Eneo

ENEO

Validating a think big, start small approach to electricity

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Eneo continues to invest in crucial energy infrastructure upgrades and communitydriven projects, its think big, start small approach paying dividends Writer: Tom Wadlow Project Manager: Krisha Canlas

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he green shoots of economic recovery are starting to show in Cameroon.

Following a slowdown in GDP growth caused largely by falling oil prices, 2018 saw something of a rebound as the country’s economy expanded by four percent (up from 3.5 percent in 2017).

According to the World Bank this momentum, albeit tentative, is set

to continue through 2019, the organisation forecasting a GDP rise of 4.2 percent, with an average 4.5 percent growth predicted for 20202021.

This is being driven by the ramping up of public infrastructure projects, including the Kribi deep water port, the Memve’ele hydroelectric dam and several road projects, activities which are expected to increase

Cameroon’s

Electricity Transformer 2

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private investment.

Further, diversification of the country’s energy generation in the form of increased LNG production and renewables is expected to ease the supply of electricity and benefit both consumers and businesses in industries such as manufacturing, agriculture and construction.

For longstanding national electricity sector operator Eneo, this forms a

promising backdrop from which to develop.

Indeed, Cameroon has been making steady progress in electricity supply over the past several years, as there has been a positive year-over-year development in electrification.

However, this progress has yet to be improved in view of the country’s potential. Cameroon currently has a 62 percent access to electricity rate,

which, while above the average in Sub-Saharan Africa, is behind the 100 percent seen in most North African countries.

This paradox is even more stark when a comparison between cities (93 percent) and rural areas (21 percent) is made.

Breaching the divide between urban and rural access to a reliable power supply is thus the challenge that Eneo

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Largest Manufacturer and Supplier of Wooden Transmission Poles in West & Central Africa OUR MAIN ACTIVITIES •

www.camitexintercorp.com

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CAMITEX International Corporation is a 100% family –owned business that was created on 14 September 1974 by Honourable Dr. AWUDU MBAYA Cyprian with headquarters in Douala, Cameroon.

With three (03) treatment plants, CAMITEX International is the largest manufacturer of high quality treated wooden utility/ transmission poles in Central and West Africa; with an average annual production capacity of 150.000 poles. CAMITEX Poles are sourced from mature and wellmanaged forests and chemically preserved to last for over 30 years in service.

CAMITEX Poles will resist insect attacks and last for over 30 years!

+237 677 709 730 info@camitexintercorp.com

Chemical preservation of wooden utility poles for the transmission of Electricity and Telecommunications networks; Export and local sale/distribution of our treated wooden poles Import and local distribution of electrical equipment (cables, transformers, insulators) Construction of Medium & Low Voltage electricity networks (with a special focus on rural electrification across Africa).

OUR MISSION CAMITEX exists to facilitate access to energy for all Africans by using innovative techniques to provide lasting solutions for the transmission and distribution of energy and telecoms networks across Africa.

We also seek to diversify and invest in other profitable ventures in a bid to secure returns for our company.

OUR VISION We strive to grow CAMITEX in a profitable and sustainable manner to become Africa’s market leader in the manufacture of superior long lasting wooden utility poles while maintaining our values, objectives and a sound financial performance.

CAMITEX is the first treatment plant in Central & West Africa to have acquired a Mini-Lab Spectrometer for X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of treated poles to confirm their quality and ability to resist insect and other attacks during their service life on any overhead network.

OPERATION 3 MILLION TREES: From 2016 - 2017, CAMITEX planted 3 million Eucalyptus Saligna trees in the Nkambe plateau of Cameroon

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quality service while being a model of governance in Africa. To accomplish this mission, four values guide its dayto-day activities – integrity, cohesion, respect and commitment.

Think big, start small

Most of the electricity provided to customers yields from hydro (80 percent), with the remainder coming from thermal sources like gas.

In its approach to investing in renewable energy, Eneo has just developed, as a pilot, a solar production unit in what was initially a thermal site, making this power plant the first hybrid solar power plant in the country, and one of many existing thermal power plants the company hopes to transform in the future.

Further, to fulfil its distribution mission and given the contractual Cameroon’s electricity sector represents a huge field of opportunity limitation of its installed capacity, continues to work towards addressing, in Cameroon, adding on average Eneo also buys energy produced by and while the size of the task is not 100,000 families and businesses to independents such as KPDC, DPDC, underestimated by the company, there the grid every year. Around 3,700 ALTAQA, AGGREKO, Memve’ele, all of is potential that lies ahead. employees engage in Eneo’s three core which combine to deliver about 400 The development of infrastructure activities of producing, distributing and MW of capacity. to meet these challenges makes marketing electric power.

Spearheading this new era is Joel Cameroon’s electricity sector a huge These operations are underpinned Nana Kontchou, Eneo’s Chief Executive field of opportunity. by the company’s mission to provide Officer.

Recent reforms have customers with reliable energy and Having spent three decades at oil compartmentalised it by creating and gas tech giant Schlumberger, he several players, including Eneo which joined Eneo in 2014 and implemented became a producer and distributor, an improvement strategy defined by FAST FACT: while they have also paved the way setting bold objectives and focussing A MIXED-ECONOMY for many investors who can form on daily improvements – a ‘think big, COMPANY independent producers. start small’ style of leadership.

Indeed, a key part of Eneo’s work has While this represented a new Eneo is owned by three key been to create an industrial ecosystem direction for the company, the results groups of shareholders: inside Cameroon’s electricity sector. to date have more than validated this Actis Group: Majority For example, the company approach. shareholder based in the UK, encourages and stimulates the Since 2014 more than 400,000 holds a 51 percent stake establishment of local companies customers have been connected to the to produce equipment used in the grid, the average new connection time Government of Cameroon: construction of distribution networks dropping from 20 to six days, while Owns a 44 percent stake or connections (cables, meter cabinets, generation capacity has increased by Eneo employees: Holders of concrete poles, metal poles).

150 MW to 1,027 MW. the final five percent of the In terms of its own footprint, Eneo’s In terms of modernisation, more company reach is growing by the day. than 6,000 prepaid meters have been The firm serves more than 1,300,000 installed since 2017 and customers customers spread across all 10 regions can now pay within five minutes from

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Hon. Dr. Awudu Mbaya Cyprian, Executive President & Founder Of Camitex International Corporation.

CAMITEX INTERNATIONAL CORP Since its creation in 1974, CAMITEX International Corp. has had a very long working relationship spanning four decades with Eneo.

As a member of the North West Association of Raw Poles Suppliers; CAMITEX was one of the major suppliers of raw poles in the 1980s and 1990s to the then SONEL’s Wooden Poles Treatment Plant situated in Bafoussam, a western province of Cameroon. From 1995 CAMITEX set-up its own wood treatment factory in Cameroon’s port city of Douala, from where treated poles were distributed nationally for the execution of electrification projects in Cameroon and West and Central African countries like Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, Central African Republic and even Mauritania.

In the post crisis period, the government of Cameroon created the Rural Electrification Agency and laid emphasis on rural electrification. This opened up domestic demand for treated wooden poles and CAMITEX responded to this in 2010 by upgrading our Douala factory to become an automated plant in a bid to improve on quality. CAMITEX also expanded its production facilities by setting up two new treatment plants in Yaoundé (2012) and Bamenda (2015).

With improved quality and increased capacity, CAMITEX was awarded a European Union-funded rural electrification project to construct medium and low voltage lines in several villages of the southwest region under the Rural Electrification Agency’s Electricity for Rural Development project. This project was executed using Camitex-treated poles

and brought electricity to thousands of villagers in that region. From 2015–2018, CAMITEX supplied a minimum of 25,000 treated poles to ENEO Cameroon as it stepped up its replacement programme.

The use of wooden, treated poles that can last for decades reduces the rate of carbon emissions, unlike those that occur during the production of steel and concrete poles. The fact that wooden poles are still being used in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and Africa has encouraged CAMITEX to join in the fight for the survival of the wooden poles industry, which has been recently stained by poor performing untreated, or dipped/painted poles that have infiltrated ENEO’s network through ‘black market’ channels.

To fight this phenomenon and restore confidence in wooden poles which have a huge social and economic impact in Africa, CAMITEX sponsored and organized an international forum on the quality of wooden poles for the sustainable development of Africa that held in Douala in August 2018. We have also signed up to the QUALITY PLEDGE Programme of our Souyh African partner, Dolphin Bay Chemicals Pty. Ltd. Our large production capacity, coupled with the good quality of our long-lasting poles, has played a pivotal role in the expansion and maintenance of Eneo’s electricity network across Cameroon. We look forward to working with Eneo and all industry stakeholders in Cameroon and Africa to improve on the quality of treated wooden poles and ensuring their sustainability in service.

E info@camitexintercorp.com | camitex2002@yahoo.fr | W www.camitexintercorp.com T +237 677 709 730 | +237 677516884 | +237 654349609 | +237 677754510 | +237 677581775 Electrifying Africa!

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the comfort of their home instead of queuing for several hours at an agency.

Eneo’s workforce has also increased and diversified. 1,200 new recruits have joined in the past five years, and the proportion of female employees in management has risen from eight to 15 percent during this time.

Proactive maintenance

Distribution and maintenance operations have also improved, with 1,000-plus new transformers installed and some 300,000 poles replaced or repaired.

“At Eneo, a concerted effort has been made over the past years to focus on electrical poles as part of our network maintenance,” Kontchou explains.

“Faced with the challenge of hundreds of thousands of degraded wooden poles in the network infrastructure, there was a need to move beyond reacting to fallen

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poles. A prioritisation strategy was developed that acts on the most critical issues, while at the same time solving systemic root problems with sustainable solutions.”

The new strategy entails smart decision making regarding where to target repair resources and installing new metal and concrete poles which are superior to their wooden predecessors.

“While there is still much to do, the results at Eneo are promising,” Kontchou continues. “By December 2018 the number of wooden pole failure incidents (and related impact on electricity distribution) was reduced by 43 percent compared with the previous year.

The installation of intelligent meters, both pre and post-paid, is also part of the company’s modernisation effort.

This will help Eneo prepare for the smart grid in the future, and by the end of 2019 the company aims to have

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By December 2018 the number of wooden pole failure incidents (and related impact on electricity distribution) was reduced by 43 percent compared with the previous year

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20,000 prepaid and 40,000 intelligent meters installed. A SCADA system is also being piloted, a move which will allow it to gather, analyse and act on data in a far more effective manner.

Electrical education

Such a modernisation programme will also involve investment in education.

“As part of Eneo’s continuous efforts to invest in quality human capital and to ensure gradual replacement of its ageing workforce, we launched the Training of World Class Engineering Technicians (TWCET) programme,” explains Kontchou.

“It aims to provide tailored practical training to undergraduates in the field of electrical engineering in Cameroon’s state universities and higher education institutions, the ultimate ambition being to retain meritorious candidates as per the organisation’s recruitment process.”

This commitment to education is not limited to Eneo’s own engineers, however.

Public education initiatives are also valued in high regard, especially when it comes to electrical safety.

The company’s Public Safety Awareness Program, for example, was reinforced in 2018 with face-to-face safety talks on electrical hazards and efficient power consumption. This involved organising events in local communities as well as broadcasting safety messages in local dialects by community radio stations.

“In a bid to continuously position electrical safety as a national concern, partnerships with ministries were strengthened and new ones signed with professional organised groups and public institutions,” Kontchou adds.

“These included the Network of Cameroonian Mayors to fight against illegal actions or interferences of the public with the network.”

OLA ENERGY

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ebranded from Libya Oil Group, OLA Energy is an extensive panAfrican network of retail outlets selling a huge range of petroleum products.

“The new retail visual identity reflects the Group’s guiding vision to be Africa’s downstream marketer of choice, shaping African energy and empowering African born prosperity,” the company states.

“Above all, it encapsulates the spirit of what is a truly African business delivering the highest international quality standards; a brand created and driven by Africans, for Africans.”

The company operates more than 1,000 service stations, eight blending plants and over 50 fuel terminals across 18 countries in Africa, and is also present in more than 50 airports on the continent.

Its products and services cover many consumer and business requirements, its portfolio including domestic fuels, lubricants, LPG, and aviation and marine fuels.

CEO Mazen Binramadan states on the website: “OLA Energy has started a new chapter in its development.

“The recent launch of our new Retail Visual Identity reflects the commitment we have to the market.

Africa’s population is set to double by 2050. This growth will bring about a monumental rise in retail demand and other lines of the business.”

For more information on the rebrand and OLA Energy more generally, please visit: www.olaenergy.com

By the end of 2019, Eneo aims to have 20,000 prepaid and 40,000 intelligent meters installed.

Meanwhile, a SCADA system is also being piloted a move which will allow it to gather, analyse and act on data in a far more effective manner

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Corporate citizen

Education, along with youth employment, forms one of four key areas that comprise Eneo’s extensive corporate social responsibility strategy.

“This constitutes an integral part of Eneo’s core values and business conduct,” says Kontchou.

“Step by step, we are redoubling efforts to maintain our position as a good citizen at national and international levels. We strive to achieve good economic, social and environmental performances through a sustainably responsible approach.

“Throughout 2018, we worked with various development partners such as local government, non-governmental organisations and private sector business partners to implement CSI programmes in line with national strategies, Sustainable Development Goals and our core business operations.”

FAST FACT: POWERING FUTURE GENERATIONS More than 4,000 young Cameroonians are employed

by Eneo’s subcontractor companies.

Further, Eneo projects such as Tree for Life and D-Line Cleaners provided 10 fulltime and 650 part-time jobs in 2018.

The latter was launched in the Grand North Region to keep distribution lines free from dense vegetation and wild bush fires, a scheme which has resulted in network interruptions falling from 125 in 2016-17 to just six in 2018 on the concerned lines.

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Environment and health constitute the second major focus area of Eneo’s CSR activities.

An important initiative within this subcategory is sustainable tree planting, what the company calls its Tree for Life programme.

Funded through a public-private partnership involving Eneo, Fundong Council and the North West Association of Development Organisations, the scheme has seen 45,000 Eucalyptus Celina trees planted between 2015 and 2017 in the Mentang Communal Forest. The results have been promising, with 88 percent of the trees reported as growing well at the end of 2018.

Tree for Life will deliver two crucial long-term benefits to Eneo as well as serving to combat desertification in the Great North Region of Cameroon. Not only will it create a lasting supply of quality wood from which the company can build durable poles, the new forest area will also protect distribution lines from strong winds.

Evidence is pointing towards the latter benefit coming to fruition, as 67 percent of the 21,000 successfully planted trees have resisted challenging weather conditions, results which have led the project to extend into the Far North region with another 10,000 trees.

The Fundong Tree for Life project also provided parcels of land and capacity building for 68 female farmers involved in the cultivation and commercialisation of green vegetables and cocoyam.

Average annual earnings of these groups more than tripled in 2018.

Another environmental and health programme is centred around waste collection and recycling, as Kontchou explains: “This aims at transforming used metal barrels for fuel storage at our thermal plants and returning them safely to the environment as waste bins.

“In collaboration with some Eneo service providers and employee volunteers, 268 waste bins have been produced and distributed to schools,

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OKSA

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KSA exports its know-how in Sub-Saharan Africa and supports the main operators in their policy network performance improvement. We are experts in metrology of electrical energy especially in fraud detection.

Partners since 2015, OKSA has worked with ENEO on various projects such as: • Installation of smart meters • Network analysis • Analysis of PCB contamination in electrical oils • Verification and fraud detection PCB CAMPAIGN: In consultation with the HSE Directorate of ENEO, our teams sampled oil for PCB screening on about 1,000 transformers, in 15 cities of Cameroon during six months.

VERIFICATION & FRAUD DETECTION: OKSA has checked the connection and counting devices for 1,523 HV customers and managed to recover 48,258,438 KWH.

Step by step, we are redoubling efforts to maintain our position as a good citizen at national and international levels.

We strive to achieve good economic, social and environmental performances through a sustainably responsible approach”

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African leader for energy efficiency OKSA is the leading provider of energy effciency solutions for utilities and local communities in the Africa and Middle East region. Its long-term solutions involve state-of-the-art systems and technologies as well as innovative strategies, result of a long-standing expertise in industrial electrical engineering.

Since its creation in 1999, OKSA has developed several maintenance processes and modern methods for optimizing the performance of medium and low power grids voltage. Our service offerings are designed with the objective of reducing both energy costs and operation, increase productivity and modernize the facilities of our industrial customers and distributors of Electric Power.

Immeuble Omniprise, Angle av. Al Aloouiyine rue Al Mariniine Hassan , Rabat – Morocco Phone number : +(212) 537 26 47 74/73 FAX : +(212) 537 26 47 69 Email : info@oksa.co www.oksa.co

Outlook Creative Services

Outlook Publishing’s award-winning in-house team is now utilising its extensive production skills to offer a full and bespoke range of editorial, design and marketing services via its new Outlook Creative Services division.

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N V I S I T: www.outlookpublishing.com/creative-services

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Education and youth employment, environment and health, social solidarity and community involvement form the four key areas that comprise Eneo’s extensive corporate social responsibility strategy

hospitals and health centres, religious premises and Eneo sales points in the Center and South regions.”

The final two CSR focus areas cover social solidarity and community involvement/local economic development, an example of the latter in action being Eneo’s sustainable agricultural programme.

FAST FACT: MICRO SOLAR ENERGY Eneo is using small scale solar to power up underprivileged communities.

The pilot project saw the successful electrification of seven supply points with solar panels, notably schools, health centres, religious and public places in two localities of the Adamawa Region and Gandinang, serving over 1,500 inhabitants.

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“We implemented this to empower and improve the living standards of neighbouring communities, notably women and youths,” continues Kontchou.

“Through a public-private partnership framework involving Eneo, GIZ and local councils, 125 farmers regrouped in 75 associations in Massock Songloulou and Pouma districts. During 2017 and 2018, both communities created a cooperative facilitating access to financing and training, and successfully cultivated 160 hectares which produced about 12 tonnes of plantain.”

Powering the future

Eneo is able to invest both in community-driven projects its own production and distribution activities thanks to successful renewal of its operational concession last year.

The company has secured activities until at least 2031, a move which has allowed it to accelerate its investment plan and carried several commitments to the Cameroonian government.

These include improving service quality and safety, modernising facilities,

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facilitating access to new operators and extending coverage to a greater number of citizens and businesses.

These are goals which Kontchou is confident of achieving.

Citing strong investment conditions in several industries across the country and a vibrant young workforce readily available, he also realises the scale of the challenge which lies ahead.

He concludes passionately: “There is still a lot to be done and there is significant room for improvement, but there is also reason to believe.

“Eneo belongs to the entire national community because everyone can play an important role in improving the distribution of energy. As the government’s strategic partner in the electricity sector, we intend to play a full role alongside other players in the energy chain to address the many challenges facing the company and the sector.

“We foresee all the players in the sector working in synergy, and all customers being able to afford and pay their bills to ensure the financial balance of the sector and the continuation of investments on the network.”

Eneo Cameroon Tel: +237 233 42 99 72 contact@eneo.cm www.eneocameroon.cm

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A national company at the service of the environment Certified Integrated Management System: ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management ISO 45001:2018 Health & Safety Management

Construction lines Substation HTA/BT

BOCOM International, created in 2002 with its principal objective to protect the environment is the first acceptable waste management company in Cameroon and the central Africa Sub region.

Maintenance of electrical networks

OUR MISSION Provide to companies sustainable environmental solutions for the treatment of wastes generated from their activities.

OUR CORE VALUES

OUR CUSTOMERS

Every day we build a solid foundation through our core values which are:

Companies wishing to:

• Quality, Health, Safety & Environment • Professionalism • Integrity • Team spirit

• Manage their solid and or liquid wastes in a safe and environmental friendly manner • Characterize their wastes and or samples • Use recycled wastes oil as combustibles for their burners

Our services comprises of: • Collection and treatment of industrial and hospital wastes • Valorization and sales of recycled used oil • Waste characterization and sample analysis.

BP 8445 Douala Cameroun Tel +237 677 50 12 41 | +237 698 30 55 47 | exsasarl@yahoo.fr

B.P 9546 Industrial Zone MAGZI BONABERI- DOUALA CAMEROUN Tel: +237 (0) 699 92 34 29; +237 (0) 699 31 22 52; +237 (0) 696 63 00 33; +237 (0) 698 00 30 34; +237 (0) 698 00 28 96 Email: bocominter2002@yahoo.fr; bocominternational@groupebocom.com www.groupebocom.com

Hybrid solar plant at Djoum in South Cameroon

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63, Avenue de Gaulle, Douala Bonanjo Tel: (+237) 233 42 99 72 / 233 43 00 33 / 233 43 00 35 contact@eneo.cm www.eneocameroon.cm

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