IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings Praise Resilience, But Africa Must Address Recurring Issues
October 30, 2026
Introduction
Business performance and viability remains a vital issue in Cameroon, especially due to high rates of youth unemployment. This is for the simple reason that the legal framework encourages proliferation of informal sector businesses, which account for about 90% of the Cameroonian economy. For those working in the informal sector, the primary goal is generally to provide for their families. These individuals are peculiar because of their lack of basic business management skills, vision, planning and organization. Over the decades, the creation of new enterprises has become an effective means of combating unemployment and reducing poverty in developing countries. It is therefore in this logic that entrepreneurship appears to be the key to the economic inclusion of youths via the fight against unemployment and poverty.
In this brief, we are going to show the overview of business creation policies in Cameroon (1), the initiatives to reduce the high rate of unemployment (2), challenges (3), and the contribution of youths to the economy of Cameroon.
1- Overview of Business Creation Policies in Cameroon
Cameroon is a decidedly young country. More than 60% of its population is under the age of 25. This demographic potential can drive economic development. Indeed, this demographic trend can translate into strong interest among young people in entrepreneurship, as it can offer a solution to unemployment and the lack of formal jobs. In fact, according to Afrobarometer (2024), about 6 out of 10 young people (60%) express an interest in entrepreneurship as a means of economic integration.
According to MINPMEESA and the National Institute of Statistics (INS), 69.7% of SME leaders are under 40 years old. In 2024, 68% of the entrepreneurial sector was represented by young people aged 20 to 40. All of this shows that young people are actively involved in the creation and management of formal businesses. During the same year, the Business Creation Formalities Centers (CFCE) registered more than 21,000 new SMEs. However, several obstacles remain to be overcome, notably access to financing, administrative constraints, etc. Let’s now look at what the government has already done to help entrepreneurs.
2. What is the Government doing to Promote Youth Entrepreneurship and reduce Youth Unemployment?
The government has established the Youth Entrepreneurs Guarantee Fund (Fogajeune). This program helps young people access financing and supports them in their efforts to start a business. The program consists of two components: a direct financing component for first-time young entrepreneurs and a “guarantee” component for young people who are already in business.
In 2025, the government signed an agreement between the Ministry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Entrepreneurship, and the Economy (MinpmEESA), the Ministry of Higher Education (Minesup), and the University of Douala to integrate entrepreneurship modules directly into university curricula and connect students with the National Pilot Entrepreneurship Park (PNPE) in Édéa. The PNPE offers mentoring, access to research facilities, and business incubators to help young graduates start their own businesses. In 2025, 450 million CFA francs were distributed to several young entrepreneurs dedicated to student innovation.
Cameroon has partnered with the World Bank to implement the Adaptive Safety Nets and Economic Inclusion Project (Banque mondiale, 2025). The project’s flagship interventions, including the Business Plan Competition (BPC) and the Economic Inclusion of Youth (EIY) program, are designed to strengthen youth employability and support the development of youth-led enterprises in urban areas.
The government has established the National Youth Forum and the Cameroon National Youth Council. These are two platforms that enable young people to contribute to policy-making and to define their priorities regarding employment and entrepreneurship. The 2026 budget has allocated more than 50 billion CFA francs to fund programs promoting employment and entrepreneurship among young people and women. In 2025, the government also introduced favourable fiscal policies, providing a three-year tax break to newly founded SMEs. The National Employment Fund offers training and job placement programs, such as the Graduate Employment Program (PED), the Special Urban Employment Program (USEP), and the Rural Employment Development Support Program (PADER). It also assists young entrepreneurs and supports them in starting micro-enterprises, particularly through counseling, business plan development, and training. Furthermore, it helps vulnerable youths and recent graduates with their social and professional integration.
As noted above, the integration of entrepreneurship courses and collaboration between universities and incubators help prepare young people to become job creators rather than mere job seekers. This directly helps reduce structural unemployment among recent graduates.
3- Challenges face by Young Entrepreneurs
Education and training, a major gap
Education and training are major challenge for Cameroon due to the difficulties of administrative procedures resulting from the legal framework. Many Cameroonian youths are being trained, but few are engaged in startup activities (Mbarga et al, 2025). Furthermore, some organizations are putting more efforts towards the training of young entrepreneurs, such as the Cameroon Economic Policy Institute (CEPI), the International Labour Organization (ILO) via Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB), and the Cameroonian government that has introduced a student entrepreneur programw to promote entrepreneurship in its public and higher education institutions. But this is still insufficient to save Cameroonian youths from the huge unemployment rate.
Problem of accessing to finance
For any startup activities, there is a need for funds to improve the business . However, many Cameroonian youths face problems accessing finance to start a small business. Specifically, youths have challenges accessing credit and with the cost of financing. One reason for this is the lack of formalization of SMEs, which many times is a pre-requsite to access funding. . More to that, informal SMEs do not protect financial institutions, making it difficult to comply with financial sector regulatory requirements. Equally, many youths are neglected in regards to access to finance; this is at time due to lack of information and/or difficulties in the completion of some documents.
For any product toreach its final consumer, it passes through many stages in this market system. Even though there is free entry and exit into the market in Cameroon, competition and taxes remain a difficult task for the youths. Therefore, some young entrepreneurs are afraid of taxes levied on some of their goods, which they estimate to be half of their benefits.
4- How do Youths contribute to the Economy of Cameroon?
Nearly 37% of Cameroon’s population is between the ages of 15 and 35 (UNFPA, 2025). This young population represents immense economic potential and is present in all sectors of the economy: agriculture, trade, transportation, crafts, services, industry, and digital technologies (World Bank, 2025).
The economic contribution of young people is not limited to formal jobs. In a country where nearly 90% of jobs are concentrated in the informal sector, young people carry out a large portion of daily economic activities (World Bank, 2012). This sector plays a vital role in generating income and reducing poverty.
The lack of salaried jobs is driving many young people to start their own businesses. They are investing in agribusiness, e-commerce, fintech, digital services, and the local processing of agricultural products. This trend not only fosters job creation but also drives innovation and diversification in Cameroon’s economy.
In addition, startups founded by young Cameroonians are developing solutions in the fields of mobile payments, online education, digital health, and smart agriculture. However, the major challenges remain underemployment, low productivity, and the prevalence of informal jobs. Many young people are employed, but in low-paying jobs that do not allow them to fully utilize their skills.
Recommendations
- Decentralizing youth projects; this is one of the most important points that is neglected in many African countries. Many projects do not reach the peripheries; youths in such areas are less informed about those projects. Equally, decentralization of youth projects in Cameroon should be done via initiatives where youths are encouraged to participate in local governance for development.
- Creation of entrepreneurship centers; the Cameroonian government is supporting some youths who are more engaged in entrepreneurial activities and economic diversification via the creation of entrepreneurial centers such as the National Pilot Enterprise Nursery (PNPE) and the Cameroon Digital and Innovation center (CDIC). But this seems to be insufficient as far as training centers for Cameroonian youths are concerned. Therefore, some organizations that are also engaged in training young entrepreneurs should be recognized by the government.
- Access to information; Information about jobs available is more dominant in the urban centers than in the rural areas due to the presence of SMEs in the urban center as compare to the rural zone; this is why many youths in rural areas do not have sufficient information on what is going on in urban areas. More to that, young men in the peripheries are forced to practice Rural-Urban migration to seek jobs, due to the limited presence of SMEs in rural areas.
Conclusion
Youths’ problem of unemployment in Cameroon may be reduced via entrepreneurship activities because. The business creation policies in Cameroon have to be reexamined in a greater manner to stimulate youth entrepreneurship that may reduce the unemployment rate. More to that, decentralizing youth projects in Cameroon will reduce the rate of rural-urban migration of youths and increase entrepreneurial activities in the peripheries, thereby encouraging development.
References
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Authors
Mbarga Guy Wangso
Research Analyst
&
Haiwang Djamo
National Coordinator/Research Analyst
