• Reference: P-CM-AAZ-001
• Approval date: 16/12/1998
• Start date: 21/08/2000
• Appraisal Date:
• Status: On goingOnGo
• Location:
• Implementing Agency:

Six years ago, Alice Mbullah was struggling to bring up her two sons and a daughter, making less than $10 a week as a fish seller in Esobe, in the south west of Cameroon.  Now she catches the fish herself, cutting out the middle man, and keeps all the profit.

She owns her own fishing boat complete with an outboard motor, and even employs two people to help her with the catch.  Not only that, she also owns a shop, a bar, a telephone kiosk, and has bought a plot of land where she’ll build a house.  ‘I’m one of the bosses now’, she said.

Not long ago, Christopher Obenson was having a hard time in the Cameroonian town of Buea.  He was working as a plumber for the Ministry of Public Works, but his income just was not enough to support and educate his three boys and two girls.  Now his life has changed for the better.  He is a successful pig breeder, and a well-respected member of his 800-strong community.  His daughter is well on the way to qualifying as a nurse, and one of his sons is at university.

Mohamed Tabo also breeds pigs in Buea, and recently had some bad luck.  His animals were struck down by pig fever, and he was facing ruin.  But he was able to recover from his bad fortune, and he now raises chickens as well as pigs.   Starting with 400 chicks, he went on to buy 1,100 more with the help of ADF.

When his wife became ill, he was able to pay the hospital bills.  He can afford his daughter’s college bills and his two sons are at school.  On top of that, he bought some land and turned it into a small banana plantation.

Alice, Christopher and Mohamed are just three of the success stories that have come out of an ADF-funded development loan programme in Cameroon for the fishing and animal breeding businesses.

Alice joined the programme in 2003, learning about business in her group of eight other women.  Once she was trained up and confident about running a business, from 2005 on, she was able to borrow a total of CFA800,000 ($1,700), paid in three lots, to buy her boat, net and other tools of her trade.

Christopher’s experience was similar.  He had already started pig-breeding in a small way.  Three years ago and using his own money, he bought two pigs, a boar and a sow, and they produced eight piglets.

Then he decided to expand and made contact with the ADF programme, seeking a micro-credit loan.  He used his first loan of CFA450,000 to buy six pigs, three males and three females, and the sows soon gave birth to 24 piglets.

He sold some of the piglets, but kept some back for himself to breed more.  Christopher soon had a comfortable income from the business.  In a good year, he can make almost CFA2 million, but there is always the threat of swine fever. 

However, Christopher’s healthy revenues meant he could lower that risk by paying for swine fever vaccinations, on top of buying pig feed, paying his loan instalments, and making sure he had enough left over for school and college fees for his children.

He has now paid off his entire first loan and plans to take out another - for CFA 700,000.   With that he intends to buy another male and three more sows.

As for Mohamed, who is 35, he had bred pigs and chickens for some time.  He started keeping pigs 15 years ago, and has kept chickens for seven years, but he did that in his spare time while he worked as a carpenter.

After his pigs caught swine fever, he decided to join a group called Agropac, which became part of the ADF programme.  In 2005, he got his first loan of CFA450,000.

With that, he extended his pig shelter and bought two young pigs and their food.  He was able to sell the pigs at a profit, and paid off his loan in nine months.

Then he took out a second loan to branch out into the chicken business, buying 400 young birds which he sold after two months at a profit.  And with a third loan, he bought even more birds.

As a result, he says that he now has all he needs for a secure and comfortable life.  All thanks to ADF.

DAGAMAISSA Abdoulaye - OSAN4

Finance source	Amount
ADF	UAC 4,590,000
Government	UAC 1,060,000
Co-financier	UAC 4,970,000
Total	UAC 10,620,000