In four years of existence, the agro-industry based in Dimako in the Eastern region has become a reference in its sector of activity and a link on which it will be necessary to count for the programmed emergence of Cameroon.

Its presence in the Kribi industrial-port complex, specifically in the area reserved for project 2, is set for December. Orient Sugar and Industry SA (OSI. S.A) has already applied for 5 hectares there, which are in the development phase. It will install an 80 megawatt electrical cogeneration plant there, a pasta production plant, another cornflakes plant and offices, among others.

However, Orient Sugar and Industry S.A only discovered the Kribi industrial-port complex on October 22 and 23, during the visit to this company organized by the Cameroon Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (BSTP -CMR). Which was followed by a "Suppliers day", an opportunity to connect the SMEs/SMIs present and the Autonomous Port of Kribi. Its Director discovers the rich potential offered by the PAK and the needs of this mastodon. The two entities then immediately enter into a business relationship.

“OSI SA is in the process of signing in the near future an agreement to build an 80 megawatt electrical cogeneration plant which will benefit PAK. In view of the forecasts, this could be operational from December 2021. The financing is already available”, explains and reassures Bebey Motto Essombe Samuel, Managing Director of Orient Sugar and Industry SA.

An agro-industry with big ambitions

In just four years of activity, Orient Sugar and Industry S.A plans to reach the bar of 8,500 jobs in two years. It currently operates 850 twinned hectares developed and productive. This agropole complex plans to produce by 2024, 240,000 tons of corn, 35,000 of soybeans and 36,000 of beans per year. OSI S.A also aims to produce sugar on behalf of sugar companies operating in the country and to establish partnerships with distilleries present in Cameroon.

The agro-industry has embarked on the production of electricity by cogeneration, that is to say from waste from agricultural exploitation among others, to strengthen national capacity. It currently supplies various products to behemoths such as Gascao farms, the Société des Provenderies du Cameroun (SPC), the Protcao company, Nodiscam, Socipac and is in the process of becoming a supplier of the World Food Program (WFP) .

The BSTP, a strong partner

Orient Sugar and Industry S.A participated in the last General Assembly of the BSTP as a member of this institution. "It is thanks to the BSTP that we came into contact and then in business relationship with the Autonomous Port of Kribi which is in the process of developing this 5-hectare space for us to which reference was made earlier", recalls Bebey Motto Essombe Samuel, CEO of OSI.SA. This company is still having difficulty increasing the number of these reliable business partners and also suffers from the lack of a qualified workforce. Access to financing is also one of its difficulties.

CharlesNgah Nforgang