Theme:  Immigrants road to entrepreneurship: Pitfalls and opportunities

Argument: Even in an open and multicultural society such as Canada there is a recurrent debate: is immigration generating growth? Entrepreneurship is viewed by many experts as an important tool to boost economy. It is already a proven facts that immigrants in general, African and Cameroonian in particular are skilled workers. But do they have what it takes to launch and managed a successful companies? COCACO is organizing a symposium to understand what opportunities and pitfalls immigrants are facing within Canada business environment in their endeavour to own and manage private corporations. This workshop will help understanding what drives aggregate immigrant entrepreneurial activity. It will also provide guidelines on how to go from small and family to a self-sustainable and competitive organization that will generates long-lasting profitability and prosperity.

Parking:  Free parking on the venue

Saturday March 10^th , From 4h00 to 6.00 PM

 Sandy Hill community center: 250 Somerset East, Ottawa, Ontario, ON K1N 6V6

The Scenario

14 h 45    Arrival of the organizers and the MCs. Installation of members, installation and organization of the meeting room, beginning of the ordinary meeting

15 h 00    COCACO ordinary meeting: few points on the agenda

15 h 45    Arrival of the panelist onsite. Welcomed by the vice-president of COCACO, Franklin Epapé.

15 h 50    BREFFING OF PANELISTS: The briefing will be led by Serge Banyongen, President of COCACO, the following people will attend the briefing: Fabian Amassogo Panelist, Tanguy Etoga panelist, Kyle Thomas panelist, Cyriac Mvolo Co-MC, Ulrich Kamga, Co-MC and Franklin Epapé vice-president of COCACO (5mn).

15 h 55   INSTALLATION OF PANELISTS (3mn)

15 h 58   WELCOME REMARKS by Mr. Serge Banyongen, President of COCACO and introduction of the MCs (2mn)

16h00    Opening remarks by the MCs Cyriac Mvolo (in French) & Ulrich Kamga (in English) and introduction of Mr. Tanguy Etoga, panelist (3 mn)

16 h 03   Presentation by Tanguy Etoga (15mn)

16 h 18   MCs Thanks Mr. Tanguy Etoga and introduce Mr. Fabien Amassogo (2 mn)

16h 20   Presentation by Mr. Fabien Amassogo (10 mn)       

16h30    MCs Thanks Mr. Fabien Amassogo and introduce Mr. Kyle Thomas (2 mn)

16 h 32   Presentation by Mr. Kyle Thomas (15mn)

16 h 47  Question and Answers sessions under the lead of the Mcs (43 mn)

17 h 30   FINAL REMARKS by the High-Commissioner of the Republic of Cameroon in Canada or his representative (5 mn).

17 h 35   Light supper of African meals, networking and exchanges between panelists, COCACO members and guests (25 min.)

18 h 00   END OF THE EVENT / DEPARTURE of the guests and cleaning of the room

Key contacts:

COCACO : info@cocaco.org

SG-COCACO (André Léopold Kamdem):  leokamdem@yahoo.fr

Vice-president (Franklin Epapé): franck21kz@yahoo.fr

MC (Cyriac Mvolo): ciriamvolo@hotmail.com

Ulrich Kamga: ulrich.kamga@gmail.com                                                           

On Site: (613) 564-1062       sandyhill@ottawa.ca