By Elah Geofrey Mbongale
Dangote Cement Cameroon last Friday, October 27, 2017 held a professional meeting with brickmakers and other users of the Dangote Cement to drill them on the technical attributes of the Dangote 3X cement (42.5 Grade).
The meeting which saw the users of Dangote 3X cement schooled on the manufacturing process and discovery of the brand was also aimed at exchanging and reviewing the relationships between the company and the main users of its product.
Daniel Ate, Marketing and communication director at Dangote Cement Cameroon, said the meeting with partners is also to help them improve on their businesses, drilling them on the best techniques to use Dangote Cement 3X (42.5 grade) while giving them a firsthand lesson of the production process. He announced that the exercise will be extended to brickmakers and other partners from the other regions of the country.
Speaking to the over 100 brickmakers and other users of Dangote 3X Cement in attendance, the Director of Sales and Marketing, Maurice Diekem said Dangote Cement Cameroon recognizes that the main users are the kings and should be treated as such, reason why the exchange was organized to acknowledge them as well as to listen to their worries. He reassured that the professional exchange is the beginning of a partnership that must continue.
Diekem added that, according to statistics, Dangote Cement Cameroon has taken the lead in Cameroon despite entering the Cameroonian market barely a few years ago. He credited this unprecedented feat to the quality of their product, modern machineries as well as customer confidence.
“Many people have tried Dangote Cement and have stuck with the product because of its high early strength, quick initial setting and workability due to the fineness”, Maurice Diekem added.
Epee Privat, Quality Control officer at Dangote Cement Cameroon used the occasion to school the cement users on the production process as well as the technical attributes of the Dangote 3X cement. He said from the time the raw materials, which include; clinker, pozzolana and gypsum, come in to the factory, the production process is automatically controlled from a control room to ensure rapidity and efficiency.
According to Privat Epee, Dangote Cement boasts of the only vertical grinder in Cameroon from where the granulated cement is sent to a laboratory to check the fineness and residue separation, the lab also ensures the quality of the chemical components of the cement.
Later, Tsemo Herve, engineer with Asquini – Encorod, a company involved in building constructions and other public works advised the brickmakers on the right formula during their mix to guarantee durability of bricks. Tsemo endorsed Dangote Cement 3X as his preferred cement of choice as the product has been tried, tested and approved as the best in the country.
“The advantage that Dangote cement has over the others is that it is readily available to every Cameroonian and from its production and quality; it can be used on all terrain”, Tsemo added.
At the close of the business meeting, the brickmakers and other users of the Dangote Cement Cameroon product were treated to a sumptuous dinner graced with a scintillating performance by ace makossa star, Fred Bollo.
About Dangote Cement Cameroon
As at September 30, 2017, the Nigerian cement manufacturing company Dangote announced that, according to its unaudited results, Dangote Cement Cameroon sold 938,000 tons of cement in Cameroon this year. This is a 16.4% increase compared to the 806,000 tons it sold during that same period in 2016.
In less than two years, the Dangote group wrested Cameroon’s cement market leadership from Lafarge-Holcim. It now detains 46% of the market share while CIMAF and MEDECM Cameroon share the remaining part.
Dangote Cement is actually the leading cement producer in Africa, with a production estimated at around 46 Mta. Apart from its operation centres in Cameroon with a clinker grinding capacity of 1., the group also has operation centres in Nigeria (29.25Mta), Congo (1.5Mta), Ghana (1.5Mta import), Ethiopia (2.5Mta), Senegal (1.5Mta), Sierra Leone (0.5Mta import), South Africa (2.8Mta), Tanzania (3.0Mta) and Zambia (1.5Mta)