Networking lunch at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

On April 14th 2016, NAMé recycling was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands for a networking lunch. This invitation came after the "Business Without Borders" competition won by NAMé.

The purpose of this networking lunch was to see how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would support NAMé Recycling in their projects. This department was part of the jury of the competition whom awarded us a special prize in addition to the prize of the competition. This award was the prize for the "most promising project" of that competition. It was in this context that they offered to organize a networking Lunch.

Many people were present at this working dinner. There was:

- Jeroen Roodenburg, organizer of this meeting who works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director of Sustainable Economic Development.

- Eva Rootmensen from the "Entrepreneurs sans Frontières" Organization

- Juri van Dolderen and Anton van Elteren; Two persons from the FMO organization which is the funding body of the Dutch State for Developing Countries.

- Michiel Zimmer from the organization "Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland" which is an organization that supports entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in the Netherlands.

- Tim Van Groenewoud who works with "Live Build"; A social enterprise active in Cameroon and based in the Netherlands.

- Wim Hardeman, and Thomas Poelmans (NAMé Recycling)

During this Networking lunch, a presentation of Namé Recycling was made to explain the activities, objectives and above all the challenges of NAMé Recycling for convince Cameroonian companies to dispose of their plastic waste in a sustainable and responsible manner. Following this discussion, we received a list of Dutch companies based in Cameroon and at the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered to introduce NAMé Recycling to these companies.

At that time, in terms of financing, capital was still sought. They had put us in touch with Dutch organizations that could invest in NAMé Recycling.

We were introduced to FMO who was present at this lunch and also to an organization of individuals who want to contribute in projects.

Exchange with the Representative of the Organization "LiveBuild" was very enriching; It’s was based on their experiences in the field. Moreover, they proposed to organize a collection process in the regions where they are operational; Given that they already have an active network in the coffee sector and are present in several regions in Cameroon.