Hydraform Magazine Edition 3

Case Study: Africa

Cameroon

It was not long in the making, however ZOMA’s first successful blockyard & construction

business in Cameroon is on its way to becoming a model business in Africa.

from the ground up

Building a socially responsible

Business

OMABlockyard&Construction Business was established

in January 2013 to address the funding needs of Aumazo

Inc, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organisation whose mission is

to empower girls in rural Cameroon with educational

opportunities to attend high school in order to enjoy

more successful lives as young adults.

Aumazo Inc is building a community-based boarding

high school that will benefit girls in Bankondji and

the neighbouring villages. The organisation started

construction of its first school in the village in 2007. The

school’s green design includes its own water filtration

system, sewage management (possibly composting

toilets), and renewable energy.

Funds from the founder and a number of individual

donors were sufficient to start the first phase of the

school construction. Aumazo needs to raise more funds

to complete the infrastructure development of the

administrative-classroom building and the dormitory.

Anticipating that the school will become self-sustaining,

Aumazo developed a major sustainability program that

includes the ZOMA blockyard & construction business.

The machine we acquired from Hydraform in 2010

produces 1 500 interlocking dry-stacked, soil-cement

environmentally friendly blocks daily. It uses lateritic

soil and less cement and construction does not require

using reinforcement iron bars in the structure. We use

the machine to produce and sell blocks as well as build

houses, thus raising additional funds for reinvestment and

sustainability of the school operating costs.

We have developed strong relations with local

communities and are currently concentrating our

operations in western Cameroon where the construction

business is located. We are already taking advantage

of the increased demand for housing in the region

and around the country. So far we have completed six

housing projects and more potential homeowners are

contacting us through

www.zomabuild.com.

In collaboration with RM Sovich Architecture firm based

in Baltimore, Maryland, we worked on the new school

design that is relevant to the rural environment. Together,

we also designed other house floorplans including our

own model house floorplan under construction that will

be completed in January 2016. We have also developed

other floorplans that we introduced to the Ministry of

HousingandUrbanDevelopment inCameroon regarding

possible construction contracts for houses, schools and

health facilities.

Currently our focus is to complete construction of the

Aumazo first school in Bankondji. ZOMA’s ultimate goal

however is to expand beyond the borders of Cameroon

and introduce this unique business model to other

countries in Africa.