Since 2010, Cameroon has been endowed with a Law on the promotion of SMEs, thus materialising the desire to provide a framework for this vital sector of our economy. The Law No. 2010/001 of 13th April 2010 on the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises has had the merit of laying the foundations for the development of SMEs in Cameroon. It defined VSE and SME based on two elements: the turnover and the number of people employed. In addition to the definition, the Law sets out the mechanisms for supporting SMEs, including support for their creation, the incubation strategy, their development, support for financing and their regrouping. SMEs are subject to some obligations which non-compliance is liable to sanctions. In order to take into account, the evolution of the SME sector and to consider local realities, the 2010 Law has been revised in 2016. Thus, the Law No. 2015/010 of 16th July 2015 amended and supplemented some of the past provisions. SME was redefined as any company, whatever its sector of activity, which employs no more than one hundred (100) people and whose annual turnover excluding taxes does not exceed three (03) billion.
Within the framework of the improvement of the business climate and, in a concern for harmonising procedures in the OHADA area, the Cameroonian legislator has, by Law No. 2016/014 of 14th December 2016, set the minimum share capital and the modalities of recourse to the services of the Notary within the framework of the creation of a LLC. Thus, the minimum share capital for the creation of a LLC is set at 100,000 CFA francs, divided into equal shares whose nominal value cannot be less than CFA francs five thousand (5000) and recourse to a Notary is now optional.
As for the SME incubation strategy, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, in application of the provisions of the 2010 Law, signed the Decree No. 2020/0301/PM of 22th January 2020, which sets out the terms and conditions for the fulfilment of the missions of the small and medium-sized enterprise incubation structures. In the same vein, Implementing Orders of the said Decree have also been signed. On the one hand, they concern the form, elements contained in the Act of Approval of private structures of incubation and the conditions of its renewal, on the other hand on the content of the Partnership Agreements between MINPMEESA and the public incubation structures as well as the specifications relating thereto. To further facilitate the operationalisation of the modalities enacted by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, the Minister of SMESEH took on 17th August 2021, the Decision setting up the list of documents required for the constitution of application files for validation of training modules and support mechanisms of incubation structures.