75th SOPECAM Board Session: Members Outline Survival Strategy Amidst Global Supply Shocks

Par Kimeng Hilton
30 Jun 2026 20:10
0 Likes

Facing with growing debt burden, Board members meeting in Yaounde on June 30, 2026 recommended a number of measures to salvage the corporation’s finances.

The 75th Ordinary Session of the Board of Directors of the Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation, SOPECAM met in Yaounde on June 30, 2026 under the Board Chairman, His Excellency Mr. Joseph LE. Rising from the meeting, Board Members agreed on a new roadmap for the corporation. Faced with what he described as a "worrying" and "vicious circle," Board Chairman Joseph LE challenged themselves and management to move past diagnoses and execute immediate, structural remedies:

Board Directives

Aggressive Revenue Diversification: Management was strongly urged to look beyond traditional government contracts and "multiply sources of revenue" by aggressively targeting the private sector.

Strategic Partnerships, Conventions: The Board proposed signing new operational and commercial conventions with private sector actors and other corporate entities, both nationally and internationally, to stimulate cash flow.

Active Debt Recovery: A primary focus must be placed on aggressively collecting outstanding debts - most notably the 1.81 billion FCFA owed by ELECAM - to immediately inject liquidity back into operations.

Deep Structural Reflection, Collective Mobilization: Board members were tasked with leveraging their individual networks and influence to "act, each at their own level," to break the company's dependency on a single financial basket.

Stabilizing the Social Climate: To maintain worker productivity amidst growing staff impatience, the Board emphasized the need to effectively implement the company's new organizational chart, roll out the new Collective Agreement, and convene the Promotion and Reclassification Commission.

Profitable 2025

Despite a profitable 2025 fiscal year driven by election-related contract booms, the Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation, SOPECAM SCP is sliding back into severe structural financial distress. Mr. Joseph LE revealed that while the company's 2025 balance sheet grew by 14.89% to over 21.2 billion FCFA - yielding a financial profit of 531.1 million FCFA - the economic relief was short-lived. The first half of 2026 has seen a sharp reversal, plunging the publisher of the national bilingual daily Cameroon Tribune back into a severe cash flow deficit....