The city of Bafoussam will host, from 24 to 25 October 2022, the 7th edition of the awareness-raising caravans on Approved Management Centres (AMC) for the West and North West regions.
While presiding over this edition, the Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Achille BASSILEKIN III, was accompanied by top officials of the region, including Governor Awa Fonka Augustine, the Chairperson of the West and North West Regional Councils, administrative authorities, SME promoters and economic actors, among others.
The Minister expressed appreciation and gratitude to participants and guests who came in a large number. He then presented the advantages and contributions of AMCs for SMESEH. He clearly stated that AMCs are facilitating bodies that act in accordance with a set of specifications whose aim is to support SMEs, particularly Very Small Enterprises (VSEs) and Small Enterprises (SEs). AMCs also facilitate various administrative procedures and strengthen the accounting, fiscal and managerial capacities of targets, he added. Before announcing that the North West Region will host the next edition, the Minister reminded that our duty is basically to ensure the supervision of this activity in accordance with these specifications.
The objective of this edition is to explain to targets the provisions of the new specifications of AMCs and the handbook of the assistant inspector, and to raise awareness among economic actors of these two regions to massively join Approved Management Centres (AMC). Membership will also speed up the process of formalising targets.
Specifically, it will consist of organising awareness-raising caravans on AMCs involving economic actors; promoting and making known AMCs within the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the concerned regions; informing and sensitising at least 1,000 SMEs on tax benefits and other incentives inherent to their membership in AMCs, on conditions to be met in order to benefit from them, as well as on tax innovations of the 2022 Finance Law, among others.
The 7th edition of the awareness-raising caravans on Approved Management Centres (AMCs) takes place in a particular context, marked by the implementation of many tax innovations in the Finance Law for the 2022 financial year, particularly the effective entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This edition is a great opportunity to explain and adopt the said innovations by actors who are facing specific difficulties arising from a particular security context, and the absence of Authorised Management Centres in the North West. This was also an opportunity to continue discussions on the more effective functioning of AMCs which will lead to a more efficient support of targets as set by the provisions of the NDS30, relating to the support of VSEs in terms of taxation and access to micro-credit, as well as to encourage massive migration of entrepreneurs from the informal to the formal sector. In addition, more targets will be encouraged to join AMCs in order to reach the goal of 800 new memberships set by the Government for MINPMEESA.
The ceremony was followed by a visit to the stands. MINPMEESA and its entourage had the pleasure of discovering the tremendous handicraft, cultural and artistic heritage of promoters.
This campaign brought together all SMESEH actors, including the Regional and Local Authorities (RLA) and line ministries such as MINFI, MINEPAT, MINDEF, MINMIDT, MINCOMMERCE, MINADER, MINEPIA, MINPOSTEL, MINDDEVEL, and employers’ associations such as GICAM, SYNDUTRICAM, ECAM, MECAM, as well as public and private incubation and supervision structures dedicated to SMEs.
It should be recalled that since 2016, MINPMEESA in collaboration with line ministries, public and private bodies and various partners, organised six (6) editions of awareness-raising caravans in almost all regions, except the North-West region.