The ceremony took place at the Headquarters of the Startup Nkap in Yaounde on Tuesday, the 9 of February 2021. Chaired by the Minister in person, this ceremony saw the presence of other members of the diplomatic corps, start uppers and curious minds, interested in the financing of startups in the country.
In his inaugural address, the Minister did not fail to commend the initiative of the Startup Nkap as an accelerator of alternative modes of financing. He also acknowledged the presence of the Head of the Regional Representation of the European Investment Bank for Central Africa, H.E Nikolaos Milianitis. To the Minister, his presence at the inaugural ceremony was indicative of continued fruitful partnerships with the Cameroonian government; mediator in building a relationship of trust between financial institutions and SME promoters in the national entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Startup Nkap according to its CEO Mr. Gilbert EWEHMEH, focuses on innovative financing because they as a team, “discovered that a lot of SMEs; Startups face challenges in raising funds, in getting loans from banks because commercial banks would always ask for a guarantee; collateral security”. As such, coming up with an alternative financing with focus on crowd funding, business Angel and venture capital, he believes young people will be given more accessibility to raising money, scaling their businesses, employing and taking their businesses to the next level.
As for the Head of the Regional Representation of the European Investment Bank for Central Africa, H.E Nikolaos Milianitis, the Bank is at a period of programming in Cameroon and Africa; a phase of visualisation of the overall economic activities on youths, women and innovation. “This shall be followed by the putting in place of support instruments in the line of which, initiatives such as the Startup Nkap are quite commendable”.
It is with hope and firm conviction on the continued support by the Government of Cameroon that the Minister of SMESEH, H.E Achille BASSILEKIN III once again congratulated the CEO of Startup Nkap for painstakingly ensuring that the structure emerges in the country. He added: “Startup Nkap is here, investing in a new corner where we believe that there is need to develop new financial mechanisms and through equity, crowd funding, business Angels and other skills developed therein, we believe that Startup Nkap is going to provide opportunities to Cameroonian young start uppers”.
The ceremony was crowned by the cutting of the inaugural ribbon, followed by the unveiling of the commemorative board of the Headquarters and a group picture for immortalization.