Emergence, Stratagems and Extent of Adaptation of Corporate Business Enterprises in the North West and South West Provinces Coterminous with West Cameroon, 1962-1982

The transition from the Franco-British titular rule in Cameroon to the establishment of the Federal
State came with inordinate exigencies. One of such needs was to provide basic infrastructural amenities to
meet the ramified demands of the new independent state. This necessity occurred at a time when expatriate
firms, mostly European, were losing grip and security as a result of the retreat of the supervisory authorities.
It is in this circumstance that home-grown entrepreneurs emerged as new business players with public limited
liability companies to accompany the state in its public works drive. In spite of the fact that most of these
companies and their proprietors became household names in Cameroon, the profundity of their
entrepreneurial ingenuity remains widely untold. It is in this respect that, this paper, drawing largely from
primary evidences and employing a descriptive and analytical approach, explores the resourcefulness
associated with indigenous entrepreneurial actors that animated corporate enterprises in the North West and
South West Regions Coterminous with West Cameroon from 1962 to 1982. The findings inter alia revealed
that, indigenous companies and entrepreneurs in West Cameroon demonstrated entrepreneurial ingenuity in
their ability to mobilise capital and scout business opportunities especially in the sphere of civil engineering.
It emerged from the study that even though West Cameroon was replete with indigenous public limited
liability companies, through strategic maneuvers, the most outstanding ones became the Kilo Bros Ltd of S. K.
Kilo, Nangah Company Ltd of D. A. Nangah, and Che Company Ltd of Daniel Che. The paper further
disclosed that to boost brand image and company profitability, indigenous companies diversified their
business activities to incorporate diverse business interests. Principally, the paper argues that; in spite of the
entrepreneurial ingenuity and state policy to protect local corporate business initiatives, the playground was
hardly level for all the local enterprises as some were favoured and others marginalised for political reasons.
Again, most of the enterprises were unable to optimise their potentials given the obstinate neo-colonial
linkages enjoyed by giant European, notably French, and long established expatriate enterprises operating
from East Cameroun with tentacles spreading over and dominating most of the lucrative federal projects