Women constitute over 50 per cent of Cameroon’s population, but are yet to make their presence felt in economic decision-making.

To bridge the gap and shift the disturbing 9 of every 10 women entrepreneurs from the informal sector to the formal sector, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in collaboration with GICAM, have come up with a project to impact 300 women with business management and enterprise-creation skills.

Speaking in Douala during the launch recently, the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof. Marie Therese Abena Ondoua, acclaimed the initiative that will not only render women financially autonomous, but contribute to the growth of Cameroon’s economy as well.

She disclosed that women sometimes cannot draw a line between what they put into their businesses and the benefit, reason why they have to learn basic business techniques.

She enjoined those who already benefited from the project to share their knowhow with newcomers in order to encourage them in their quest for better management.

The two-year programme will cost 180 million FCFA upon completion. It will train 200 women in business management skills and 100 others in enterprise-creation skills. According to Vera Perdigao Paguete, Head of Labour Office in Cameroon, the emergence of the country cannot be complete without women.

The project will encourage women to be self-reliant in order to better contribute to emergence, she said.

After the training, she said, access to loans and other forms of discriminations and barriers that prevent women from arising and shinning in the business world would be broken.