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 

A tree felled in Cameroon can provide the wood for a guitar manufactured in the United States. Between the two lie the work of sawmill operators, manufacturing decisions, buyers’ requirements and the processes that determine the final product’s price. This is where the industrial challenge of Cameroonian ebony lies. On 8 October 2026, an initiative announced by Taylor Guitars and Crelicam to improve the management of harvesting permits brought sourcing back into focus. For Cameroon, the significance of this initiative also lies in what it reveals: control over a resource does not automatically translate into control over the activities that make it more valuable.

The wood leaves the forest, but where is the value created?

Since 2011, Taylor Guitars and its Spanish partner Madinter have owned Crelicam, a sawmill in Yaoundé. The company processes ebony used, among other applications, in musical instruments, while guitar manufacturing and assembly take place abroad. Cameroon is therefore part of an international industrial value chain, but the activities carried out on its territory do not cover every stage between the forest resource and the finished product sold on the market.

This distribution raises a practical question: which additional activities can Cameroon take control of without losing competitiveness? Precision machining, the manufacture of specialised components and the recovery of value from wood offcuts are avenues worth exploring, depending on costs, available skills and market opportunities. Crelicam’s experience also shows that value depends on the ability to develop new uses for a resource. Taylor Guitars has created markets for ebony with colour variations that some manufacturers previously considered less desirable. Innovation can therefore increase the value extracted from raw materials without increasing logging volumes.

The partnership must go beyond securing the resource

The working group announced in October 2026 is expected to develop a framework for applying for harvesting permits within clearly defined forest management units. This could improve supply predictability and wood traceability. However, no new factory or expansion of processing capacity has been announced. For Cameroon, the next step would be to pursue complementary gains: training technicians, mastering additional processes, developing local suppliers and accessing new markets.

These possibilities are not commitments that have already been secured. They require negotiations based on verifiable objectives and the interests of all parties. Progress could be measured by the skills actually acquired, the increase in operations performed locally and the participation of Cameroonian businesses in the production chain. The challenge is to ensure that the relationship with an international manufacturer helps develop national capabilities beyond its immediate sourcing needs.

Forest sustainability determines long-term industrial prospects

Ebony grows slowly, and its long-term availability depends on the regeneration of forest stands. Since 2016, Taylor Guitars has supported a research and planting programme alongside the Congo Basin Institute and local communities. Figures published for 2025 report that 47,561 ebony trees and 34,421 fruit trees have been planted since the programme began. These results demonstrate a regeneration effort, but they are not sufficient to establish that commercial harvesting is sustainable.

The future permit framework should therefore be assessed in terms of traceability, the condition of forest stocks, compliance with forestry regulations and the renewal of the resource. Defining harvesting zones does not, by itself, guarantee sustainable management. For Cameroon, protecting forest capital and improving industrial productivity must go hand in hand, particularly through the recovery of value from wood offcuts and rigorous monitoring of timber extraction.

From forest resource management to manufacturing power

In Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth, president of the African Center for Competitive Intelligence (CAVIE), places industrial development within an ambition for continental leadership built on the three-part framework of defence, attack and influence. The ebony industry illustrates what is at stake: protecting national interests, gaining ground in higher-value manufacturing activities and strengthening Cameroon’s ability to negotiate its partnerships. This ambition requires forestry policy, training, infrastructure, financing and market intelligence to work together.

The initiative involving Taylor Guitars and Crelicam therefore creates an opportunity, without prejudging its outcome. Securing supply could consolidate an existing activity; industrial progress will depend on the skills developed, the investments made and the markets captured. From the perspective of Power 237 , the challenge is to turn an internationally sought-after forest resource into sustainable manufacturing capabilities that create more value in Cameroon.

The Editorial Staff

Cameroon can expand digital services without necessarily mastering the economic forces that give them value. The first edition of the Digital Finance Fair (SAFINUM), scheduled to take place in Yaoundé from 26 to 28 November 2026, aims to accelerate the transformation of the financial sector through financial inclusion and innovation. Yet behind these ambitions lies a deeper question: how can new financial technologies be converted into productive capacity, competitive businesses and sustainable economic opportunities?

Financial Transformation Must Deliver Real Economic Benefits

Digital payments, financial platforms and new credit services are changing the way businesses operate. However, their value to Cameroon cannot be measured solely by the number of transactions completed electronically. Their real contribution lies in their ability to ease the constraints that hinder production, trade and investment. A business that collects payments more easily does not necessarily become more productive. It must also be able to finance equipment, control costs, access markets and develop its workforce.

This connection between technology and production is critical. Digital financial services should address the needs of agriculture, industry, trade and other economic activities rather than simply transferring existing transactions to electronic platforms. In Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth identifies economic development as one of the foundations of Cameroon’s ambition to become a regional power. From this perspective, digital finance becomes strategically valuable when it expands the productive capacity of the national economy.

Innovation Must Also Build Strong Cameroonian Businesses

SAFINUM’s announced programme includes a hackathon and project presentations designed to connect innovators with investors. These initiatives can help entrepreneurs take an important first step, but a promising idea does not automatically become a viable business. Entrepreneurs must attract customers, secure their products, finance their development and build sustainable business models. Bringing innovation and capital together will only be useful if it leads to actual investment and continued support beyond the event.

The development of locally designed solutions can create new professions, generate skilled jobs and help retain a greater share of economic value within Cameroon. However, businesses need access to the infrastructure, financing and markets required to grow. Economic diversification is not simply about multiplying the number of sectors. It also requires businesses capable of mastering new skills, meeting real needs and offering competitive solutions beyond the domestic market. This is one of the strategic perspectives developed in Power 237.

Human Capital Is Essential to Technological Mastery

Digital finance requires skills that go beyond programming. Service design, data analysis, cybersecurity, risk management, regulatory compliance and marketing are all essential to the viability of financial solutions. Without these capabilities, businesses risk becoming dependent on external service providers or struggling to improve their products. Investment in human capital therefore determines Cameroon’s ability to design, operate and improve the technologies it adopts.

This technological capacity must also foster user confidence. Services that are too expensive, difficult to use or insufficiently secure can discourage adoption, even when the technology itself works properly. Financial inclusion requires accessible solutions that meet users’ needs and provide credible safeguards for security and data protection. SAFINUM could contribute to this process if its discussions give due attention to skills, user needs and the practical conditions required to deploy new solutions.

From Financial Modernisation to Continental Ambition

The ambition of continental leadership outlined in Power 237 rests on an economy capable of diversifying its activities, innovating and supporting competitive businesses. Digital finance can contribute to this trajectory by improving business operations and enabling new economic players to emerge. Its contribution will remain limited, however, if the modernisation of financial services is not accompanied by stronger productive capacity, better infrastructure and the development of national skills.

Access to African markets offers a potential extension of this dynamic. Cameroonian businesses that provide reliable and competitive services could expand into other economies across the continent. Such expansion requires sufficient financial resources, a sound understanding of target markets and the ability to adapt to their regulatory frameworks. Economic expansion does not result from technology adoption alone. It depends on the ability to turn innovation into sustainable, exportable products and services.

Results Must Extend Beyond the Three Days of the Fair

SAFINUM aims to bring together stakeholders from finance, technology and investment. Its contribution to Cameroon’s economy will nevertheless need to be assessed through tangible results, including financing secured by businesses, solutions actually adopted, viable projects, skilled jobs created and measurable productivity gains. The number of participants or prototypes presented may demonstrate interest in the event, but it will not be enough to measure its economic impact.

What happens after the fair will be decisive. Innovations will need to be tested with users, partnerships translated into concrete commitments and businesses supported as they grow. These follow-up efforts could help digital finance strengthen Cameroon’s productive base, develop national skills and support the emergence of businesses capable of competing in African markets. Its strategic value will ultimately depend on its lasting contribution to production, innovation and access to new markets.

The Editorial Staff

  

The 42nd session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) opens in Yaoundé on 13 October 2026 with a central question for Central African economies: how can economic reforms translate into real industrial capacity? A recent ECA assessment highlights the gap between reforms adopted and their actual impact on businesses. For Cameroon, the challenge goes beyond improving the business environment. It is about turning resources, infrastructure and regional positioning into lasting productive advantages. This is one of the strategic directions explored by Dr Guy Gweth in Puissance 237, which places manufacturing at the heart of Cameroon’s economic power.

Reform Alone Does Not Create Production

ECA’s findings illustrate the scale of the challenge: extractive industries account for 75% of exports from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), while manufacturing value added per capita remains below CFAF 150,000 in most countries in the region, compared with more than CFAF 1.6 million in Malaysia. The problem is therefore not simply the availability of resources. It is the ability to transform them locally into manufactured goods, skilled jobs and higher incomes.

Business climate reforms can facilitate access to credit, secure transactions and reduce administrative barriers. However, they do not automatically create factories, develop skills or open markets. In Puissance 237, Dr Guy Gweth calls for a shift beyond counting adopted measures towards assessing the productive capacities they make possible. For Cameroon, the decisive test is whether businesses can invest, manufacture and gain market share.

Infrastructure Must Serve a Productive Strategy

ECA also identifies inadequate productive infrastructure as a major obstacle to competitiveness. Unreliable electricity, high transport costs and weak connections between production centres and industrial zones increase operating expenses. Yet infrastructure investment alone does not guarantee the emergence of a competitive industrial base.

A road, port or industrial zone delivers its full economic value when it supports businesses and strengthens supply chains. An industrial zone with limited productive activity, a port poorly connected to inland production centres or a transport network that fails to reduce logistics costs can restrict the returns on public and private investment. The strategic priority is therefore to align infrastructure development with targeted industries, market opportunities and the actual needs of Cameroonian businesses.

Technological Mastery Must Be Built

Financing and skills represent another major constraint. A company may identify a viable market but lack the capital required to modernise its production facilities. Conversely, purchasing machinery does not guarantee effective use if technical expertise, applied research and maintenance capabilities are insufficient. These constraints reinforce one another, limiting the ability of businesses to move into higher-value activities.

Industrial development consequently requires sustained investment in innovation, financing for innovative enterprises and intellectual property protection. These priorities, highlighted in Puissance 237, can help Cameroonian businesses move beyond the mere use of imported technologies towards developing their own capabilities. The objective is not to manufacture everything domestically, but to gain greater control over strategic processes, skills and industrial segments, thereby reducing dependencies and strengthening competitiveness.

Partnerships Must Strengthen Local Businesses

Cooperation with multinational companies, industrialised economies, financial institutions and research centres can accelerate this progress. Such partnerships facilitate access to capital, technology and markets. Their contribution to Cameroon’s economic strength, however, depends on the capabilities they help develop locally.

Their value should therefore be assessed not only through announced investment volumes or short-term job creation, but also through technology transfer, the training of technicians and engineers, the integration of local suppliers and the participation of domestic companies in value chains. This approach reflects the strategic logic of Puissance 237: partnerships become instruments of economic sovereignty when they durably strengthen national players’ ability to produce, innovate and compete in regional and international markets.

From Reform to Industrial Leadership

At the midpoint of the Decade of Economic Diversification (2021–2030), Cameroon must connect reforms, infrastructure, innovation and partnerships to measurable industrial objectives. Without this coordination, improvements in the business environment may have only a limited impact on local processing, business upgrading and export diversification.

In Puissance 237, Dr Guy Gweth frames this ambition through the triptych of defence, attack and influence: protecting economic decision-making autonomy, capturing markets and strengthening Cameroon’s ability to shape its regional environment. All three dimensions require a productive base capable of supporting business competitiveness and consolidating the country’s position in African value chains. The Yaoundé session therefore brings a fundamental imperative back into focus: industrialisation must be treated not merely as a development objective, but as an instrument of national power and continental leadership.

The Editorial Team 

What happens to a presidential election’s records once the results have been declared? In Cameroon, the question has resurfaced nearly a year after the 12 October 2025 election, following the launch of Vox237 by entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong. The platform aims to bring electoral records together, improve access to official texts and provide a space for citizen participation. Beyond the election itself, it raises a broader strategic question: how can Cameroon make better use of information held across institutions and society to build a clearer understanding of national realities and inform public decisions?

Collective Intelligence as a National Resource

Vox237 combines the collection of electoral records with citizen consultations and access to official texts. These serve different purposes: electoral records provide material that can be examined as evidence, official texts establish the rules governing public life, and citizen contributions offer individual perspectives. The challenge is to make these sources accessible and examine them together without confusing their nature or evidential value.

In Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth examines collective intelligence as a foundation of national power. This approach treats the knowledge held by a country’s institutions and citizens as a national resource. Its value lies not simply in the volume of information collected, but in the ability to connect different contributions and use them to deepen understanding of the country’s realities.

Statistics as a Means of Measuring National Realities

Vox237’s collection of electoral records raises a further question: what can the available information actually establish? The number of records gathered indicates the reach of the collection effort, but does not, by itself, demonstrate that the documents represent the election as a whole. Coverage of polling stations, the origin of the records and the ability to verify them all affect the conclusions that can reasonably be drawn.

This distinction reflects the role of statistics in Power 237. Data can help track change, compare outcomes and measure the gap between stated objectives and actual results. At the national level, this capacity extends beyond elections to demographic trends, economic performance and changes in the resources available to the country. Statistics become strategically useful when they provide a reliable basis for identifying gaps, comparing situations and assessing progress.

From Knowledge to the Capacity to Act

Collective intelligence and statistics address two complementary needs: broadening the understanding of national realities and measuring specific aspects of them. Their interaction matters when decisions shape Cameroon’s long-term trajectory. National ambitions cannot be assessed solely by identifying available resources; they must also be considered in light of existing capabilities, observed trends and measurable outcomes.

In Power 237, these foundations form part of a wider ambition: to equip Cameroon with a strategy for continental leadership by 2050, built around the three dimensions of defence, offensive action and influence. Vox237 focuses on a specific area: citizen participation and electoral documentation. Its work alone cannot establish how comprehensively Cameroon understands all its national resources. It does, however, provide a concrete case for examining a broader strategic question: how can information held by different actors be brought together to develop a more complete picture of the country?

National knowledge is not an end in itself. It helps Cameroon assess its room for manoeuvre, inform strategic choices and determine whether those choices are producing the intended results.

The Editorial Staff

Cameroon and the Central African Republic have launched a $3 million initiative to make cross-border trade easier. Yet smoother trade routes do not automatically translate into stronger economies. The real challenge is to turn access to regional markets into productive capacity, business growth and greater influence. For Cameroon, the question is not simply how to move more goods, but how to secure a stronger position in the regional economy.

A Trade Corridor Is an Asset. Economic Power Is What a Country Makes of It.

On 6 October 2026, Cameroon and the Central African Republic launched the Project to Support the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for Cross-Border Trade, known as PAMOZ. Funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and implemented with technical support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the initiative has a budget of approximately $3 million over 24 months. It aims to facilitate trade, strengthen regional value chains and expand economic opportunities for border communities. The project focuses on key routes linking Douala with Bangui and Kousséri.

Cameroon has a valuable geographical advantage: its ports, transport networks and commercial links give it an important role in supplying landlocked countries in Central Africa. But a country can serve as a major transit hub without capturing enough of the economic value generated by that traffic. Transport, processing, storage, distribution and finance all create business opportunities, and those opportunities do not automatically go to Cameroonian companies. The strategic challenge is to turn the country’s location into stronger domestic businesses, more productive industries and a greater ability to shape regional markets. This is the broader ambition behind Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth’s strategic roadmap for Cameroon’s pursuit of continental leadership by 2050.

Who Will Capture the Value Created by Regional Trade?

Opening trade routes creates opportunities, but it also exposes local businesses to competition. As goods move more easily across borders, foreign suppliers may gain access to customers just as readily as Cameroonian producers do. The key question is therefore not only whether trade increases, but which businesses win new customers, which products gain ground and where the value generated by these exchanges ultimately remains.

Cameroon needs to identify the products its neighbours want to buy and determine where its own businesses can compete successfully. Which local producers can supply these markets at the right price and quality? Which goods could be processed locally before export? What prevents small and medium-sized enterprises from reaching buyers across the border? Answers to these questions should help direct investment, business support and training towards real commercial opportunities. The objective is to build companies that can compete beyond Cameroon, rather than assume that improved trade conditions will benefit the domestic economy on their own. This is how access to a regional market can become a source of lasting economic strength.

Winning Markets Requires More Than Easier Border Crossings

A company cannot win a market simply because the road to its customers has improved. It needs to understand demand, know its competitors, meet quality standards, manage costs and deliver reliably. It must also have enough production capacity, working capital and distribution support to serve customers over time. Without these capabilities, a new trade opportunity may remain out of reach, even when border procedures become simpler.

Cameroon therefore needs to move from market access to market conquest. Public authorities can help identify promising sectors and remove obstacles that prevent domestic firms from expanding. Businesses, in turn, must choose the markets they want to enter, prepare competitive products and build lasting relationships with buyers. Producers, processors, transport companies and distributors should be connected so that more of the value chain can develop within the country. This is the offensive dimension of Power 237 in practical terms: economic ambition must lead to concrete positions to win, capabilities to build and results to achieve. The goal is not simply to participate in regional trade, but to strengthen Cameroon’s ability to compete and expand.

Regional Cooperation Must Strengthen Cameroon’s Position

Trade depends not only on roads and transport services, but also on the rules and institutions that govern the movement of goods and people. Delays, unpredictable procedures and weak coordination between border authorities can raise costs and undermine business confidence. Cameroon therefore has a direct interest in making its trade corridors more reliable, anticipating disruptions and ensuring that regional arrangements work for the businesses that depend on them.

PAMOZ provides a framework for cooperation with the Central African Republic and international partners. Its long-term value will depend on whether this cooperation improves conditions for traders and supports stronger economic links between the two countries. For Cameroon, the opportunity is also strategic: to defend the interests of its businesses, help shape the arrangements governing regional trade and build partnerships that deliver lasting economic benefits. This is where influence becomes practical. It is not measured simply by the number of agreements signed, but by a country’s ability to shape its environment and use its relationships to advance clear national priorities.

From a Trade Project to a National Strategy

PAMOZ has a budget of approximately $3 million and a two-year implementation period. Its results should be measured not only by the activities completed or procedures improved, but also by their economic effects. Are border-crossing times falling? Are transport costs becoming more manageable? Are Cameroonian companies reaching new customers? Are local producers expanding their output, and are stronger links developing between businesses on both sides of the border? These are the kinds of questions that can show whether better trade flows are translating into stronger economic performance.

The larger challenge is to connect this initiative with Cameroon’s long-term development priorities. Better transport links will have limited impact if businesses cannot obtain financing, local industries lack the capacity to process goods or workers do not have the skills required by expanding sectors. Infrastructure, industrial development, human capital, innovation and private enterprise must reinforce one another. This is the strategic logic at the heart of Power 237: a country cannot build lasting power through isolated projects alone. It needs a clear national direction, coordinated resources and the ability to turn its ambitions into measurable results.

PAMOZ will not, by itself, change the balance of power in Central Africa. But it raises a question that Cameroon cannot afford to ignore: will the country remain primarily a gateway through which regional trade passes, or will it use that position to build stronger businesses, expand productive capacity and gain greater influence over the markets around it? Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth’s strategic roadmap for Cameroon’s pursuit of continental leadership by 2050, explores this wider challenge through the triptych of Defence, Attack and Influence. For public decision-makers, business leaders and development stakeholders, its central value lies in connecting today’s economic choices with the capabilities Cameroon needs to build for tomorrow. The task is not merely to take part in regional integration, but to turn it into a lasting source of national strength. 

The Editorial Staff 

A port, a railway network or a logistics platform derives its economic value from more than the investment behind it. Its performance depends on the ability to maintain equipment, coordinate operations, ensure system reliability and keep information moving between the different stakeholders involved. Isabelle Patchong Woundi’s career, spanning industrial maintenance, port operations, railways and logistics, offers a field-level perspective on this reality: behind the infrastructure that moves goods are professionals whose expertise determines how reliably these systems operate, how efficiently they perform and how well their different components work together.

Infrastructure Performance Is About More Than Equipment

Isabelle Patchong Woundi’s research on container terminals in the Gulf of Guinea provides a first insight into this relationship. Her study links the commercial attractiveness of container terminals to three factors: equipment optimisation, human resource development and improved working methods. Its findings confirmed all three research hypotheses.

The conclusion may appear technical, but its implications are economic. A better-equipped terminal is not necessarily a more competitive one. Equipment availability, the quality of maintenance interventions, team organisation, truck turnaround times and operational discipline all affect the time gained or lost along the logistics chain. Infrastructure competitiveness is therefore shaped at the point where physical capital meets human capital and operational organisation.

Douala Had Already Raised the Question of System Connectivity

In 2019, Isabelle Patchong Woundi also examined the challenges of IT interconnection at the Port of Douala. Her research highlighted the dependence of import and export operations on systems that can communicate with one another, remain compatible and be accessible to the various stakeholders involved. She also considered the possibility of a single platform designed jointly by the different actors to simplify the movement of goods into and out of the port.

That question now extends well beyond the port itself. African trade chains depend on a succession of interfaces: ports, customs, inland transport, warehouses, payments, documentation, controls and final markets. Every break between these systems introduces additional cost, delay or risk. System interconnection therefore ceases to be merely an IT issue. It becomes a competitiveness issue.

Africa Is Beginning to Measure Its Ports Differently

Africa’s port sector is also moving towards a more data-driven understanding of performance. In March 2026, the African Development Bank brought together 104 port statisticians and maritime stakeholders representing 38 port authorities to harmonise performance indicators and advance the African Port Index. The initiative is designed to improve data comparability, strengthen data-driven decision-making and support better-performing, more investment-ready ports across the continent.

The implications are significant. Once port performance can be assessed against common benchmarks, differences become measurable: processing times, operational efficiency, service quality, connectivity and the ability to support economic corridors. Data is no longer used simply to report activity. It helps position an infrastructure within regional competition. What is measured can be compared; what is compared can inform decisions; and what informs decisions can be improved.

From the Machine to the System

Isabelle Patchong Woundi’s career takes on its full significance in this context. After training in industrial maintenance and beginning her professional journey as an apprentice mechanic at SDV Cameroon in 2004, she progressed through technical and managerial responsibilities within the logistics sector. She became Technical Director of Douala International Terminal in 2014, later worked at CAMRAIL, and now serves as Technical Director of Africa Global Logistics in Senegal. Her own account of her career describes the progression from apprentice mechanic in Cameroon to technical leadership in Senegal over 22 years.

The coherence of this trajectory lies less in the succession of job titles than in the gradual expansion of the field she has learned to master. Maintenance requires an understanding of machinery, its constraints and its failures. Technical management brings in asset availability, people management, safety and performance. Railways introduce the logic of networks. Logistics expands the equation further to flows, interfaces and continuity across an entire chain. As the scope widens, engineering itself changes: it is no longer only about keeping equipment operational, but about understanding the relationships that allow an entire system to function.

When Expertise Becomes Infrastructure

This is where human capital acquires a strategic dimension. Technical expertise gains value when it is tested against different equipment, demanding operational environments and increasingly complex responsibilities. When it moves across companies, sectors and African markets, it carries with it methods, professional experience, networks and an understanding of systems that can subsequently be applied elsewhere.

This accumulation is central to the perspective developed by Power 237. It makes it possible to view human capital as part of a country’s strategic infrastructure: less visible than a port or railway, yet essential to their operation and evolution. Isabelle Patchong Woundi’s career offers a concrete illustration. Dr Guy GWETH places the knowledge and mobilisation of a country’s resources at the heart of a broader reflection on Cameroon’s national power. Her trajectory shows, at its own scale, what such a resource can become when expertise developed in Cameroon is strengthened through experience across several systems and African markets.

The question therefore extends beyond an individual career: what advantage does a country gain from its engineers when they do more than occupy positions and learn to master the infrastructure, networks and flows on which its competitiveness depends? In an Africa increasingly expected to trade more intensively with itself, part of the answer lies in the ability to develop professionals capable of operating, connecting and continuously improving the systems that make this circulation possible.

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

Human capital is a resource whose value is shaped not only by the skills people acquire, but also by the experiences, environments and responsibilities through which those skills develop. Michaely Kyria Bihina’s journey, from her early career in Cameroon to Benfica and her contribution to the Indomitable Lionesses’ 2026 Africa Cup of Nations triumph, offers a concrete example of how this process unfolds.

When a Skill Moves to a New Level

The significance of Bihina’s journey lies less in the clubs she has played for than in what her progression reveals. After starting her career with Éclair de Sa’a in Cameroon, the goalkeeper moved to Portugal in 2022 to join Racing Power. She helped the club win the league and secure promotion to the top flight. The following season, she was named the best goalkeeper in the Liga BPI. In February 2026, Benfica signed her on a contract running until 2029.

Her progression highlights an important dynamic: skills gain value when they are tested in different environments, exposed to higher standards and given opportunities to be recognised and repositioned. Moving from one setting to another does not replace the foundations built through initial training. It adds new performance benchmarks, professional experience and networks that make a capability easier to assess. For a country, this matters as much as the size of its initial talent pool.

When Recognition Turns a Skill into an Asset

Bihina’s Liga BPI award and subsequent move to Benfica represent two distinct forms of recognition. The first established her individual performance at a high level of competition; the second turned that recognition into a professional opportunity at one of Europe’s leading clubs. Her ability became increasingly visible, comparable and sought after.

The 2026 Africa Cup of Nations provided another form of recognition. Against Nigeria in the quarter-finals, Bihina made nine saves in a 1–0 victory. In the semi-final against Morocco, she saved three penalties in the shootout. Cameroon went on to win the tournament against Malawi, while Bihina received the Golden Glove awarded to the competition’s best goalkeeper.

The strategic significance extends beyond the sporting results. When a capability is recognised across different environments, a country gains a clearer picture of what that capability can deliver, where it is being exercised and which professional networks it has entered. Human capital therefore becomes more visible and easier to identify, connect and mobilise.

Knowing Skills Means Knowing Capabilities

This is an often overlooked dimension of human capital. A country may have a substantial pool of talent without knowing precisely where its capabilities are located, how they are specialised, what responsibilities they hold or which ecosystems they have entered. Yet that knowledge can determine whether the right capabilities can be mobilised when they matter.

Bihina’s career illustrates this at a very concrete level. A goalkeeper who began her career in Cameroon went on to build a professional career in Portugal, join Benfica and return to international competition with the Cameroonian national team. Her trajectory connects several worlds that are rarely considered together: national training, the international professional market, European sporting networks and national representation.

Power 237 and the Strategic Value of Human Capital

Bihina’s journey offers a practical illustration of an idea developed in Power 237, Dr Guy Gweth’s strategic blueprint for Cameroon’s regional power. The book draws on consultation, analysis and strategic foresight to examine how Cameroon can develop and combine its different sources of power. Its framework includes hard power, soft power and smart power.

Within this framework, human capital is more than a development resource. It is part of a country’s capacity to create value, build influence and project power. Bihina’s career illustrates this at an individual level: a Cameroonian capability gains recognition abroad, enters high-level professional networks and later contributes to a national achievement that raises Cameroon’s visibility. The strategic challenge is therefore to know where such capabilities are, understand the networks they have built and create ways to connect them with national priorities.

From Individual Recognition to Collective Power

Sport makes this dynamic particularly visible because performance is so readily observed. A player competing for a major European club operates within a wider network of competitions, institutions, partners, media and professionals. That network can extend the reach and visibility of the country she represents. When she later becomes a key contributor to a national team that wins a continental title, several layers of recognition come together.

This reflects a central idea of Power 237: regional power does not come from a single resource. It depends on the ability to combine different capabilities and turn them into greater national influence. Michaely Kyria Bihina’s career shows what this can mean in practice for human capital: developing talent at home, following its progression abroad, understanding the positions it occupies internationally and creating opportunities for that expertise to contribute to national influence.

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