Economic sector with strong growth and job creation, Cameroon has decided to place digital at the heart of its 2020-2030 development agenda. In this dynamic, the government is working to establish a framework conducive to the development of digital businesses.

During the annual conference of heads of central and decentralized services, held January 18 in Yaounde, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (Minpostel), Minette Libom Li Likeng (photo), said that her ministerial department is currently developing a strategy on digital services produced in Cameroon and likely to be exported.

"The development of a local digital industry, whose objective is to develop at the national level, digital goods and services produced locally and likely to be exported, is part of the implementation of this strategy," said the member of government.

She added that the government's strategy aims to offer innovative start-ups the opportunity to launch and develop their ideas, so as to contribute to Cameroon's digital transition and thus encourage economic growth and job creation. Because, whether it is a matter of necessity or opportunity, young people with projects in the digital field need support to succeed.

According to Minister Libom Li Likeng, in order to encourage creativity and support innovative initiatives for the digital transformation of public services and the economy, public policies and programs must create favorable conditions for the establishment and sustainability of digital businesses.

This will be achieved through the development of the offer of services in the digital economy, around the following axes: increasing the production and supply of digital content; the development of a local digital industry; and the promotion of research and innovation.

This speech of Minpostel is in line with Cameroon's National Development Strategy (SND) for the period 2020-2030, which intends to rely on nine sub-sectors, including digital, in order to increase the share of the secondary sector in the GDP from 28.2% in 2018 to 36.8%.

In this vein, the government has opted for the creation of a Digital Center to detect, incubate and develop projects in the digital field, in order to create a local industry for the development of "made in Cameroon" applications. For the time being, the country still has some famous start-ups: Agrix Tech (an application to detect and offer treatment for plant diseases), Smartscope (a digital solution adapted to the fight against malaria), and Intelligent Transport.

Source: agencecofin