Running a business in Cameroon from abroad

You live abroad. Your hardware store in Douala runs thanks to a manager you trust, who gives you the day’s total by phone every evening. One morning, it is a supplier who calls: two deliveries are still unpaid, though you were told they had been settled. Did a payment go astray? Is money missing from the till? Or is it a simple mistake? From abroad, all you can do is call, and the manager tells you everything is fine.

The problem is not your manager. It is that all your information goes through him. Running a business from a distance means replacing the evening report with data produced at the very moment the business happens, and that you look at yourself.

This guide sets out what to put in place, in order, to run a business in Cameroon without being there every day.

What changes when you manage from a distance?

On site, you see the stock, the till and the customers. From abroad, you only see what you are shown. Three risks follow:

• Information arrives filtered, by the very people whose work you need to check.
• Discrepancies are discovered late, often on your next visit.
• Decisions wait, because you do not have the numbers at the right time.

The answer comes down to one principle: trust does not rule out control. Good controls also protect an honest manager, who can prove, figures in hand, that the till is right.

Why check your dashboard yourself?

The first tool is a dashboard fed directly by the till, the stock and the payments received. It depends on nobody to stay up to date, and you check it on your phone, whatever time it is where you live.

A good dashboard fits on a phone screen. If it takes ten minutes to understand the day, nobody will look at it.

Which access rights should you plan for your absence?

The second tool is invisible: access rights. They decide who can do what, and they leave a record of who did what.

• You, the owner: administrator, with multi-factor authentication switched on.
• The manager: all day-to-day operations, but not deleting a confirmed sale or changing a closed till session.
• The cashier: selling and taking payment, nothing else.
• The accountant: the accounts, with no ability to change stock.

Three rules complete the setup:

1. One account per person. A shared password makes the history useless: nobody knows who did what any more.
2. Separate the duties. Whoever sells does not adjust stock, and whoever orders does not receive goods alone.
3. Remove access the same day someone leaves.

Software such as Odoo sets these rights app by app, from access to one’s own documents only up to the administrator role. They still have to be configured before day one. Odoo’s official documentation describes access rights per app and how to turn on multi-factor authentication.

How do you control cash and Mobile Money from abroad?

The till and Mobile Money are the two places where money can disappear quietly. Control rests on four habits:

1. A close every evening, with the cash count, the discrepancy and its explanation, sent to you without your having to ask.
2. Mobile Money numbers in the business’s name, whose history you can check yourself where the operator and your account type allow it.
3. Regular bank deposits, which you check on the bank statement rather than on a photo of the deposit slip.
4. A spending limit above which your approval is needed, with a supporting document for every cash payment out.

Reconciling each payment method, day after day, is what makes these checks possible. Our guide to Odoo ERP in Cameroon explains why Mobile Money has to be dealt with from the very start of a project.

The spending limit has another advantage. When you are far away, a scammer can pose as you to your manager, on WhatsApp or by phone, and demand an urgent payment. The rule “no spending above the limit without your approval, confirmed by a call-back” stops it dead. Our guide to WhatsApp and Mobile Money scams describes this trap and the others aimed at business owners living abroad.

How do you count stock without being there?

Stock is where losses build up most slowly, and therefore for longest. To control it from abroad:

• Have a few products counted every week, chosen from the most expensive or best-selling, by someone other than the person who sells.
• Ask for blind counts, without the expected quantity in view.
• Arrange surprise counts, at your request, by a trusted person outside the team.
• Receive purchases against the purchase order, so that what is paid for matches what came in.
• Watch adjustments, returns and discounts: an unusual figure there often flags a problem before the margin does.

How do you choose and support your local team?

No software replaces a reliable team. But a reliable team needs a clear framework.

• Written responsibilities: who opens, who closes, who counts, who orders, who takes cash to the bank.
• Two people rather than one for sensitive tasks, such as counting the till or making bank deposits.
• A reference person outside the team: a family member, your accountant or a business partner, who can go on site, check a count or collect a document.
• Simple, written procedures for opening, closing, receiving goods and expenses.

Which routines should you keep daily, weekly and monthly?

Managing from afar depends less on tools than on routine. Set appointments and keep them, allowing for the time difference.

Every day, a few minutes: today’s sales compared with the usual, the till close and its discrepancy, Mobile Money received, and unusual operations such as cancellations, discounts or adjustments.

Every week, a call with the manager, on a fixed day and time: count results, customer debts, planned purchases, expenses, problems. The call starts from the figures you have already checked, not from the ones being read out to you.

Every month, a full review: margin, bank reconciliation, a conversation with the accountant, and decisions for the month ahead. When you are back in Cameroon, do a full count yourself.

What should you set up before you leave?

1. Put the accounts in the business’s name: bank, Mobile Money numbers, domain name and email.
2. Keep the administrator access, with multi-factor authentication and recovery details you can use from abroad.
3. Check your login codes. If they arrive by SMS on a Cameroonian number, make sure you can receive them outside the country.
4. Install the system and run it in while you are still there, over several weeks of real activity.
5. Write the procedures down and have each person confirm their responsibilities.
6. Choose your reference person on the ground.
7. Secure power and Internet for the till.
8. Set up data backups, and check that a restore actually works: our backup guide explains the method.
9. Agree the routines: which report, which day, at what time.

How can Nematek help?

Nematek has a presence in Cameroon and in the United States, and works in French and English. In Cameroon, our engineer installs the solution and trains your team on site; day-to-day support then happens remotely, by call.

Nematek One Gestion Commerciale brings together the till, stock, purchasing and cash closing, with an owner dashboard, roles and an activity log, all available from a phone or a computer. Our Odoo ERP services cover scoping, setting up access rights and training. To talk it through, describe your situation in a free assessment request.