Hello everyone.  Before mentioning any opportunities let me point out the fact (that this is not an industrialised society. So most of the products I can propose are products produced from agricultural produce.  More often than not there is no local industry here carrying out the transformation because the local population has no taste for refined products, so unless an export market outside Africa can be found the t transformation is simply not done. However the transformation process is mostly simple. Usually grinding, sun drying, grilling, filtering etc. Nothing as complicated as extracting olein from crude palm oil.

Another point worth noting is that farmers here are mostly small scale farmers, farming a few hectares manually or by animal traction. So exporting more than small quantities necessitates creating a kind of cooperative which will bring together the farmers of a particular sector.

The last point is that few buy new products from the factories abroad. They prefer second hand products because they are cheaper. So you have second hand cars, mobile phones, computers, cars, trucks etc. Although I must say that –his trend has greatly diminished after the arrival of new but relatively cheap Chinese products. The fact that they don’t last as long was a minor detail. Bearing in mind the above, now look at the proposals below.

Possible export opportunities:

Peanuts:

There are different species produced here. Some are good as a spice, others grilled, oil extraction, bread spread etc. Thus

Crude. (Export them crude but dried, in bags.)

Grilled and packaged with or without the skin.

Packaged caramel peanuts (i.e. grilled and coated in Caramel)

Peanut butter (bread spread) or spice for African soup.

Extract and sell the oil or uses it to produce body creams for women. (simple)

Cocoa Products:

Cameroon is one of the major producers of cocoa in Africa together with, Ivory coast, Ghana, and Nigeria. There is just one major factory transforming cocoa locally. The following products could be produced from cocoa.

Grilled, ground and sieved cocoa powder to make cocoa beverage with as little refining as possible. (packaged in packets or small plastic buckets.)

Extract the oil from cocoa (cocoa butter). This is highly priced in the same category as olive oil. What is left after extracting oil can be processed into chocolate bread spread. Chocolate bars are pore complicated to produce. That can always come later.

Even before reaching the cocoa beans the fruit itself can be used to produce a juice from the pulp. Now the pulp is simply thrown away.

Fruit Processing:

Avocado oil can be extracted for the cosmetic industry. It has similar properties to lanolin.

Chilli: This can be dried, ground into powder and packaged either for cooking or to be used at meal time. The hot essence of chilli can also be extracted in oil to be used at meal time. A few drops are enough. Similar products such as white and black pepper can also be dried into powder and packaged.

Ginger powder as a spice or as a beverage.

Dried and packaged tomatoes and tomato powder/

Dried and packaged pawpaw, pineapples, mangoes and sweet potatoes, plus dried and sweetened papaya eaten straight or in syrup.

Dried onions, mushrooms etc.

Fermented and not fermented cassava flour.

Cassava starch.

 Beans:

Although the demand for the various types is already greater than the supply, mainly because of the neighbouring countries, this should in the long run lead to an increase in the quantities produced.

Beans (spotted, red, white, black) large and small grains in bags.

Soya beans in bags. (Not in great quantities)

Packaged grilled and ground Soya beans (powder) NB it can be used to make Tofu, Soya beans milk, Soya yogurt etc. It enhances the protein content of food.

Beans  for Koki (An African delicacy)

 Honey Products:

Packaged natural honey, bee wax

 Products exported to be consumed by the Diaspora:

Various spices such as Njangsan, dried bitter herbs, Ero.

Gari made from cassava (a tuber), Cassava starch (powder) for stiffening linen and thickening sauces. Cassava flour for cooking into “fufu”, Miyondo (A delicacy tied in leaves, made from cassava)

Crude palm oil and crude peanut oil.

Different tubers such as  sweet potatoes, white yams, yellow yams, sweet yams, cocoyam, plantains(looks like bananas but has to be cooked before eating), sliced and dried cassava leaves (vegetable), pumpkins, de-husked pumpkin seeds used as a spice.

And others we could include depending on demand. There are also great opportunities in the export of medicinal plants.

Palm related products:

If you are interested in a particular product then the potentials of this product can be explored e.g. the palm tree.

The  palm leaves produce a fibre which can be used to make very decorated, wallets, bags, hats and shoes which are all biodegradable.

The bamboo can be used as a structural material in building, toy making and furniture.

The bunches of palm nuts produce a chaff which can be a bio-fuel when oil is extracted.

The palm kennel shells are also a good fuel and its ash would make a good fertiliser.

The palm kennels release oil very good for soap making and the chaffs are used to produce chicken feed. The crude palm oil can be either 1) consumed as it is 2) Separate the liquid part from the solid part and sell separately. 3) Extract sterein and use in producing other products. 4) Refine package and sell. 5) Produce margarine. 6)Produce soap for laundry and toilet soap. 7)Produce body creams for women. 8) Produce bio-diesel. Etc.

As you can see if this was done for every product above, the list would be very long.

 Other possibilities:

We can export traditional clay based ceramic products such as flower jars, plates, cups, etc

The starch can be transformed in to dextrin, glucose or used to produce glue.

Glue can also be made from fish scales, bones, horns and hoofs etc.

Catgut from animal intestines

Cellulose and its derivatives such as nitro cellulose and cellulose acetate.

 Imports:

There are also things which could be imported from Europe, USA of Canada. Mainly second hand products

Second hand computers and accessories

One laptop per child project producing cheap laptops (USA)

Second hand mobile phones CD players cars, Lorries etc.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) in typing, engineering design, architecture, translation, tourism etc

Voice over IP air time sales and much more.

Well here are the opportunities I promised you. To put figures in terms of in terms of the investment outlay, fiscal requirements, personnel, profitability, payback period and return on investment requires more detailed study.

Lastly there are some sectors which are useful locally. Mainly in agriculture<. Viz: Growing maize, cassava, tomatoes, raising chicken, turkey etc for the local market.

May Allah (swt) btring about the best outcome for all of us.

Assallamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Mohammed Ngubong

( Commercial Industrial and Engineering Consultant )