Douala hosted the eleventh edition of the Caravan of Approved Management Centres (CGA) on 1 and 2 September, organised by Cameroon's Ministry of SMEs. Two days built around the theme 'Optimising the support system for entrepreneurs within CGAs: challenges, strategies and outlook'.
A CGA, in practice, is a private body created by the 1997 finance law to support businesses with an annual turnover below 100 million FCFA. Its job: guiding them through accounting, tax and administrative obligations — the kind of paperwork that, without support, pushes many very small businesses to stay informal rather than face it alone.
The stated goal for this edition was to reach at least 5,000 players from the entrepreneurial and tax ecosystem, with particular attention to young people and women business owners — two groups identified as under-represented in Cameroon's formal economy.
Douala is only one stop. The tenth edition was held in Bertoua, in the East region, in July 2025: the caravan tours region by region, aiming to bring tax support closer to local economic hubs rather than concentrating it in the economic capital alone.
The underlying stakes go beyond paperwork. Formalising a small business opens access to conventional bank credit, public contracts and a broader tax base for the state — a recurring theme in Cameroon's SME support policies, routinely presented as the country's main source of job creation.
The ministry announced no new measure at the close of the two days in Douala, beyond continuing the tour. What remains to be seen, once the marquee comes down, is how many of those 5,000 contacts turn into actual CGA membership — the missing figure to judge the operation on results rather than stated ambition.
