The business magnate cum diehard member of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) party was crowned winner of the 2020 Development Champion Award.

The recognition was conferred on his humble person by Cameroon’s lone English-language daily newspaper, The Guardian Post. This was during the authoritative and widely read newspaper’s Annual Achievement Awards ceremony which held in Yaoundé Friday 9 April 2021.

The crowd-pulling event rallied both national and international dignitaries notably the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, the Acting Nigerian High  Commissioner to  Cameroon,  the  Nigerian Consul  General for the  North -West and  South-West regions, the  Nigerian  Consul  General for  Littoral,  the  Secretary-General of the  National  Episcopal  Conference and the Technical  Adviser  No. 1 at the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilization Fund, CSPH alongside a cream of renowned journalists from diverse organs among other personalities.

Addressing attendees at the event, the Chairman of the award committee, Jude Viban, disclosed that the award was given to the entrepreneur following thousands of votes cast by readers, subscribers, advertisers, and partners of the newspaper and counted by a jury made up of renowned jurists of international repute and ace journalists.

Viban who also doubles as National President of the Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ, said the award accorded Edison Fru Ndi attest to his efforts in selflessly spear-heading several development initiatives that have contributed to transforming the North West regional capital, Bamenda.

Merited Award!

The self-made man from a very humble background has resolved to make Bamenda an Eldorado where tourists will not hesitate to visit once in Cameroon. His strides in this direction for a decade and more have kept him on the lips of many keen observers who venture into analyzing the path to Bamenda’s development. It is this resolve to contribute his own quota to see Bamenda turn into an enviable city in the country that he is affectionately considered people’s true servant.

Edison has within the ravaging four-year-long armed conflict proven his worth as a resilient entrepreneur. As proprietor of Dreamland Restaurant, Snack Bar, and Cabaret, he has held his grounds and stayed back to continue operating despite the challenges.

The founder of Bamenda’s first-ever and modern-day restaurant, Dreamland Restaurant in the early 90s has maintained his space as a leader in the business in the region. His remarkable exploits in this sector would later lead him to extend the restaurant into Dreamland Cabaret, which quickly became Bamenda’s entertainment hub. The entertainment joint which has nurtured and groomed many budding talents was rated best in the entire CEMAC Region in 2010.

Edison who also wears the cap of President of the North Chamber of Commerce has gone beyond his cuisine and entertainment business to create other businesses notably a giant quarry industry within Mankon which offers jobs to hundreds of youths without discrimination.

Edison Fru Ndi has distinguished himself as an exemplary contractor, who executes contracts granted him with satisfaction. It is this trustworthiness that made his peers catapult him to the position of President of the North West Contractors’ Syndicate, NOWECOSY.

Concerned with the health of Bamenda inhabitants, philanthropic, Edison Fru Ndi, joined the campaign to fight to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing anti-COVIUD-19 kits including thermoflash thermometers, wash hand buckets, facemask, and hand sanitizers among many others to several private and public institutions including Bamenda Regional  Hospital,  PMI  Nkwen, Baptist  Mbingo  Hospital,  the governor’s office,  CRTV North West,  Sacred  Heart  College,  Mankon,  Our  Lady of  Lourdes College,  Mankon and  Bangolan  Health  Centre.

In a bid to fight the rise in criminality and insecurity, the down-to-earth business magnet provided streets lights in some streets in  Bamenda including Fon’s  Street to  Ring  Way Street,  Ngeng  Junction to  Veterinary  Junction,  Mile  II  Nkwen, and  New  Road  (stretch from  Amour  Mezam  Express to  Up Station), etc.

The same gesture was extended to Sacred Heart College, Mankon when it went up in flames in 2017. Locals in this area also enjoy a borehole which he recently built and handed to them in a bid to fight the perennial problem of water shortage.