The Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation has just received a grant of 505,000 dollars, or 320.5 million CFA francs, to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Cameroon.
This three-year project will enable the Cameroonian foundation to help 600 local SMEs develop their entrepreneurial skills. It is also planned to provide administrative and financial support to these SMEs. And to help them prepare for growth. “The project focuses on vulnerable populations and in particular on internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the ongoing armed conflict in the North-West and South-West regions,” says the foundation.
“This important project will allow our teams to better investigate the obstacles to individual development, the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as contribute to improving the professional skills of women and youth,” said Denis Foretia, one of the co-presidents of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation.
As he explains, the empowerment of women and youth is also one of the main concerns of this project. Just as the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation hopes to build a more robust and diverse local middle class, so too does the project.
The project will be led by the Foundation’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Centre . The centre was founded to support SMEs across the country and promote policies that stimulate innovation and job creation.
When they decided to create the foundation that bears their name, Denis and Lenora Foretia had a desire to catalyse economic transformation by focusing on social entrepreneurship, science and technology, innovation and public health, as they themselves explain.
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