Entrepreneurship is the sector that creates the most jobs in Africa. However, many project initiators still fail to make their businesses more sustainable due to several factors. The Cameroonian government is trying to correct that. 

Cameroon’s SME promotion agency APME presented, Monday (June 20) two digital applications to support project initiators. The first app, Notapme, is a rating system assessing SMEs’ financial strength. As for the second, MyOBus, it is an online business plan builder. 

According to Jean Marie Louis Badga, director-general of the APME, the two apps will help the agency and its decentralized units in many ways. For instance, they will help  “improve the bankability of the projects initiated by the SMEs supported by the agency by providing them with training materials on business plan development and by emitting an opinion on their credit risk based on a set of measurable and factual elements.”

The two apps allow project initiators to simulate in real-time business creation or development models and have remote assistance. They will also allow users (SMEs notably) to always assess their credibility, and improve the indicators usually taken into account by financial institutions during the credit awarding process.

Notapme and MyOBus were developed in the framework of the APME’s strategic positioning to reinforce its support mechanism. They also broaden the range of non-financial services offered by the public agency. 

For Jean Marie Louis Badga, the two apps will let banks and investment firms have more information on loan requesters’ credibility and financial health. The apps will also help those financial institutions improve their risk management while diversifying their offers. 

At the same time, Notapme and MyOBus will improve development partners' and backers’ intervention strategies by reinforcing their operational capabilities and increasing the orders they place with local SMEs, therefore increasing the latter’s capacity to go international. 

"The two digital platforms are now part of our entrepreneurial ecosystem and open better opportunities for Cameroonian SMEs," said Achille Bassilekin III (photo, center), Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Social Economy, and Handicrafts.

Ruben Tchounyabe