The Minister of SMEs, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Achille BASSILEKIN III reviewed the highlights of the 7th Africa Kaizen Annual Conference that Cameroon will host on 04 and 05 October 2022 at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel. The last adjustment exercise took place during the preparatory meeting of 30 September 2022 chaired by the Minister of SMESEH at the Yaounde International Handicraft Centre in the presence of the Japanese side led by the Representative of the Resident Representative of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Cameroonian side made up of senior officials of MINPMEESA such as the Secretary General Joseph TCHANA and the General Manager for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Agency (APME), Jean Marie Louis BADGA.
Talking about the participants expected for the Conference, it appears that 152 are confirmed for face-to-face participation and more than 400 are registered for online participation throughout the world. From a communication and protocol point of view, everything has been put in place for an optimal media coverage of the event, as well as for the reception of foreign participants. The protocol ceremony of the Conference will be broadcast live on the Facebook pages of MINPMEESA and APME. With regard to the activities included in the Conference programme, the visit of the three best Cameroonian companies practising Kaizen is scheduled for the 4 October in the afternoon. Fourteen (14) other companies and consulting firms, MINPMEESA and APME, also practitioners of KAIZEN, will present their products and services, as well as their practice of Kaizen in the mini-fair. Preparations for the webinar on incorporating Kaizen into SME transformation policies to strengthen the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as the award ceremony for the winners of the African Kaizen Awards, are also almost complete.
The 7th edition of the Africa Kaizen Annual Conference 2022 (AKAC) focuses on reviewing the activities of the “Africa Kaizen Initiative” (AKI) in 2022, exploring ways to streamline them with the aspirations of Agenda 2063, and in particular the efforts to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Co-organised by the Government of Cameroon, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the theme of the conference is:“Streamlining and enhancing Kaizen/QPI endeavours with the aspirations and goals of transforming Africa’s economies particularly MSMEs”
It should be recalled that in order to accelerate the realisation of the positive impacts of Kaizen in Africa, JICA and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development-African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) launched the “Africa Kaizen Initiative” (AKI) in 2017 with key strategies. In order to operationalise these AKI key strategic activities, the AKI Action Plan (AKI-AP) 2021-2025 has been developed and is underway.