Audrey Chicot, pioneer of the Cameroonian metallurgical industry

Audrey Chicot is an inspiring entrepreneur in the metal industry. The Cameroonian woman has succeeded not only in making a name for herself in a field still dominated by men, but also in raising the profile of her country’s metal industry. Her company, MSMI, has become the leader in the mechanical manufacturing and industrial maintenance sector in Cameroon.

In 2003, at the age of 27, Audrey Chicot created her company « Multiservices et matériels industriels » (MSMI), which specialises in the manufacture of mechanical parts and industrial maintenance. At the beginning, nothing predestined this native of the Cameroonian coast to embark on this field. But through determination, perseverance and courage, she was able to enter this field and professionalise this activity.

With a bachelor’s degree in accounting, she worked in her uncle’s office and then as a salesperson in several companies. It was in one of them that she met Fabien Chicot, a French engineer of arts and crafts, who had come to Cameroon to deliver mechanical parts, given that the Cameroonian industry relied mainly on foreigners for mechanical manufacturing and industrial maintenance. Married to him in 2001, she went to France where she joined the Chicot family company and for three years, she followed several training courses in industrial maintenance and mechanical manufacturing.

In 2003, she returned to Cameroon with her family and created MSMI, a professional industrial maintenance company, well-equipped to meet local demand. This enabled her to distinguish herself from the few workshops in the field that existed in Cameroon to date and which mainly operated in the informal sector.

In a few years, thanks to her professionalism, she conquered the industrial maintenance and mechanical manufacturing market in Cameroon. She invested almost all sectors of industry: petroleum, naval, heavy industry, textiles, wood, cosmetics, plastics, agro-industry …With nearly 80 employees, her company achieved an annual turnover of more than 600 million CFA francs.

Due to the growth and performance of her business, MSMI has been classified as a “Cameroonian strategic industrialization company by 2035”.

In addition to providing her country with a real metallurgical industry, she is also committed to integrating more women in this field, in particular by offering them internships, jobs, technical positions …

Also president of the Interprofessional Association of Manufacturing and Industrial Maintenance in Cameroon (Aifmc), the Cameroonian entrepreneur is always in search of growth and performance. Today, she nurtures the ambition to become the leader of the Central Africa sub-region.

Audrey Chicot was rewarded for her performances. In 2014, her company was ranked 6th out of more than 900 companies of the same size worldwide by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also honored her for her use of the Kaizen method of quality management at the national level.