The prospects of business in Cameroon in particular and the Central African sub-region in general, will never be the same again following the putting in place of the Douala Grand Mall, DGM.
Constructed on nearly 38,000 square meters, the Douala Grand Mall is an architectural jewel and a business hub located at Boulevard de L’Aviation close to the Douala International Airport within Douala III Subdivision, thereby occupying a strategic site in Cameroon’s economic capital Douala.
With the inauguration of the first phase of the major project in the Central African sub-region Thursday, December 17, 2020, in Douala, British investment Fund, Actis in partnership with Local company, Craft Contractors say fifty of the eighty billion of the project has been invested.
The Douala Grand Mall is the first of such giant infrastructure in Central Africa.
It has 140 shops, 22 restaurants, five cinema halls of 1000 seats each, a Carrefour Supermarket, a playground and a day-care facility for children, cosmetics, fashion, and high tech areas, equipment, and decoration areas, a Total petrol station, and other services like banks, telecom companies, insurances, pharmacies, opticians, car wash and a lot more available.
These services are expected to attract some three hundred thousand visitors monthly in a catchment area of almost four million inhabitants.
Representing President Paul Biya at the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute remarked, “The Douala Grand Mall reconfirms Douala and Cameroon as the economic powerhouse in Central Africa. This is a true testimony that Cameroon is a place to do business. I, therefore, call on other investors still skeptical to invest in Cameroon to emulate the Douala Grand Mall. They will live to testify how business is profitable in Cameroon”.
To him, the attractiveness of Cameroon’s economy is a boost for Cameroon’s attainment of emergence by 2035 as stipulated by President Paul Biya.
To maintain maximum security at the Douala Grand Mall, Mangong Paul, head of the security service at the business center says there are ninety-seven surveillance cameras and over forty security guards trained to detect criminals are well on alert.
Douala Grand Mall: Impacting the lives of Cameroonians
With the completion of the first phase of the project, Mathurin Jidjouc Kamdem, company executive officer of Douala Retail and Convention Centre and main promoter of Douala Grand Mall says nearly three thousands two hundred Cameroonian workers, from cleaners to high standard engineers and other experts, have been employed with more than one thousand five hundred others to be employed upon the completion of the second phase to comprise of a five-star international hotel.
With 140 available shops and 20 restaurants, the Douala Grand Mall is an opportunity for other enterprises in Cameroon. Many are those who have been securing shops in the Mall to maximize profit and visibility, not only in the country but also at the international level. This undoubtedly makes the Douala Grand Mall a conglomerate that provides customers with all services at a spot.
It is an innovative business venture that has been heartily welcomed by businessmen in Cameroon.
“As a businessman, I think the Grand Mall is a rare opportunity for me and my colleagues. Over the years, we have not had such a business complex. This explains why several companies have already taken shops here,”
a Douala based entrepreneur explains with great delight.
The Douala Grand Mall inaugurated during the festive season in Cameroon and around the world is no doubt the most attractive business and leisure site in Douala and Cameroon.
Hundreds of visitors troop in daily not only to admire, take snapshots but equally to experience forms of technologies most especially escalators that have been a major area of attraction at Douala Grand Mall (GDM).
(C) Mimi Mefo Info
