GEO-CACAO : BANGA ASSAM H.E & Associés aux côtés des producteurs pour le lancement du Guichet unique de la filière cacao au Cameroun
On 30th October 2026, at Yaoundé City Hall, GEO-CACAO – the one-stop shop for Cameroon’s cocoa producers was launched. Our firm took part in this launch and is providing legal support for the initiative
A landmark day for the cocoa sector
Under the slogan ‘Farmers, unite!’, the launch event brought together cooperatives, unions and federations of cooperatives, producer organisations, large-scale farmers, technical and financial partners (bankers, insurers) and international traders. The programme included a formal opening ceremony, a constitutive phase devoted to outlining areas of common ground, a plenary session to agree on pricing, and a contractual phase to ratify the commercial alliance, with the signing of the single agreements.
The stated aim is to reorganise the marketing of cocoa in order to strengthen producers’ position, protect rural land assets and provide the sector with the financing and social protection tools it currently lacks.
A four-pillar institutional framework
The framework is based on four complementary structures:
GEO-CACAO, an economic interest group (EIG) governed by private law, regulated by the OHADA Uniform Act on the Law of Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups (Articles 869 to 885). It centralises the commercial supply from the basin in order to consolidate volumes and organise intermediation between producers and approved exporters or processors;
CAISTAB-Cacao, an autonomous inter-professional stabilisation fund, a private equalisation body managed on a joint basis, designed to ensure the predictability of producers’ incomes;
FONDS-Cacao, a private guarantee fund for the sector, designed to facilitate producers’ access to credit and agricultural finance;
MUPLES, a mutual society for growers’ savings and solidarity, which manages the social aspects: health cover and agricultural pensions.
The firm’s role
A project of this scale requires a robust legal framework. The memorandum of association is drawn up in accordance with OHADA law (commercial companies and economic interest groups, co-operative societies, accounting law, arbitration and mediation), Cameroonian legislation on the organisation of the cocoa and coffee trade, anti-money laundering legislation in the CEMAC zone, the 2024 Act on the protection of personal data, and takes into account the EU Deforestation Regulation (RDUE).
Our firm provides support in securing this project: legal structuring, drafting and ensuring compliance of legal documents, support throughout the contractual phase, and monitoring of regulatory matters. Our presence in Yaoundé, Paris and Tianjin, combined with our expertise in OHADA matters and cross-border transactions, enables us to support an industry whose markets are, by their very nature, international.
A matter of economic sovereignty and compliance
Faced with traceability requirements, price volatility and the expectations of export markets, the cocoa sector needs robust, transparent and compliant institutions. This conviction guides our work: a reliable legal framework is essential to building the trust of producers, financiers and trading partners.
We would like to thank the organisers for their trust and hope that GEO-CACAO will make a lasting contribution to the prosperity of Cameroonian producers.
For any enquiries regarding the legal structuring of an agricultural sector, an economic interest group (GIE), a cooperative or a financing scheme within the OHADA zone, please contact our firm.
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