CEO: H. E. Tawah
Che Crecy
H. E. Tawah Che Crecy retired from Cameroon’s
Diplomatic service as Minister Plenipotentiary after over 30 years of serving
the country in its bilateral embassies in the Federal Republic of Germany,
United Kingdom and United States of America. Multilaterally he represented the
country in various organs notably UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation), IMO (International Maritime Organisation), AU (African Union),
UNO (United Nations Organization), Commonwealth of Nations, amongst others.
Internally he among other things served the country in various capacities
notably piloting its successful admission into the Commonwealth of Nations,
presiding over the Ad Hoc Committee on the Socioeconomic Revitalization of the
Northwest Region.
Aurora
Building Materials (ABM) was jumpstarted as a Local Building Materials Company
and now is consolidating its end drive by putting in the Cameroon Real Estate
Market Place high end low cost houses that would remain valid as Cameroon
rushes into an emerging nation by 2035. Under Crecy Che Tawah’s leadership ABM
created a number of Local Building Materials that are Patent Right Protected at
the level of the UN African Intellectual Property Protection Organization. No
wonder ABM has won a number of awards, including the highly coveted President
of the Republic’s 1st Prize on Enterprise Innovation (JERSI 2011)
and the Commonwealth 1st Price on Enterprise Promotion (2013).
Though
in 2013 he unsuccessfully ran for Parliament in the Bamenda/Bali Constituency
under the CPDM ticket, he nevertheless obtained over 26,000 votes in this over
91,000 registered voters constituency. This is by far more than any candidate
of the ruling party has ever obtained in that constituency since multiparty
politics was re-introduced in Cameroon. Overall, he is socio-politically very
active and is a Christian of the Amazing PCC Azire and a proud son of Atuakom
Mankon Bamenda.
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| The Oven-An important aspect in the production chain of Clay Fire Products |
The
Initiative
The
Uniqueness of AURORA Building Material Company in Bamenda is its being almost
the only initiative in Cameroon that relies completely on local materials to
produce exceptionally top quality building materials that can stand their
grounds and compete fairly with products on the Cameroonian and why not the
African Market. Its Uniqueness is also seen in its ability to change the
traditional market behavior of buyers of building materials and to equally
educate them on the advantages of using Fire Clay products and other local
material based products in their building projects. Bellow are excerpts of an
interview with Crecy Che Tawah, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the
Company. He starts by explaining the way the initiative came into existence.
This Company was
conceived in 2009 and the name was given by my eldest daughter named after my
late mother. The concept she and her brothers agreed upon was “the new dawn;”
that very early morning ray of the sun that you will find at the North or the
South Pole at three or four a.m. We worked on this concept by always trying to
introduce something new and of high quality. We work using local raw materials
and transforming them into high quality products. We are always trying to make
people see that local materials do not mean sub standard. We have the standard
products that you will find in any Fire Clay Producing Company that finds
itself in the domain of building materials like Burn Bricks and Clay Tiles. We
went beyond that by coming out with artistic and cultural products which have
been protected at the level of African International Property
Organisation.
What pushed you into
creating an initiative in this domain?
First
we have a large estate property of about 22 hectares of land. We approached
MIPROMALO the National outfit that concerns itself with the promotion of the
use of local materials and knowing that we will be building lots of houses; the
question here was how to lower the cost of building materials and
simultaneously maintain high quality. We contacted the Director of MIPROMALO
Professor Uphie Melo now Chancellor of the University of Ngoundere and she
insisted that we go into the production of Fire Clay Products. While I was
travelling abroad at the government’s request visiting a couple of countries to
tender invitations to them the professor visited here with some people and they
carried out the first building research and that’s how we continued to create
this company which does Fire Clay Products and Cement Products like Vibrated Yard
Pavements, Cement Blocks and a series of other things. We also have Compressed
Earth Block Products; the interlocking ones using the South African concept;
the Hydroform Concept. We also have the Mortar Concept in which we use a
machine imported from India. We eventually got into the Quarry World because at
the time there was no quarry in the North West Region of Cameroon. You can’t do
large scale projects without quarry products. That’s how the concept came about
and we are happy that it’s catching up.
If I come to you as a
builder, what exactly am I going to get from you?
When
you come to AURORA and if you buy into the Real Estate Package that we are
providing then you will select a piece of land in the gated community. Our
property is partly gated. The Modest Income Section is open while the Middle,
High and Luxury Income Sections are gated. It is the kind of house you select
that will permit us to know the category in which you fall. When you select
your dream house, we then custom design it for you. We have architects with
whom we collaborate and all you need to do is specify the number of rooms and
parlours that you will need and the architect does the rest. However you can
always modify the house with the architect. By the time the house is done, it
can no longer be the design that we came out with. The exterior will be
maintained but the interior would have been altered to meet up with the
specific needs of the person concerned.
What
we do is that we give you options and you build the kind of house that your
pocket can permit you build. The property is called Ntahtawah City located at
Atuakom in Mankon Bamenda. When you look at it from Up Station it provides a
great view and you will see that it’s a great piece of land. Immediately your
piece of land is selected, our building arm takes control. We work with
Engineers, Surveyors, Architects all professionals. There is however the
possibility of selecting a piece of land and then choosing your own builders to
do the building job. However, our quality control team will carry out a follow
up to make sure that quality is maintained. There is also the possibility of getting
a loan at the cheapest possible rates from Credit Foncier du Cameroun, a
financial institution that is in partnership with Aurora Building Material ABM
and the Ntah Tawah City Project.
What exactly can
those who need building materials get from you?
We
are a Certified Local Building Material Technology Transfer Center and the
local building materials are of top quality. When you go to the Metropolitan
Cathedral here in Bamenda and take a look at the Catechist’s house which is a
three level building then you will see an example of what we do. It’s a three
level building. It is a building done with our products and is one of the best
buildings in the Cathedral Complex.
Other
projects we have realised include the building if the Ministry of Tourism
directly opposite the Court of Appeal at Up Station in Bamenda, and the
Catholic Women Association National Head Office is also built using our
materials. There are a series of buildings in Bamenda, Yaounde and Douala that
are built using our materials. When we sell or use our products we make sure
they are of great quality. We did bring in Professor Wim Paastor from the
Netherlands, an expert in the field who was in charge of Netherland’s norms in
fire clay and he passed some time with us here. He appreciated our products and
had a lot of praises for what we were doing. At the same time, MIPROMALO
brought in a gentleman who manages a Clay Fire Industry in India. We look for
knowledge and when ever any problem is noted with our products, we look into it
and rectify it. We make sure that we continuously carry out research with an
aim of improving the quality level of our products.
Can you shed light on
the rock based products that your company produces?
We
have a quarry and the rock that we use is one of the hardest in the North West
Region of Cameroon. We received assurance in writing that the machines we got
from China will give us products that meet up with standards in the United
States of America. When you go into the Cement product area you will see that
we introduced Vibrated Yard Pavements and we had to bring people from Yaounde
who were experienced in the field to spend some time with us. Where we do not
know, we learn. I attended some of the classes in Fire Clay with MIPROMALO and
I remember at times I was the oldest student in class. We are inviting our
compatriots to believe in their own local skills. Because of high prices
importers sometimes go for low quality low materials from other countries. They
are happy but after a short while they run into problems. Sometimes you notice
that you may buy tiles that look white and after a short while you may not
recognise them anymore as white tiles. There is a difference between Ceramic
Tiles that are meant for the interior and those meant for the exterior of the
house. Those meant for the exterior have anti-solar rays embedded in them. Look
at the structures that the Germans built. Some 150 years afterwards, they still
look strong and solid but when you look at the cement buildings that we
construct these days they depreciate after a short while. It doesn’t make sense
when you spend more money and you don’t get the desired quality. The company is
moving towards certification in the ISO 9001/2015 quality management norm so as
to make sure that we give maximum satisfaction to our customers. The government
of Cameroon has supported the project with a tarred road from Azire New Church
to the Estate itself.
How do people get
access to your products?
We
have a web site for AURORA Building Material Company and you can visit the site
and place a command for your products. That’s how we have been able to ship
products to Fumban, Douala, Yaounde and other towns on the National territory.
In other cases when it comes to Stabilized and Compressed Earth Blocks we take
our machines to our clients and produce them on the spot as we did in Buea, in
Mamfe and in other places. So depending on the distance, we move the material
to you or get our machines to you and produce your material on the spot.
With your development
oriented background you certainly do not plan to stop here.
Ntahtawah
City is an all inclusive package. It includes a Residential Quarter, a Business
District Center, a Health Section with a Pharmacy, a Specialised Clinic, a
Sports Center, a three to four star hotel, an International Conference Center
and a Shopping Mall. When all of this is done, Bamenda will certainly be a
wonderful place to live in. Everything has been lined up for construction to
begin very soon. Once this takes off, we have an even bigger project lined up
for Yaounde. The Yaounde project is about four times the project in Bamenda.
Each layout will have its Home Owners Association which will guarantee standards, quality and security.
Do you have any
particular message that you will want to put across?
Irrespective
of where you are whether retired or still active, love your country and come
back home lets help develop this country. I was in the UK, in Germany and in
the United States. I must have visited at least 50 countries but home is home
so come let’s develop it. Do not admire other people’s homes and remain there.
Bring the ideas you have picked from there and implant them back home. We
should work hard and develop this country and leave something behind for our
children when we move on. We should leave our inerasable imprint on the sands
of time. Look at the Henry Fords, the Rockefellers, the Hondas and many more.
Any activity is
directly linked to the sociopolitical atmosphere in a country. What is your
take on the crises situation in Cameroon?
It
is simple. When there is a problem, it must be attended to. The Anglophone
problem in Cameroon is a reality. The earlier it is attended to, the better for
the peace and stability of Cameroon. If we truly love this country then the
problem should be solved from its roots and in a holistic manner. The parties
involved in the crises are beginning to use hate language and this has a
tendency of taking minds away from the real problem and putting the much
cherished peace that we have at risk. The radicalism that we see comes out of
frustration and if this is to be checked before it gets too far, then people in
decision making positions should assume their responsibilities by doing what is
supposed to be done.
See
more at
N.B
The
Cameroon People Team had an opportunity to visit the Aurora Building material site
at Atuakom in Bamenda and had an upfront appreciation of what is going on at
the factory. Most striking is the use of local raw materials as the base from
which their products are made. The photos that accompany this publication will hopefully permit our readers have a concrete idea of our experience at AURORA Building Material Company at Atouakom in Bamenda.
Les Gens Du Cameroun/ Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/678401408/ 696594138/ 667169106
