Every conversation about Cameroon's technology sector converges on the same complaint: not enough capital. It is true, and it is not the binding constraint. Money is the easiest of the missing inputs to talk about, which is why it dominates a discussion that should be about the others.
Our own directory lists well over a hundred active companies. A substantial share of them are solving real problems competently. What most of them share is not a funding gap so much as an operating environment that taxes competence.
The costs nobody raises for
Power that fails, connectivity priced above regional comparators, payment rails they do not control, and a customer base whose own liquidity is constrained. None of that is fixed by a seed round; a seed round simply funds a longer run at the same wall.
Procurement is the missing lever
The single fastest way to build a domestic technology sector is for large local institutions — government, banks, telecoms — to buy from local companies. Revenue from a real customer does more for a company's trajectory than an equivalent amount of grant money, and it does it without diluting anybody.
What would actually help
Predictable payment terms from public buyers. Enforcement of the ones that exist. Bandwidth pricing that reflects regional norms. These are dull, and they would matter more than another accelerator.