Emmanuel Neossi

Emmanuel Neossi
Bornc. 1973
Other nameEmmanuel Néossi
EducationAccounting, technical high school of Kékem
OccupationsCocoa farmer, trader, businessman, industrialist
OrganizationNeo Industry SA
Known forFounding Neo Industry, a cocoa processing company in Kékem
TitleChairman of the board of directors, Neo Industry SA
Children8

Emmanuel Neossi (also spelled Néossi; born c. 1973) is a Cameroonian cocoa trader, businessman and industrialist.

He founded Neo Industry, a cocoa bean processing company whose plant in Kékem, inaugurated in 2019, was presented as the first Cameroonian-owned cocoa processing factory.

Biography

Childhood, education and early career

Neossi was born in Kékem, in the Haut-Nkam department of the West Region, and grew up on cocoa plantations. After studying accounting at the technical high school in Kékem, he took up cocoa farming and, with his mother's help, expanded his plot to 50 hectares. He then spent many years in cocoa trading.

Career

He founded Neo Industry in 2015. The company's plant in Kékem was inaugurated on 26 April 2019. It cost about 54 billion CFA francs, including state support, and was designed to process 32,000 tonnes of beans a year, about 10% of Cameroon's harvest, into cocoa butter, cocoa mass, powder and cake.

In November 2020, SCB Cameroon, a subsidiary of Attijariwafa Bank, launched a tender to dismantle the plant after Neo Industry struggled to repay a 13-billion-CFA-franc loan; the company had processed only 4,286 tonnes in the 2019–2020 season. The plant nevertheless remained in operation: in 2025 the company announced an expansion to raise its capacity to 80,000 tonnes a year by 2026. In May 2026, Neo Industry became the first Cameroon-based member of the International Cocoa Initiative, with Neossi as chairman of its board of directors.

Neossi also launched a public–private partnership project to build a shopping centre on the site of the former Congo market in Douala.

Personal life

Neossi is married and has eight children.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Décideur : Emmanuel Néossi, patron de la transformation du cacao made in Cameroun". EcoMatin (in French). 2019-04-30.
  2. 1 2 "Emmanuel Néossi, nouveau prince camerounais du cacao". Jeune Afrique (in French). 2020-07-15.
  3. 1 2 "Samuel Neossi, the successful cocoa buyer turned the industrial processor". Business in Cameroon. 2020-07-29.
  4. 1 2 3 "Cameroon's Neo Industry plans to triple cocoa grinding capacity with plant expansion". Business in Cameroon. 2025-09-10.
  5. ↑ Mbodiam, Brice R. (2020-11-24). "SCB Cameroon moves to dismantle Neo Industry's cocoa processing plant in Kekem following loan-repayment issues". Business in Cameroon.
  6. ↑ "Neo Industry SA joins ICI as its first member in Cameroon". International Cocoa Initiative. 2026-05-18.