ASAFE went to Dibamba, a Rural Council in the Sanaga Maritime Division of the Littoral Region of Cameroon in June 2023 to provide training in assorted income-generating activities and how to write a business plan. The event had over 40 participants, the majority being women

The training was in preparation for the ASAFE flagship Sustaining Growth initiative and the event further served to find suitable candidates to carry out Income-generating activities within the framework of the enterprise that was to be launched in the area. 

Participants showed a lot of enthusiasm during the training and an internally displaced person (IDPS) from the North and South West regions war carried the day as he presented the best business plan.  He is called Romaric N.

It however happened that the winner, Romaric was once invited by ASAFE to carry out some masonry work at their headquarters in Douala. In the case of buying materials for the site, Romaric discovered that there were lots of goods in the vicinity that needed to be transported from one area to the other. For Romaric, the best way to render this service was to own a Tri-cycle truck,. That later on served as the subject for Romaric’s business exercise plan. His performance earned him plaudits and a sponsorship through a loan.

ASAFE offered a loan of 1 300 000 FCFA to Romaric to buy the Tricycle with a reimbursement installment of 10,000 FCFA a day. However, Romaric says that he raises from his daily activities of transporting cargo an average of 15,000 FCFA or more and plans to complete repaying the loan within 8 months. That activity has enabled him to make some remittances to his aged parents in Wum in the North West of Cameroon to help them with their upkeep. He is claiming that he will achieve that in a shorter time and then join other trainees in the Sustaining Growth initiative at Dibamba dubbed Ujek Mejek, where Romaric intends to engage in Chicken or Duck rearing.

“I am grateful to ASAFE for giving me this opportunity to prove that I can work and produce. If I am given more opportunity, I think I can do more because the situation that I left back home is very bad and I hope to return better armed to change the social situation of my people trapped in the war”, Romaric said.