The Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation has pledged to channel its recent $505,000 grant [over 323 million FCFA] to supporting and scaling up small and medium sized enterprises, specifically those owned by women and youths. The foundation received the fund through its Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center (SBEC), from the Rising Tide Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.
“We are excited at the opportunity to have direct impact on many SMEs, administrative and financial support and to help them prepare for growth,” Dr Denis Foretia, Co-Chair of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation said of the grant.
Priority beneficiaries are vulnerable populations, especially persons displaced internally by the armed conflict in the North West and South West regions. To this end, Dr Denis Foretia revealed, “it will allow our teams to better investigate the barriers to individual flourishing, the challenges facing small and medium sized enterprises as well as help improve the job skills of women and youth”.
Through the Foretia Foundation’s SBEC, small and medium size enterprises are trained and accorded administrative support to help them boost productivity and efficiency. It received the $505,000 fund under the project titled “Powering Prosperity and Economic Freedom for Women and Youths in Cameroon.”
“We are honoured to support the important and transformative work that the Foretia Foundation is doing in Cameroon especially as it relates to advancing human flourishing and free enterprise… we look forward to working with their team in ensuring the success of this initiative,” the Rising Tide Foundation noted.
How it works
The Foretia Foundation explained that the project will run for three years, and will train 600 Cameroonian Small and Medium size Enterprises. Through this, an estimated 4,500 women and youths will be accorded job and entrepreneurial soft skills.
“30 promising SME leaders will be eligible to receive a seed grant of $2,500 to strengthen their organisational structure. The project will also focus on reducing the cost of registering and starting a business by half in order to improve the overall business environment in the country,” the Foretia Foundation stated.
COMMENTS