The 3rd edition of the National Congress on Business Incubation in Cameroon (CONIEC) was held from 18 to 19 February 2025 in Yaoundé, the country’s capital. Under the theme ‘Structuring business incubation activity in Cameroon, a lever for accelerating the import-substitution policy’, it aims to support business incubation through the development of a system to support start-up entrepreneurs, and reduce the import rate throughout the process of maturing and realising their projects.
In Cameroon, with a view to speeding up the import-substitution policy, the government is continuing to implement initiatives aimed at public and private incubators. It was in this context that the 3rd National Congress on Business Incubation in Cameroon (CONIEC) was held in Yaoundé from 18 to 19 February 2025. The aim of this platform is to raise awareness among informal incubation structures of the importance of formalising them in order to contribute effectively to the implementation of the import-substitution policy; and to build the capacity of incubation structure promoters in terms of the appropriate strategies for structuring their activities to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the promoters of the incubation structures that we have brought together here for this 3rd edition, to tell them that they are part and parcel of the government’s ambition to professionalise the entrepreneurial profession, but also to organise the national import-substitution policy.
ACHILLE BASSILEKIN , Minister of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts – Cameroon
The theme of this 3rd edition of the CONIEC is ‘Structuring business incubation activity in Cameroon, a lever for accelerating the import-substitution policy’. According to the government, the aim is for incubation structures to take ownership of the challenges of the import-substitution policy and implement it, in order to reduce the cost of products on the market by consuming made in Cameroon products. These incubators could thus play a decisive role in the structural transformation of the Cameroonian economy, by promoting innovation, competitiveness and the sustainability of local SMEs and start-ups.
Today we have, through the Ministry, a whole process, a whole approach to creating and managing incubation centres so that they are useful for our country, for our young people.
LOUISE NDJIE, Director general, Obala Agricultural Institute – Cameroon
Since 2012, the Cameroonian ministry responsible for small and medium-sized enterprises has put in place a national programme that has encouraged the creation of business incubators in several state universities and grandes écoles, as well as a pilot national business incubator.13 years on, this initiative continues to support these various mechanisms, providing answers to a number of concerns about business incubation in Cameroon.
