

Data as Infrastructure for Competitiveness

Light Group’s earlier work on LightOil, a solution developed to monitor and manage petroleum products, reveals another dimension of Yves Bertrand Solanga’s approach. The experience gained in one sector can be transferred and adapted to other productive environments.

This ability to develop technologies that can serve different value chains is itself a strategic capability. Energy, logistics, agriculture, industry and infrastructure all generate information that can improve the way resources are managed. For Cameroon, the challenge is therefore not simply to adopt technologies developed elsewhere. It is to build the capacity to design, adapt and deploy solutions that address the country’s own economic and territorial priorities.

Connecting Skills, Research and Productive Needs

Light Group’s work around the Internet of Things, LoRaWAN and data management also illustrates the importance of connecting technical expertise with research and industry. Its partnership with The ICT University includes a joint laboratory dedicated to the incubation and prototyping of connected solutions, as well as experimentation with LoRaWAN networks for industrial applications.

This is closely aligned with the approach developed in Power 237. Human capital becomes a source of national power when skills are connected to productive needs, companies, research institutions and infrastructure. Training engineers is an essential starting point. Creating the conditions for those engineers to solve concrete problems, develop marketable solutions and build companies around their expertise is what gives that human capital strategic value.

From Local Capabilities to National Champions

Yves Bertrand Solanga’s contribution also extends beyond technological entrepreneurship. As head of Light Group and President of the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of Cameroon (APEC), he operates at the intersection of technology, private-sector development and institutional dialogue. His position offers a practical perspective on the conditions needed for Cameroonian businesses to become stronger, more structured and more competitive.

This connects directly with one of the central ideas of Power 237: national power is not built solely through major corporations or foreign investment. It also depends on the country’s ability to identify its own capabilities, strengthen them and help them scale. For Dr Guy Gweth, this logic begins with knowing the resources available within the territory so that they can be connected, mobilized and transformed into sources of influence and competitiveness.

LightCow provides a concrete illustration of that principle. A productive resource becomes measurable, information becomes actionable, locally developed technology becomes a national capability, and technical expertise becomes applicable across several sectors. The ability to identify, document, connect and scale the resources of a territory will be one of the factors shaping Cameroon’s future competitiveness.

The Editorial Staff

Cameroon has significant agricultural potential, but resources alone do not create a competitive advantage. Between the farm and the market lie crop knowledge, access to finance, risk management, productivity, infrastructure, processing and access to information. Adamou Nchange Kouotou’s trajectory offers a useful perspective on one of the key intersections in this equation: the point at which technological skills are applied to understanding and financing agricultural production.

From an Agricultural Challenge to an Information Issue

Kouotou’s experience in technology and telecommunications was the starting point for a reflection born out of a practical challenge. When he considered entering agriculture himself in 2016, he realized that his limited agricultural knowledge could be a barrier to his project. He therefore chose to use his expertise as a computer engineer to address this challenge, not only for himself but also for smallholder farmers facing similar difficulties. Agrix Tech was established in 2018 around this approach.

The initial challenge appears agricultural: identifying a disease, determining a treatment and limiting losses. But once the information collected makes it possible to better characterize a farm, the issue takes on a different dimension. Data on crops, plots and risks can also help assess the viability of a project, determine its level of risk or inform a financing decision. Agrix Tech has progressively positioned itself at this intersection between agricultural information and financial decision-making, notably through machine learning and satellite data. Data can therefore make a farm more legible to those responsible for financing or insuring it, gradually transforming technical information into an economic decision-making tool.

When Information Becomes a Competitive Advantage

This evolution changes the role of data within the agricultural value chain. Information about a plot can serve the farmer, but it can also be relevant to a bank, an insurer, an input supplier or a market operator. Its value therefore depends not simply on its existence, but on the ability to collect, structure and interpret it in ways that reduce uncertainty or improve decision-making.

Agricultural competitiveness does not depend solely on the ability to produce more. It also depends on the ability to make production sufficiently visible and measurable to mobilize capital, assess risks and reach markets. When information improves decision-making, it becomes part of the productive system itself. The strategic issue is therefore to determine who produces this information, who controls it and who can turn it into an economic advantage.

Human Capital as a Strategic Capability

Kouotou’s trajectory illustrates this ability to connect different fields. His background in technology and his experience in digital infrastructure and financial services enabled him to transfer these skills to an agricultural challenge. His trajectory highlights the value of profiles capable of moving across sectors and turning technological expertise into solutions addressing productive needs.

Within the Power 237 framework, this type of trajectory takes on a broader significance: human capital becomes a source of national power when it can be connected to strategic sectors and transformed into productive capabilities. The issue therefore extends beyond the success of an individual company. It concerns a country’s ability to develop talent capable of creating, adapting and exporting solutions that address both domestic needs and those of other African markets.

From Cameroonian Innovation to African Capability

Agrix Tech had already considered expanding into Ghana, Senegal and other African markets. This ambition illustrates what can happen when an innovation moves beyond its original national context: a solution developed in response to a Cameroonian constraint can potentially become a capability that can be deployed and commercialized across several markets.

For Cameroon, the issue is therefore less about counting its innovations than identifying those capable of scaling, creating lasting capabilities and enabling more value to be retained within production chains. This reading echoes one of the underlying concerns of Power 237, the strategic project led by Dr Guy Gweth: transforming human capital, innovation and control over information into capabilities that can strengthen Cameroon’s position in its regional environment. Kouotou’s trajectory thus highlights a broader reality: agricultural resources become a genuine competitive advantage only when an ecosystem can understand them, finance them, develop their value and, above all, master the tools required to capture more of the value they generate.

The Editorial Team 

A country’s standing in a strategic sector is also reflected in the ability of its professionals to build a presence within the networks where trade, standards and cooperation take shape. Claire Onana Takouchop’s election as National President of Women in Maritime Africa (WIMA) Cameroon in January 2026 brings into focus a career built over the years in the shipping and foreign trade sector. Her career offers another way of looking at Cameroon’s presence in a field where trade, expertise and professional networks extend well beyond national borders.

A Role at the Crossroads of the Maritime Sector

The significance of her election first lies in the environment in which it took place. The new WIMA-CAMEROON executive bureau brings together women professionals from the Cameroon National Shippers’ Council (CNSC), the Port Authorities of Douala and Kribi, the Directorate General of Customs, the Single Window for Foreign Trade Operations (GUCE), the National Ports Authority and private-sector companies. In other words, one organisation brings together professionals whose respective roles provide different parts of the knowledge and operational understanding required for maritime trade.

This configuration gives particular significance to the responsibility entrusted to Claire Onana Takouchop. She stands at the intersection of stakeholders whose activities are closely connected: shippers, ports, public authorities, customs, trade facilitation institutions and private companies. Her appointment is therefore more than the presence of a Cameroonian professional at the head of an organisation. It also creates a point of connection between areas of expertise that can generate greater value when they are brought together rather than left fragmented.

Collective Intelligence as a Source of Strength

This perspective directly echoes one of the foundations developed in Power 237. The second part of the book places collective intelligence among the foundations of national power and argues that Cameroon must mobilise its human, economic and intellectual resources in support of a national project.

Claire Onana Takouchop’s career gives concrete expression to this idea. Her position at the CNSC exposes her to the realities of shippers and foreign trade, while her presidency of WIMA-CAMEROON places her at the meeting point of several components of the maritime sector. In February 2026, she also led a CNSC initiative aimed at strengthening the capacities of women engaged in cross-border trade in southern Cameroon. Expertise, in this context, does not remain tied to a single position: it moves, is shared and can help broaden the pool of stakeholders able to participate in trade networks.

Building the Skills That Will Shape the Future

This dimension is particularly important as the maritime sector already faces the challenge of renewing its skills base. In May 2026, WIMA-CAMEROON organised a conference focusing on academic pathways and professional excellence in the maritime and port sectors, before officially launching a mentoring programme for young female students. The issue therefore extends beyond immediate career development. It concerns the gradual building of a pool of skills capable of sustaining the sector over time.

This direction echoes one of the principles developed in Power 237: human resources become a lasting source of national strength when knowledge is identified, transferred and renewed rather than left as a collection of isolated skills. The challenge is therefore less about the number of professionals already available than about the country’s ability to identify talent, pass on expertise and prepare early enough those who will take on responsibility in strategic sectors tomorrow.

When Information Becomes a Strategic Asset

The maritime sector offers another perspective on this dynamic. On 21 September 2026, the CNSC and the Port Authority of Kribi continued their work on systems integration and data exchange to improve maritime flow monitoring and strengthen cooperation between the two institutions. This development highlights how the performance of a maritime ecosystem also depends on the quality of the information circulating among its various stakeholders.

Claire Onana Takouchop operates precisely within this environment, where information, support for operators, institutional cooperation and professional representation intersect. Her participation in a meeting held in Casablanca in December 2025 to present Cameroon’s economic and logistics opportunities to Moroccan operators and investors already illustrated this role. Speaking on behalf of the CNSC, she presented the opportunities offered by Cameroon’s ports and logistics corridors, placing them in the context of subregional and international trade.

A Career That Reveals a National Capacity

What this career ultimately reveals is not an individual achievement to be considered in isolation. It shows how expertise developed within a national environment can gain greater reach when it becomes part of professional networks, when experience is shared and when professionals are positioned at the intersection of several components of a strategic sector.

This is where the perspective developed in Power 237 takes on its full meaning: having resources is not enough. A country must also be able to identify them, connect them and mobilise them. Claire Onana Takouchop’s career provides a concrete illustration of this challenge in the maritime sector. Above all, it invites a different way of looking at Cameroon’s potential: not only through what the country possesses, but through what it is able to do with its expertise when that expertise begins to carry weight beyond the national level.

The Editorial Staff  

In its mapping of the people whose achievements can contribute to Cameroon’s rise as a power, Power 237 looks beyond individual success stories to identify positions, expertise and networks with broader strategic significance. Claude Owona Ekoto stands out in this regard. Since July 2026, the Cameroonian banker has served as Regional Industry Manager for the Financial Institutions Group at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), covering Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa. From this position, she works with financial institutions and partners to expand access to finance for businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs across the region.

A Career Built Across the Financial Sector

Claude Owona Ekoto’s profile reflects more than two decades of experience spanning treasury management, commercial and retail banking, and development finance. Her career has included senior positions at international banking groups such as HSBC and Société Générale, where she served as Deputy CEO of Société Générale Burkina Faso. She later joined the IFC as a Senior Investment Officer, working across both developed and emerging markets, including Canada, France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States, Cameroon, India and West Africa.

This combination of commercial banking and development finance has placed her close to one of the central questions facing African economies: how to channel capital towards businesses capable of creating jobs, expanding production and strengthening local value chains. Her experience has particularly focused on financial institutions and on expanding financing for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, women entrepreneurs and agricultural value chains.

Where Finance Meets Productive Capacity

The significance of this work becomes clearer when viewed from the perspective of business growth. Access to capital does not automatically translate into stronger companies. Businesses need financing adapted to their stage of development, reliable information, appropriate risk assessment and financial institutions capable of supporting their expansion.

This is where financial intermediation becomes a component of economic competitiveness. When financing reaches an agricultural value chain, for example, it can support production, processing, equipment and distribution. When it reaches an SME, it can help the company invest, recruit, increase output or enter a new market. The financial system therefore has a direct bearing on the capacity of businesses to move from potential to scale.

Claude Owona Ekoto’s work at the IFC has been closely connected to this challenge. The institution says that, in her new regional role, she will work with financial institutions and partners to expand access to finance for businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs driving growth and job creation.

Information, Risk and Access to Capital

Behind every financing decision lies another strategic resource: information. A lender must be able to understand a company’s activity, assess its risks, identify its prospects and determine how financing can support its development. The quality and availability of information therefore influence how economic opportunities are perceived and financed.

This becomes particularly important for businesses and entrepreneurs with limited banking histories. Alternative data, digital transactions and other economic signals can provide additional information for assessing creditworthiness. Better information can help financial institutions identify viable businesses that might otherwise remain outside conventional financing channels.

The issue therefore extends beyond banking. It touches on how economic information circulates, how risk is qualified and how opportunities become visible to investors and financial institutions. In economies where access to finance remains a constraint for many businesses, these mechanisms can have consequences for productive capacity and market expansion.

From Business Finance to African Growth

Claude Owona Ekoto’s new mandate covers two major African economic regions. Her responsibilities come at a time when expanding financing for SMEs, entrepreneurs and underserved segments remains a major development challenge.

The IFC has identified financial institutions as an important channel for reaching businesses at scale. Through banks and other financial intermediaries, it can support lending to SMEs and other segments of the economy while combining investment, risk-sharing and advisory instruments. The objective is not simply to place capital in the market, but to strengthen the financial channels through which capital reaches productive activities.

For Central Africa, this question has particular relevance. Companies seeking to expand across borders need access to capital, but they also need the capacity to manage risk, structure their operations and respond to new market opportunities. In the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the connection becomes even more significant: broader market access creates opportunities, but businesses must have the financial and productive capacity to seize them.

The sequence is therefore straightforward: information helps qualify opportunity and risk; finance makes investment possible; investment strengthens productive capacity; and productive capacity allows businesses to compete in larger markets.

A Cameroonian Presence in a Strategic Financial Space

Claude Owona Ekoto’s position also offers a different way of looking at Cameroon’s presence in Africa’s economic networks. Her career has taken her from Cameroon into international banking and development finance, while her current responsibilities place her within a regional platform connecting financial institutions across Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa.

For Power 237, the interest of such a profile lies precisely in this intersection between individual achievement and national capacity. A professional operating at this level carries knowledge of financial markets, institutions, investment mechanisms and business environments across several African economies. These connections form part of the less visible infrastructure through which capital, expertise, information and opportunities circulate.

Her trajectory also illustrates the importance of positions that connect Cameroon to wider African economic networks. National power is not measured only through physical assets or financial volumes. It can also be observed through the presence of nationals in institutions and networks where major economic flows are structured, financed and connected.

Mapping the Capabilities That Can Shape Cameroon’s Future

Claude Owona Ekoto is therefore more than a profile in banking. Her career provides an entry point into a broader question for Cameroon: where are the people, institutions and networks through which the country can participate in Africa’s economic transformation?

This is the purpose of the Power 237 mapping exercise: to identify women, men and projects whose achievements reveal concrete capabilities across the country and beyond its borders. Finance is one of these strategic fields, alongside industry, energy, agriculture, healthcare, technology, infrastructure and the green economy.

The challenge is to connect these capabilities, understand where they are positioned and examine how they can contribute to Cameroon’s projection as an African power between 2035 and 2050. Claude Owona Ekoto’s trajectory offers one such point of reference: a Cameroonian career positioned within the financial mechanisms that help determine how businesses grow, how capital moves and how African economies build their productive capacity.

The Editorial Team 

Identifying talent also means understanding the strategic moment in which that talent comes into play. Yves Roger Melingui, the first Managing Director of the Kribi Port Industrial Zone (KPIZ), stands at a turning point for Cameroon: the point at which Kribi’s port advantage must now be converted into industrial capacity, value creation and greater regional economic influence. It is this interplay between expertise, infrastructure and national ambition that places his career on the talent map followed by Power237.

A responsibility that extends beyond an industrial zone

KPIZ is not simply an extension of the port. Established in February 2026 by the Kribi Port Authority in partnership with Africa Global Logistics, Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms and Belmont Investments, it is expected to develop and operate approximately 4,000 hectares of industrial land directly connected to the port. The announced investment amounts to €795 million. The project notably targets the timber and logistics, steel, petrochemical, agribusiness and construction materials sectors.

Melingui’s appointment therefore takes on a broader significance. His experience in finance, strategy and public-private partnerships comes into play in a project where the challenge is not simply to attract investors, but to create the conditions for them to process locally, make use of Cameroonian infrastructure and integrate into broader value chains. In an interview published in June 2026, the executive identified the combination of the deep-water port and its industrial land, together with the ambition to offer investors an integrated environment, among the zone’s key strengths.

The real challenge: capturing more value

This is where the power dimension comes into focus. A port can facilitate the transit of goods; an industrial-port platform can make it possible to process part of those goods, attract capital, create skilled jobs and develop local suppliers. The difference between these two functions determines, in part, how much value Cameroon retains or allows to leave through global value chains.

Projections announced at the launch of KPIZ point to as many as 150,000 direct and indirect jobs over fifteen years and a potential increase of five to eight percentage points in economic growth. These figures remain projections, but they illustrate the scale of the transformation being pursued. For Power237, the significance of this profile lies precisely in this perspective: Kribi’s real asset is not only its port, but Cameroon’s ability to build a competitive industrial ecosystem around it.

A talent profile within the map of national power

It is this ability to connect infrastructure, investment, industry, competitiveness and regional influence that underpins Power237’s decision to highlight Yves Roger Melingui, an initiative dedicated to identifying, showcasing and connecting Cameroonian talent, led by the African Center for Competitive Intelligence (CAVIE) under the direction of Dr Guy Gweth. The profile is not presented solely because of the position he holds, but because that position provides a window into a critical area of Cameroon’s economic transformation.

Looking towards 2035-2050, the question will be whether the country’s strategic infrastructure can become genuine platforms of power. Kribi is one of the places where this ambition is taking concrete shape: attracting, processing, connecting and exporting more from Cameroon. Melingui’s role lies at the heart of this equation.

The Editorial Staff 

Identifying the skills that can drive lasting territorial development is one of the pillars of the Power 237 approach. In northern Cameroon, Mohamadou Bayero Bounou’s career stands out for its close connection to a sector at the crossroads of production, employment, industry and regional integration. As Managing Director of SODECOTON, the agro-economist has, since 2016, led an industrial institution whose impact extends well beyond the company itself.

A career rooted in northern Cameroon’s development

Trained as an agro-economist, Mohamadou Bayero Bounou has built most of his professional career around rural development and the cotton industry. Before returning to SODECOTON, he also worked with the European Union, after holding several positions within the company. His return to the company’s leadership in 2016 came at a time when SODECOTON was facing major financial and operational challenges. Since then, the company has pursued its recovery and modernization, while maintaining an integrated model that spans farmer support, cotton ginning and the processing of cottonseed into edible oil and livestock feed.

A value chain that extends far beyond cotton

The strategic significance of this responsibility lies in the ecosystem built around SODECOTON. The company supports hundreds of thousands of cotton producers across Cameroon’s northern regions and is involved not only in agricultural production, but also in research and development, livestock support and rural infrastructure. SODECOTON itself reports maintaining around 8,500 kilometres of rural roads every year, illustrating the extent to which its activities intersect with the broader development of the northern territories.

The challenge therefore extends beyond cotton production itself. Improving yields, modernizing equipment, expanding local processing and securing supply chains all determine how much value Cameroon can retain within its own territory. SODECOTON also works on varietal research, crop protection and improved production techniques, placing the company at the intersection of agriculture, industry, research and rural development.

A profile in Cameroon’s power-building landscape

It is this connection between human capital, a strategic value chain and productive sovereignty that places Mohamadou Bayero Bounou within the Power 237 approach. Led by  the African Center for Competitive Intelligence (CAVIE) under the direction of Dr Guy Gweth, the initiative seeks to identify, highlight and connect the skills and achievements that can contribute to Cameroon’s power and influence.

Through this profile, Power 237 highlights a broader issue: Cameroon’s ability to turn its productive territories into platforms for value creation, employment and regional influence. By 2035-2050, the ability to master these levers, together with the quality of the people leading them, will contribute to the country’s capacity to build and project its power.

The Editorial Staff