Soil & water studies
ICERD Cameroon
Soil (parcel F) and water analysis. Author of the 2026 field-visit report and environmental expert of the project's ESG & Compliance Committee.
Ecosystem
Partners & firms
A mature ecosystem of technical, financial and institutional partners serving the PROAQUI project — from the first-rank integrator to the supervising authorities.
First-rank technical and financial partner
TACE Trading, integrator of the PROAQUI complex
The PROAQUI project is carried by ZEIAQUA-INDUSTRIE SA, a project company subsidiary of ZEIDEAL GROUP SAS, in a first-rank technical and financial partnership with TACE Trading. Beyond a mere supplier, TACE Trading is the integrator of the agro-industrial complex: it provides the overall technical structuring and the ongoing support of the project company's Management Committee.
Structuring services provided by TACE Trading
- Technical integration of international equipment suppliers (floating cages, hatcheries, feed plant, IQF freezing units).
- Introductions to international lenders and support for structuring the financing round.
- Support for the multi-jurisdiction structuring of the financing round.
- Ongoing support of the Management Committee in international industrial aquaculture expertise.
- Technical expertise in heavy maintenance of aquaculture equipment.
Institutional framework
The State of Cameroon's "Plaine Centrale" programme
PROAQUI is a structuring private project embedded in the "Plaine Centrale" programme led by the State of Cameroon — a land-development and large-farmer-settlement programme along the Batchenga–Ntui–Yoko–Tibati–Ngaoundéré corridor, led by MINADER and MINDCAF within the import-substitution policy of the 2020–2030 National Development Strategy. ZEIDEAL GROUP SAS formalized its inclusion in this framework by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State of Cameroon, attesting institutional recognition of the project and the award of the Dir land concession.
Engineering & advisory firms
The firms that documented the project's maturity
PROAQUI's technical, environmental and regulatory maturity is attested by executed and contracted assignments, fully self-financed by ZEIDEAL GROUP SAS.
Agronomic & hydric characterization
CSD Multi Services
Hydric, cartographic, geodesic, hydrological and photogrammetric characterization; surveying and agricultural parcelling of Block F.
Environmental & social impact
Global Consulting and Services
Detailed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), whose Terms of Reference were approved by MINEPDED.
Mapping & field studies
A concession characterized to international standard
The field assignments produced the full topographic survey of the concession (5,380.51-hectare main parcel and 218.56-hectare buffer zone along the Djérem), the pedological and hydric characterization (43 soil and 14 georeferenced water sampling points) and the 31-year climate analysis. WGS 1984 UTM33N reference, ALOS PALSAR 12.5 m imagery, MINADER-sourced data.
International technical partners
The industry's world references
PROAQUI relies on the world-reference equipment suppliers and operators in industrial aquaculture and animal nutrition.
Norway · Global equipment supplier
AKVA Group
Supplier of tropical floating aquaculture cages (417 cages at full capacity). World leader in cage aquaculture systems.
Brazil · Extrusion technology
Bühler do Brasil
Supplier of the extruded-pellet feed plant (100,000 tpa: 76 kt fish + 24 kt related), world leader in multi-species extrusion-granulation technology.
United Kingdom · Complementary equipment
Gael Force
Supplier of complementary aquaculture equipment: nets, anchoring, instrumentation and connected biometrics.
Indonesia · Technical reference
Regal Springs
World technical reference in tropical tilapia aquaculture (Indonesia, Honduras, Mexico), the project's benchmark farming standard.
Interprofessional & local partners
Cameroonian territorial anchoring
Aquaculture interprofession
OIDAC
Interprofessional Organization for the Development of Aquaculture in Cameroon — agreement for the promotion and distribution of fish feed, fingerlings and aquaculture equipment.
Operating partner — Nyong-Mfou
CODAM
Mfou District Development Committee — operational partner of the Mfou hatchery (owned 100% by the project company) serving the Nyong-Mfou aquaculture pole.
Engineering & assembly
MEN Group
Cameroonian technical partner in tropical aquaculture engineering and project assembly support.
Accounting & financial expertise
FNG Consulting
Accounting and financial advisory firm, contributing to the consolidated financial model and the pilot-phase accounting.
Reservoir operator
EDC
Electricity Development Corporation — operator of the Mbakaou hydroelectric dam, party to the aquaculture water-use agreement.
Financial architecture
Structuring arranger and lenders
PROAQUI financing mobilizes a two-tier lender ecosystem: a Phase 1 pilot round (national and bilateral lenders), then an international structuring architecture arranged by Afreximbank as sole Mandated Lead Arranger from Phase 2 onward. Tranche details are on the Investors page.
| Financial partner | Role |
|---|---|
| Afreximbank | Sole Mandated Lead Arranger (Phase 2) — OECD ECA syndication, Local Costs line, project preparation facility |
| PIISAAH BC-PME | Lead lender of the Phase 1 pilot |
| Banco do Brasil — PROEX | Buyer's credit for imported Brazilian equipment |
| Republic of Cameroon (C2D + BIP) | Sovereign tranche (Phase 2), within the Plaine Centrale programme |
| AfDB + BDEAC | Multilateral DFIs (Phase 2) — AfDB is the reference lender of the Plaine Centrale programme |
| Proparco/AFD + UNCDF | Bilateral DFIs (Phase 2) |
| UKEF + EKSFIN + PROEX | Syndicated OECD export-credit agencies (Phase 2) |
Supervising authorities
The regulatory and institutional framework
The project is conducted in relation with the competent Cameroonian authorities, in compliance with sectoral, environmental and land regulations.
- · MINADER — Agriculture and Rural Development (Plaine Centrale lead)
- · MINDCAF — State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure
- · MINEPIA — Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries
- · MINEPDED — Environment and Sustainable Development
- · MINEPAT — Economy, Planning and Regional Development
- · MINFI — Finance (sovereign tranche)
- · MINFOF — Forestry and Wildlife
- · API — Investment Promotion Agency
Becoming a satellite operator
The Satellite programme — at the heart of the business model
PROAQUI's 70/30 orchestrator model reserves 30% of output for satellite operators: autonomous companies, cooperatives and common-interest groups (GICs) specialised either in aquaculture or in farming. The project company runs 70% of capacity in-house and entrusts the remaining 30% to satellites. At full capacity, the aquaculture component comprises 160 satellite cages (74 at Mbakaou, 86 at Nyong-Mfou). The approach is deliberately inclusive: the number of partners is not capped, serving as many technically and economically viable operators as possible.
Who can become a satellite?
The profile sought
- Autonomous company, cooperative or common-interest group (GIC), specialised in its field.
- Selected on proven experience and operational mastery of the activity.
- One activity per satellite: aquaculture cage farming, or maize, or soy.
- Autonomous enterprise with its own investment and operating means; multi-year contractual commitment.
PROAQUI's interventions
Full technical support
- The full technical support of partner TACE Trading: the same training and skills transfer as the whole PROAQUI project.
- The supply of fingerlings and feed (aquaculture component) from the integrated value chain, or support with farming inputs.
- Husbandry or cultivation protocols and ongoing technical monitoring.
- A guaranteed outlet: purchase of output at a firm, pre-agreed transfer price.
The role of satellites
Autonomous enterprises
Satellites are autonomous enterprises that operate their own production units and bear the related investment. PROAQUI cedes them neither its land nor any pre-financing. The contracts clearly specify PROAQUI's interventions for each satellite — technical support, input supply and a guaranteed outlet. Satellites thus focus on their production, strengthening local inclusion and the complex's scale-up.
The three types of satellite
One specialisation, a single activity
- Aquaculture satellites — tilapia farming in floating cages (Mbakaou and Nyong-Mfou).
- Maize agricultural satellites — maize production, a feed raw material.
- Soy agricultural satellites — soy production, a feed raw material.
Distinct from the satellite model — raw-material suppliers
Beyond the satellites, the plant sources from suppliers of raw materials for its by-product feeds (poultry, cattle and pig feed). These suppliers are not part of the satellite model: they receive neither TACE Trading's technical support nor the skills transfer reserved for satellites. This is a standard commercial supply relationship.
Would you like to become a satellite operator?
Register your interest: our team will get back to you to assess your project and walk you through the onboarding path.
Structuring the sector
The future Cooperative of Cameroon's Aquaculturists (CODAC)
To structure the aquaculture satellite segment over the long term, the Group supports the future creation of the Cooperative of Cameroon's Aquaculturists (CODAC), a technical organ of CODAM (the Mfou District Development Committee). CODAC will be tasked with federating Cameroon's aquaculturists, promoting aquaculture as a sector of the future, and forming the privileged antechamber from which the satellite aquaculture operators will be drawn — operators who will apply to join the PROAQUI project and operate the 30% of output reserved for this segment.
CODAC will thus form the organised pool from which PROAQUI identifies, trains and selects its future satellite aquaculture partners, ensuring consistent technical standards and strong local roots.