Financial experts from across Africa converged in Douala on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, for the opening of the three-day Diamond Capital Convention. Opening the forum on behalf of Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Louis Paul Motaze called on regional stakeholders to reshape Africa’s financial landscape and bridge the gap between capital markets and the real economy.Organised as a platform to address systemic challenges within the continent’s capital markets, the convention brings together regulators, corporate leaders, brokerage firms, and young entrepreneurs to build a more dynamic, accessible regional financial ecosystem. Opening the deliberations, Jacqueline Adiaba Nkembe, President of the Central African Financial Market Supervisory Commission (COSUMAF), highlighted the stark realities currently facing the regional market. She noted that long-term economic growth across Central Africa is hampered by a narrow investor base, an underutilized stock market, and an over-reliance on traditional banking.”Our market still sees too few companies listed on the Douala Stock Exchange, and financing relies heavily on bank intermediation, even as exposure to sovereign debt approaches prudential limits,” Adiaba Nkembe stated. “Developing market-based financing is not merely a matter of financial sophistication; it is a macroeconomic necessity.”She underscored recent regulatory overhauls aimed at modernising market structures, streamlining documentation for issuing securities, and embracing digital finance, sustainable finance, and crowdfunding. She also called on brokerage firms to act as proactive “financial engineers” to guide local enterprises toward equity and bond markets.”Regulation is a fundamental necessity,” Adiaba Nkembe added. “No investor will commit capital where rules are uncertain and protections are inadequate.”Echoing the necessity of market collaboration, Ingrid Obouh Fegeuh, Director General of AL Masi Capital and Advisory, emphasised that the three-day convention was specifically designed to make complex financial instruments accessible to emerging businesses and young entrepreneurs.”The financial market should not be an isolated universe; it must serve as a vital partner,” Obouh Fegeuh said. “It exists to support companies through various stages of development providing funding, preparing for business succession, or enabling them to scale up.”Directing her remarks to young entrepreneurs, she encouraged emerging market players to engage directly with financial advisors and claim their space in the evolving ecosystem. “Finance is not an end in itself. It exists to enable businesses to launch, grow, and ultimately create value and jobs,” she affirmed.
In addition,delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze emphasized that while structural reforms such as the unification of the Central African regional financial market have laid a strong foundation, urgent action is needed to convert regional savings into productive local investments.”Our economies possess considerable potential yet financing needs remain significant across infrastructure, industrialisation, raw material processing, and the digital economy,” Motaze noted. “Bank financing, however essential, cannot meet all these needs on its own. This is precisely where the capital market must play its full role.”Motaze called on market actors to focus on pragmatic, action-oriented outcomes during the three-day event. He advocated for the expansion of specialized financial instruments including private equity, green and sustainable bonds, infrastructure funds, and venture capital while stressing that financial innovation must be paired with strong regulatory oversight to build investor trust.”The time has come to move beyond simply observing the current situation,” Motaze urged. “We must develop operational solutions that strengthen savings mobilization, increase market liquidity, and facilitate direct business access to capital.”The Diamond Capital Convention continues through Friday, with technical panels focusing on capital market integration, sustainable transformation, corporate governance, and regional financial literacy.
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