Victor Fotso
Self-made industrialist from Bandjoun, founder of the Fotso group and CBC bank
Born in 1926-06-26 · Died in 2020
Who are they?
Victor Fotso was born on 26 June 1926 in Bandjoun, in western Cameroon. He left school at 15 to work on plantations in Foumbot and Bafang, then, self-taught, went into trade in Mbalmayo. He died in a hospital in the Paris area in March 2020.
What made them famous
Starting as a distributor for Pierre Castel, he built an industrial group: the exercise-book maker SAFCA in 1970, the battery factory PILCAM in 1974, then the match maker UNALOR, FERMENCAM and Commercial Bank Cameroon (CBC), founded in 1997. Mayor of Bandjoun from 1996 until his death, re-elected in February 2020, he founded the IUT de Bandjoun, one of the country's first university institutes of technology.
Key facts
- He told his story in an autobiography, « Le Chemin de Hiala » (1994), written with Jean-Pierre Guyomard.
- He paid for Bandjoun's town hall out of his own pocket.
- His foundation carries out charitable work, mainly in education, in Cameroon and Central Africa.