The 8th edition of the French Week in Kinshasa kicked off on Wednesday, 24 April 2024. It's an excellent place for the French and Congolese business communities to meet. This year's theme was "The levers of growth in the DRC". The idea is to set up B2B meetings between French companies and companies based in the DRC and B2G meetings.

Workshops were held on a range of topics, including mining, infrastructure and logistics, agribusiness, fintech/cybersecurity, entrepreneurship/SMEs, energy, health, and human resources.

On the entrepreneurship front, a workshop on financing small and medium-sized enterprises was held on Friday, 26 April 2024, in the marquee of the Pullman Hotel in Kinshasa. The workshop brought together financing institutions and entrepreneurs to discuss various financing issues.

We had five speakers, including two banks (EquityBCDC and Advans Bank), a start-up and young business acceleration platform (Kobo Hub), and two women entrepreneurs working in agri-food processing.

The two banks gave us the lowdown on the conditions for acquiring credit. For Equity BCDC, represented by its SME Country Manager, many factors are involved in obtaining financial support while explaining the difference between support and financing.

EquityBCDC takes a local approach to support, helping SMEs make their activities profitable so they can become eligible for financing. In addition to lending money, EquityBCDC is also setting up training programmes in financial education, management, and other areas as part of its social responsibility for financial inclusion.

On the Advans Bankside, Herman FOKO, Marketing and Sales Director, talked about how to get financing from Advans Bank. To flag up a few things: the amount of financing varies between $1,000 and $200,000; you have to be the owner of the activity, you have to have been around for a year, and you have to have been in the sector for six months to be eligible for financing for six months. The repayment period is between six and 36 months.

Advans Bank has a customer support programme to help customers develop their finances. When it comes to interest rates, the bank says it depends. If you deposit money with Advans, you'll get a loan with a lower interest rate than if you only deal with another bank.

Ms Bemvinda Khang, in charge of projects at KOBO HUB, gave us the lowdown on this PMS and start-up incubator. They're all about providing in-kind support to start-ups in the agricultural and processing sectors and those in the cultural and creative industries. Unlike commercial banks, Kobo Hub doesn't have a lifespan as a condition for supporting a company. On top of that, Kobo Hub offers mentoring, networking and training for young people looking to start their own business.

The two women entrepreneurs, Sivi Malukisa and Tisya Mukuna, who are in charge of Manitech and the La Kinoise coffee brand, shared their success stories and discussed their challenges. The two entrepreneurs, who have seen the problem from the inside, encouraged SMEs to have a vision and commitment to what they do.

Serge Mumbu, General Manager of Target Sarl and administrator at the Franco-Congolese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFC), was responsible for organising the workshop (selecting and briefing speakers). This event allowed entrepreneurs to raise their concerns and get answers from the financing and SME support institutions and the two women entrepreneurs.