On Monday, January 27, 2025, EquityBCDC launched its “Pour Elle” project in Kinshasa, designed to help women entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
The aim of the project is to train and support 150 women entrepreneurs in management, leadership, law, well-being and networking, while establishing partnerships to support the growth of their businesses.
It also aims to facilitate access to financing; develop adapted financial products and provide financial education to enable women to access financing and guarantee the sustainability of their projects.
The program, which covers Kinshasa (21 of the 24 communes) and the city of Bukavu in the province of South Kivu, targets individual micro-entrepreneurs, micro-entrepreneur-owners and small and medium-sized enterprises with growth potential.
The project is being implemented by the Social Investment Department through its “Financial inclusion and enterprise development” pillar.
According to Espérance N’sarhaza, Head of the Financial Inclusion and Enterprise Development pillar at Equity, this is a technical and financial support program. The technical support will last six (6) months.
Three and a half months will be devoted to training on a range of topics, and two and a half months to coaching, mentoring and networking.
After this coaching period, 1/3 of the women will have access to financing in the form of an honorarium.
“As a pilot project, Monday January 27 marked the actual start of the program’s implementation through technical support. Well before this date, EquityBCDC had launched a notice of expression of interest in its social networks, agencies and mediacongo. Out of 677 women who submitted their applications, 584 in Kinshasa and 93 in Bukavu, 150 women, including 100 in Kinshasa and 50 in Bukavu, were selected for this pilot phase. After field visits, pitches and other constraints based on a number of criteria (age, duration of activity, sector of activity, etc.), 143 women were finally selected to start the program, 105 in Kinshasa and 38 in Bukavu”, she explained.
Selection criteria included knowledge and implementation of ecological practices, equity, gender and social inclusion, profitability and certification, and community initiatives.
This program is in line with the objectives of the Financial Inclusion pillar, which is “to contribute to the economic empowerment of women through technical and financial support to improve the performance and viability of their entrepreneurial projects”.
AGNÈS KAYEMBE