Promoting Subcontracting SMEs: Mr. Evariste YAMENI, Executive Director of the SPX-CMR, discovers local expertise in the paint industry

As part ofits efforts to promote national Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) access to subcontracting markets, Mr. Evariste YAMENI, Executive Director Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange of the Cameroon (SPX-CMR), conducted a significant working visit to the factory of the company SOCIPEC Cameroon, an industrial firm specializing in the manufacture of paints, inks, adhesives,and cosmetic products.

The visit, which took place this Monday, December 1, 2025, at the company's facilities in Douala, allowed the Executive Director of the SPX-CMR to "witness local expertise first hand" and assess the industrial potential of the Cameroonian SME.

At the heart of cameroonian expertise

Welcomed by the General Manager of SOCIPEC, Mr. YAMENI toured the company's various production workshops. The company manufactures a diverse range of tropicalized products, from professional-grade construction paints to industrial adhesives and inks.

This immersion highlighted:

• Excellence and local expertise: SOCIPEC’s technical mastery and innovation capacity, offering a range of high-quality products, attest to the maturity and excellence of Cameroonian industrial expertise, capable of competing in regional markets.
• Production capacity: SOCIPEC is capable of supplying high-quality industrial solutions, aligned with the needs of major contractors in the Construction and Public Works and packaging sectors.
• The impact of the new law: The visit is framed within the context of promoting Law No. 2025/010 of July 15, 2025, governing the subcontracting regime, which mandates a minimum quota of 40% of activities for national SMEs. A company like SOCIPEC represents the kind of privileged local partner.

A strategic partnership and discussion on challenges

For Mr. YAMENI, the objective of these visits is multifaceted and essential to the mission of the SPX-CMR:

• Identify and register subcontracting SMEs: to better understand the production capacities and readiness of national SMEs/SMIs with a view to listing them on the SPX-CMR matchmaking platform.
• Facilitate market access for national SMEs: to create partnership opportunities between large national and international companies and high-performing SMEs.
• Discuss challenges encountered by subcontracting sector stakeholders: to directly gather from stakeholders and SME promoters, such as SOCIPEC, the concrete difficulties and constraints faced in their activities and access to subcontracting markets.

The SPX-CMR thus reaffirms its commitment, under the supervision of the MINPMEESA (Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts), to promote local know-how and structure a dynamic and competitive subcontracting ecosystem in Cameroon.