By Ndumbe Bell Joseph Gaston in Douala
After four years of talks started on January 17, 2019, E-Cam and Gicam have reportedly merged their two employers’ associations into a single block.
As speculations about what some others classify as an absorption of E-cam, gathers steam across the national territory as to the contemporary raison d’être of the union, pronouncements from the two major players, Celestin Tawamba of Gicam and Prostais Ayangma of E-cam, talk of having to re-invent themselves as they now plan to face new national and international challenges at these times of uncertain galloping economic environment.
These uncertainties are such that Camerooniancompanies are now vulnerable to real risks and therefore threatened by the sustainability of their investments.
Celestin Tawamba (GICAM) is of the justifications that “this gathering will force us to spare no efforts to unite and federate all the bosses within the common house which is GICAM. Right now, we intend to officially reach out to those who, for one reason or another have turned their backs on our group.”
Even though the respective board of directors reportedly approved the decision by March 31 this year, there are suspicions within certain quarters that President Tawamba is ceaselessly using this emergence to remain as president for life for those who know that he is already approaching the end of his mandate, even though their reactions are not yet known.
According to historical evidence, Protais Ayangma had been an executive in GICAM before resigning to found e-Cam in 2016 for some election reasons and on the other hand, Celestin Tawamba had held the post of vice-president of e-Cam at the end of 2016 before deciding to join GICAM and later ran for the presidency after the resignationand later death of his predecessor.
So, after the approvals of the boards and since 2019 prior to that, both Protais Ayangma and Celestin Tawamba have reportedly been seen severally side by side managing several important files involving the private sector and facing or confronting the government or other international partners.
Reported Celestin Tawamba in a circular to members, “Since the establishment to fuse, the management coordination has carried out several actions and obtained convincing results in the context of improving the business environment in particular… it reinforced the idea that the union of the two entities will make it possible to obtain more significant advantages for companies.”
E-Cam and Gicam have been the two major employers’ associations but, in a nutshell their entity sizes are not the same. By the end of 2021, GICAM reportedly had 822 entities made up of 24 professionalgroups and associations, 233 large companies and 565 small and medium-sized companies. E-Cam, on the other hand, is said to have 600 entities comprising small and medium-sized industries, very small businesses and start-ups and includes a few elephants such as CNPS and Tradex.
Gicam has an impressive turn-over of FCFA 8.434 billion while e-Cam is described as modest.