How it all started

The Bambui Farmer’s Credit House Common Initiative Group is the nexus of common initiative groups. This initiative galvanizes the meager resources and agro potentials of the very low income people of the Bambui community and its environs. It is a community based Micro- finance Credit program.
Its effective implantation in 2012 was encouraged and effectively supported by an American philanthropist. (Dr. John David Arnold.) Dr John David Arnold who came visiting Bambui in 2012 was encouraged by Mr. Zac Angafor, a Bambui elite based in the USA. He arrived Cameroon that year and was received by Mr. Polycarp Chungong the then President General of the Bambui Cultural and Development Association (BACUDA). During this visit, Dr Arnold offered the sum of 12,000 US dollars which is the initial sum that was loaned out to different groups.
As an expression of total satisfaction for this splendid development surprise to the purely farming community of Bambui, Dr. John David Arnold was honoured by the Chief of Bambui with the title of Montooh Mbeur. (Meaning the prince of Bambui) He is now known within Bambui circles as Montooh Mbeur Dr. John David Arnold.

On inception, as already mentioned above 12 farming groups were given short term LOANS ranging from 500 to 1000 US dollars. Some of these groups succeeded but others ran out of business. Mr. Ndifor Augustine was later brought in, in 2014 to revamp the collapsed groups. He also brought in Miss Nkounyie Fanny Salifou and both of them in collaboration with Montooh Mbeu Dr. John David Arnold set new working grounds for the Common Initiative Group. The group was then officially registered as a micro-loan credit institution thereby giving it an ownership status. It was also linked to PPEP (Portable Practical Educational Practice) an American Philanthropic organization with Dr. John David Arnold as the CEO.

Today the Common Initiative Group is registered with the administration in compliance with law No 92/006 of 14 August 1992 relating to cooperative societies and common initiative groups and its decree of application no 92/455/PM of 23 November 1992.
The board is made up of six members and its day to day activities are managed by three; the Chairperson, the Manager and the Financial Secretary.
Today and with the help of donors from all over the world we give technical and financial assistance to almost 60 farming groups in and around Bambui. We concentrate our assistance essentially on organic farming. Most of our farmers carry out crops cultivation, piggery, goats, sheep and cows rearing and poultry farming just to name these few.