Cameroon Funds 35 Innovation Projects, Supports IP Protection

Cameroon has awarded CFAF 70 million to 35 locally developed projects to help their promoters move from prototypes toward commercial production. The funding was granted through the Small and Medium-size Enterprise Promotion Agency (SMEPA) under the sixth edition of the Prototyping Support Fund, known as Fonds-Proto. The winners were announced in Yaoundé on August 25. The program combines grants with technical support covering prototype development, business formalization, intellectual property protection and the production of pre-series for market testing. According to figures presented by SMEPA at the ceremony, the 2026 edition received 2,919 online applications, including 1,495 complete submissions. A first jury shortlisted 51 projects before a grand jury selected 35 for funding. The awards ranged from CFAF 1.5 million to CFAF 7 million. The top five projects received CFAF 7 million, CFAF 4.5 million, CFAF 3.5 million, CFAF 3 million and CFAF 2.5 million, respectively. Projects ranked sixth to 10th received CFAF 2 million each, while those placed 11th to 35th received CFAF 1.5 million ...