#HOTCS: Eric Dibeu, Yaoundé

“There was a very small SME from Ottawa that came here to Cameroon as part of a trade mission organized by Export Québec (they also have offices in Montreal). They were selling filters for machinery. It was their first time in Cameroon or even Africa. They were very apprehensive, they weren’t sure how it would go…they only knew that their goal was to find a distributor for their products. We created a personalized four-day meeting program for them and after two meetings on the very first day, the company found its partner. They cancelled the three other meetings to spend the rest of the time with their partner and signed a contract with them before returning to Canada. Now the SME is interested in pursuing opportunities in Gabon and Chad. I’m very proud because this is really a typical example of the work trade commissioners do. 

“Working as a trade commissioner for Canada is an exciting adventure that presents new challenges every day. My daily activities include advising, supporting, and finding opportunities for Canadian companies in Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, and Chad. These are developing countries, where there is much to do and much to build. And in some countries, such as Cameroon and Gabon, there is a National Development Plan that targets the priority sectors of infrastructure, energy, education, agriculture, and telecommunications. This is an advantage because these are areas in which Canada has world-class expertise. With respect to education, did you know that Cameroon ranked third in Africa in terms of the number of international students in Canada in 2017? Cameroon is becoming a very interesting destination for Canada’s education sector because the two countries share something in common:  English-French bilingualism.”