Development Financing,French Bank Presents New Initiative To Gov’t

Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of Finance, has received in audience officials of the French bank, Societé Generale in his cabinet. Alexandre Maymat, Director of Global Transaction and Payment Services of the bank led the delegation to the meeting on July 17. They presented to the Minister and top officials of the Ministry of Finance the company’s new initiative for development financing dubbed “Grow with Africa”
Maymat who served as Director General of the bank in Cameroon from 2009 to 2012 told reporters shortly after the meeting that they talked about the implementation of the continent-focus initiative in Cameroon. The initiative that was launched in 2018, he said, targets the development of four sectors, the first of which is that of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). “In Cameroon, SMEs are suffering from difficulty to access financing. So we want to dramatically increase our capacity to finance their development and to assist them in having a better relationship with banking institutions,” he said; disclosing that the bank will inaugurate a “House of SMEs” in Douala on July 18. Through the institution, the bank will accompany and train SMEs managers and help them better manage their treasury, better prepare their business plans and have better access to banking financing, Maymat said.
The second sector of the “Grow with Africa” initiative is infrastructure development. The third is the development of renewable energy and agriculture; particularly solar energy. “We want to help ENEO build small solar energy production plants in remote areas. In agriculture, we want to help producers improve value chains through processing,” said he.
The fourth area is financial inclusion with the acceleration of the company’s mobile wallet project known as Yup. The bank also plans to reinforce and expand its capacity to provide micro credits.

The official who is on a three-day working visit to Cameroon was knighted by Minister Motaze on behalf of the Head of State. He was made Knight of the Cameroon National Order of Valour, a title which he described as a sign of humility and recognition of his service and the works of the bank and its collaborators in Cameroon.