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CAMEROON FORUM 2008 OGM SUMMARY REPORT

C A M E R O O N F O R U M N E W S L E T T E R I S S U E 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 8

Cameroon Forum OGM in London on the 19th April 2008

Officially launched in April 2007, Cameroon Forum, held its first ordinary general meeting of 2008, on April 19th in London. The meeting that saw the participation of many Cameroonians living in England, guests and friends of Cameroon was honoured by a strong delegation of the High Commission of the Republic of Cameroon in Great Britain and Ireland, led by his Excellency Samuel Libock Mbei, the High Commissioner. The meeting was moderated by Mr Francis Shupo. The agenda focused on the organization’s activities during the past year and aimed at providing the foundations for the year to come. After the word of welcome by its Chairman, Mr Chris Nasah, His Excellency Samuel Libock Mbei, reiterated in his opening speech the support of the Cameroonian representation to the activities of Cam-eroon Forum. He congratulated the organization for its actions—especially its works to increase members and its efforts to reach out to the wider Cameroonian community. It was then time for the chief executive officer Jocelyne Ngassa to assess the organization’s achievements during the past year. An assess-ment described overall as positive and marked by:

• The creation of a free phone number allowing Cameroonians in difficulties to seek advice from other Cameroonians in the Diaspora

• The celebration of the youth day - On the 15th of March a guided tour at the Science Museum was organised for children of Cameroo-nian descent.

• The participation of Cameroon Forum to various events (including Africa Day…) For the coming year, emphasis was laid on:

• Annual Fund raising Dinner and Dance (September 2008)

• Mentoring program

• Development of strategic partnerships

• Participation at the 2nd Africa day event The implementation of an online payment facility through the website was unanimously greeted. The meeting was completed by a drink reception offered by the Executive Board. The date of the next Ordinary General meeting was fixed for the 19th July 2008. Press Release prepared by the communication Team Pierre-Paul Tengwo Anne-Francoise Castiglioni Marcel Amoko

Save money from your telephone, gas and

electricity bills by switching to Euphony services

and HELP the Forum at the same time.

Cameroon Forum has teamed up with Euphony , one of the fastest growing utility companies in

Europe

For more information call Jocelyne Ngassa on 07956 454 786

or Manfred Mbella on 07901 910 411. You can also go to our website and click on the

Forumsavings link

To contact Cameroon Forum

Suite 501 - International House - 223 Regent Street - London W1B 2QD

Telephone: 020 8905 7400 - Email: info@cameroon-forum.org - website: www.cameroon-forum.org

Cameroon Forum is a civil society organization which seeks to integrate the diverse portfolio of Cameroonian professionals,

associations, businesses and related institutions, towards a greater social, economic and cultural integration of Cameroonians into

UK Society. The ultimate goal being to foster good, diverse and rich bilateral relations between Cameroon and the UK.

Cameroon Forum OGM in London on the 19th April 2008

Officially launched in April 2007, Cameroon Forum, held its first ordinary general meeting of 2008, on April 19th in London. The meeting that saw the participation of many Cameroonians living in England, guests and friends of Cameroon was honoured by a strong delegation of the High Commission of the Republic of Cameroon in Great Britain and Ireland, led by his Excellency Samuel Libock Mbei, the High Commissioner. The meeting was moderated by Mr Francis Shupo. The agenda focused on the organization’s activities during the past year and aimed at providing the foundations for the year to come. After the word of welcome by its Chairman, Mr Chris Nasah, His Excellency Samuel Libock Mbei, reiterated in his opening speech the support of the Cameroonian representation to the activities of Cam-eroon Forum. He congratulated the organization for its actions—especially its works to increase members and its efforts to reach out to the wider Cameroonian community. It was then time for the chief executive officer Jocelyne Ngassa to assess the organization’s achievements during the past year. An assess-ment described overall as positive and marked by:

• The creation of a free phone number allowing Cameroonians in difficulties to seek advice from other Cameroonians in the Diaspora

• The celebration of the youth day - On the 15th of March a guided tour at the Science Museum was organised for children of Cameroonian descent.

• The participation of Cameroon Forum to various events (including Africa Day…)

For the coming year, emphasis was laid on:

• Annual Fund raising Dinner and Dance (September 2008)

• Mentoring program

• Development of strategic partnerships

• Participation at the 2nd Africa day event The implementation of an online payment facility through the website was unanimously greeted. The meeting was completed by a drink reception offered by the Executive Board. The date of the next Ordinary General meeting was fixed for the 19th July 2008. Press Release prepared by the communication Team Pierre-Paul Tengwo Anne-Francoise Castiglioni Marcel Amoko

Save money from your telephone, gas and

electricity bills by switching to Euphony services

and HELP the Forum at the same time.

Cameroon Forum has teamed up with Euphony , one of the fastest growing utility companies in

Europe

For more information call Jocelyne Ngassa on 07956 454 786

or Manfred Mbella on 07901 910 411. You can also go to our website and click on the

Forumsavings link

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2008 KEY PROJECTS

• Fund raising dinner and dance

• Mentoring Program

• Community support line

• Youth Day celebration

• Africa Day

• Partnerships to be developed

* Euphony * Moneyline UK * Bantuway * FE Samuels * Africa Recruit * A2D

NEW MEMBERS Cameroon Forum Executives wish a warm welcome to the following new members who joined us this quarter

- Juliusandco (law firm)

- Banin UK (Cultural group)

M A Y 2 0 0 8

Membership Benefits Become member of Cameroon Forum and take advantage of the following benefits

• Discounts to all Cameroon Forum events

• Discounts to Cameroonian restaurants in the UK

• Invitations to Diaspora and community events

• Access to CF network of pro-fessionals

• Access to job adverts in Cam-eroon

Spring is always synony-mous with a time of re-newal, of reflection, and of transformation. This proc-ess is true in nature in terms of the seasons – new blos-soms, fresh air, more light, and even in terms of the transformations that occur in say the animal world – for example the total transfor-mation from a caterpillar to a butterfly. This is truly amazing, and evidences the power of nature. It evi-dences that there is a higher power, a higher and inner force that orders the way the world works, totally outside of our control – the rhythm of nature – the heartbeat, day and night. We can call on this force of nature to fill us up, and initi-ate a transformation just like with the butterfly. It is time for Cameroon Forum to pupate, it is time to initiate the process of this beautiful transformation that occurs to organisms that are in tune with nature’s rhythm. Brothers and sisters, I per-sonally call on you to deepen your already strong commitment to the cause, I call on you to continue to invest your time and other resources into this enter-prise, into this brand, for we will be leaving a legacy that is synonymous with the most beautiful butterfly for our children, and their chil-

drens’ children etc. Let us move forward with convic-tion, and in unison with each other and with na-ture, keeping our eyes fo-cused on the prize, and it shall be well. N a t u r e ’ s rhythm is Sus-tainability itself – what the whole world today is yearning to achieve – HARMONY. We have some beautiful nuggets that will yield gold such as – the mentoring programme, the CF Golden Nugget Fund, and the Cameroon Community Line. Following another successful general meeting, we continue to deliver on our promises as we seek to improve further our op-erational practices, and seek to increase the number of people who are supporters at a distance to take on their membership commitment – the benefits make this worthwhile, so please do come on board, let us SPRING INTO ACTION, and create

HARMONY.

Together We Build

Chris Nasah – Leading Servant

Chairman

Chairman’s Message SPRING INTO ACTION and create HARMONY

Cameroon Forum Newsletter • 25th May 2008

Africa Day

Fundraising BBQ

• 19th July 2008

Ordinary General Meeting

• September 2008

Annual Fundraising

Dinner and Dance

2008 KEY PROJECTS

• Fund raising dinner and dance

• Mentoring Program

• Community support line

• Youth Day celebration

• Africa Day

• Partnerships to be developed

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Next Edition July 2008

If you have any article that you would like us to publish, please send it to info@cameroon-forum.org

NEW MEMBERS Cameroon Forum Executives wish a warm welcome to the following new members who joined us this quarter

- Banin UK (Community

group) - Julius and Co (Corporate Member)

Membership Benefits Become member of Cameroon Forum and take advantage of the following benefits

• Discounts to all Cameroon Forum events

• Discounts to Cameroonian restaurants in the UK

• Invitations to Diaspora and community events

• Access to CF network of professionals

• Access to job adverts in Cameroon

CAMEROON FORUM MENTORING PROGRAM

The Cameroon Forum Mentoring

Program has been developed as a

tool to empower members of the

Cameroonian community in the UK.

Mindful of the fact that within the

Cameroonian community, we have

highly qualified and experienced

professionals who are willing to

spend time with other Cameroo-

nians to help them move up the

career ladder, set up their own busi-

nesses or help them deliver on a

specific project, we believe this

program will be a strong benefit to

Forum members.

The main objective being that of

increasing knowledge exchange and

networking opportunities between

Forum members while empowering

our community members and allow-

ing them to make full use of the

Forum network of professionals.

If you are interested in this

program as either a Mentor

or a Mentee, please send

us an email at

Info@cameroon-forum.org

• Immigration

• Employment

• Civil Litigation

• Company Law

• Conveyancing

• Wills and probate

To contact us:

22 Corbett Road Wanstead , London E11 2LD Tel : 0208 989 2929

Mob: 07951 898 773

Fax: 02089892974 Email: mail@juliusandcosolicitors.com

Web: www. juliusandcosolicitors.com

I S S U E 2 A P R I L 2 0 0 8

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I S S U E 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 8

CAMEROON FORUM HAS TEAMED UP WITH MONEYLINEUK

Each time you use MoneylineUK to

send money back home, you enjoy a

reliable service, better exchange rates

and cheaper than Western Union or

MoneyGram.

Moneyline will give 25% of the fees to

the Forum. Therefore, by using this

service, you are making a donation to

the Forum. To send money, please

check www.moneylineuk.com or

call 0800 084 2420.

Please quote reference

‘CAMEROON FORUM’

C A M E R O O N F O R U M N E W S L E T T E R

What’s the impact...

As well as working hard (some on

low paid jobs) and supporting them-

selves and their family, many Afri-

cans in the UK send money back to

their country of origin.

This money that is sent back is de-

scribed as “Remittances”. This goes

largely unrecognised, but is a vital

part of money flows into the conti-

nent, and contributes to tackling

poverty, and helping make

‘development happen’ in Africa.

Remittances to all developing coun-

tries 2005 totalled $188 billion –

twice the amount of official

assistance developing coun-

tries received (IMF F&D June

2007). Note that many also go

unrecorded through informal

channels. If these were in-

cluded, it could add up to 50%

to global recorded flows. To

sub-Saharan Africa between

2000 and 2005 increased by

more than 55%, for the rest of

developing countries it rose by

88%. Africa receives just 4% of

total remittances.

To give you a measure, the UK’s

aid budget is £4.4billion, remit-

tances are more than 50% this,

contributing £2.3billion to develop-

ing countries.

2005 World Bank estimates indi-

cate that remittances to developing

countries rose to $167 billion, a 73

percent increase from the 2001

figure of 72.3 billion.

There are other flows into Africa

through official development assis-

tance (oda) and foreign direct

investment (fdi), which appear to

be more volatile than remittances.

business start-ups for those

who have normally been ex-

cluded from the formal sector.

This is an issue which plagues

Cameroon where the ability to

have access to financial ser-

vices is extremely limited to

most if not all small enterprises.

From personal experience, we

are all familiar with the high

cost of transferring money

through formal routes. Because

of higher vol-

umes, India for

example enjoys

lower fees

when sending

money through

money transfer

operators.

A report from

the DFID was

commissioned

to encourage

c o m p e t i t i o n

among money

transfer opera-

tors to ensure

openness and

lower costs.

Gareth Thomas

MP, comment-

ing on the re-

port, said “ We

Remittances tend to have the effect

of increasing household spending

through a multiplier effect. Some of

the areas which remittances assist

include: invest in Education for kids,

healthcare bills including care for the

elderly, enterprise creation, health

initiatives, cost for rites of passage,

utility bills, and nutrition. There are

even new schemes where mobile

phone credits can be bought in the

west for family in developing coun-

tries.

Detailed research carried out by the

IMF demonstrated the poverty-

reducing effects of remittances. The

study showed that a 10% rise in the

remittance-to-GDP ratio is associ-

ated with a fall of a little more than

1% in the percentage of people

living on less than $1 a day and the

poverty gap. Further studies that

have linked remittances to the in-

vestment channel, in such a way

that remittances either

for or enhance financial

access concluded that

remittances tend to

stimulate growth.

Microfinance institutions

have increasingly be-

come interested in this

sector whereby remit-

tances can act as collat-

eral or shortee for small

REMITTANCES : “The Western Union” Effect

want to make remittances contrib-

ute more effectively to interna-

tional development, and making it

easier and cheaper for people to

send money home to families and

communities abroad is an impor-

tant way to do this. We also want

to ensure that it’s easier for peo-

ple in other countries to access

the money “ Article submitted by Mr Chris Nasah

CAMEROON FORUM HAS TEAMED UP WITH MONEYLINEUK

Each time you use MoneylineUK to

send money back home, you enjoy a

reliable service, better exchange rates

and cheaper than Western Union or

MoneyGram.

Moneyline will give 25% of the fees to

the Forum. Therefore, by using this

service, you are making a donation to

the Forum. To send money, please

check www.moneylineuk.com or

call 0800 084 2420.

Please quote reference

‘CAMEROON FORUM’

“Remittances

to all

developing

countries

totalled

$188 billion. .”

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CAMEROON FORUM H igh l i gh t s o f Ac t i v i t i e s

Youth Day - Science Museum - March 2008

C A M E R O O N F O R U M N E W S L E T T E R

“Launchpad is all about asking questions and making sense of the way things work. What am I looking at?

What would happen if... ? What do my friends think? How could I... ?”

Extract from the Science Museum Website

I S S U E 2 , A P R I L 2 0 0 8

On Saturday the 15th of March 2008 ,Cameroon Forum organised a visit to the Science Museum to celebrate Cameroon Youth Day. Many children from Cameroonian descent were present at the event. The children enjoyed various activities including

• Launch pad, the Science Museum's most popular hands-on and brains-on gallery.

• Theatre show where William had to compete with another museum visitor

• Plasticity exhibition

• Space gallery

• Future science

• Visit to McDonalds

The day went well and the children had a good time. It was very nice to observe how the children were building up friendships. The trip to McDonalds was fun and relaxing. Next time we need to give them more food! Future events: A trip to the London Aquarium has been suggested for July 2008 Report by Elizabeth Emmanuel

CAMEROON FORUM LAUNCHES A COMMUNITY SUPPORT LINE 07896-125-288

Cameroon Forum Community Support line is a volunteer run helpline providing advice and

information for the Cameroonian community in the UK.

The aim is to provide a confidential listening hotline serving the whole of the UK. People of all ages can

call about anything that gives them concerns