The Commonwealth Focal Point person in the Ministry of Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Handicrafts and Social Economy, Sylvanus Noh Fah, has asserted that the creation of more small and medium size enterprises will reduce poverty and scale down illegal emigration among youth in Cameroon.

He made the statement while chairing the opening ceremony of a workshop on Poverty Alleviation and Entrepreneurship in Yaounde recently.

An international non-governmental organisation, the Citizen Outreach Coalition, in collaboration with Local Youth Corner Cameroon, organised the workshop that brought together young Cameroonian entrepreneurs and others, who were bidding to create enterprises.

It was in this perspective that the Government official told the youth that if they create enterprises and manage them well, they will create jobs, fight poverty and reduce illegal emigration popularly known as “bush falling”. He condemned bushing falling, saying youth would not need to go to Europe if they can create their own enterprises and manage them well. The official said it was no longer difficult to start a business in Cameroon.

To him, the centres for enterprise creation, one-stop shops, are where people who want to create enterprises should go to. He said after depositing a sum of FCFA 40,000 at the centre, one needs only 72 hours to create an enterprise. He noted that there are six such centres in the country and that more centres will soon be created in all the 10 Regions.

He advised the youths to make use of the enterprise creation centres, the accredited management centres that will help to keep their management accounts properly. The official equally harped on the role of the small and medium size enterprise promotion agencies, which he said, work in tandem with the SME Bank.

“Be formal and stay formal,” he said, while advising the youth against creating illegal businesses in order to avoid paying taxes.

He lauded the organisers of the seminar, saying they were empowering the youth to contribute their own quota to the country’s emergence.

Speaking at the occasion, the CEO of the Citizen Outreach Coalition, Francis Ngwa Niba, said it was incumbent on the youth to acquire skills, create their own enterprises in order to get out of poverty. He narrated stories of how African immigrants are suffering in Europe and discouraged the youth from “bush falling”.

“To be honest, not everyone who travels abroad suffers like the cases cited, but this is the fate of many economic migrants”. He said those who travel abroad illegally have no right to suffer as a result.

According to Neba, various studies indicate that many of those who get trapped abroad are young people who would have gladly stayed home if they had the necessary timing to set up a viable business.

“This is why we mostly targeted young business people and those with bright business ideas to attend these workshops in Yaounde”.

He said most businesses fail because those concerned do not carry out the basics for establishing a successful business from market research to drawing up a viable business plan, to managing cash flows.

This is the problem, he said, that the workshop was tailored to solve. He said participants were being drilled on the fundamentals of setting up and managing a business successfully. While lauding the Ministry of Small and Medium Size Enterprises for patronising the workshop, he said the project will take them to many other countries in Africa.

Taking the floor, the Director of Education Services International, ESERVI, Andrew Nyenty, praised Ngwa Neba for coming back home from the UK to empower the youth. He appreciated the youth at the workshop for fighting to make their ends meet at home instead of travelling abroad at all cost. He said the youth will need to acquire more skills to be their own employers because Africa is a promised land that has everything, including natural and human resources.

Participants were equally drilled in: Managing cash flows, practical lessons on drawing up a business plan and running a good business-feedback, among other topics.