By Our Reporter
26 Kenyan companies have committed trade investments worth $1.6Billion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 26 traders are part of the Kenya delegation that participated in last year’s Kenya-DRC Trade Mission organized by the Government of Kenya and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in partnership with Equity Group.
This comes after the 15 day Kenya-DRC Trade Mission that was organized by Equity Group in partnership with the Kenya and DRC Governments in November and December 2021 that saw over 350 local entrepreneurs visit Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Goma and Mbuji Mayi and interacted with over 7,000 business people from DRC.
Some of the companies that were part of the Kenya-DRC Trade Mission delegation who have made commitments in DRC include Rentco Africa Limited, Optiven Group, Greenlight Planet Limited, Jumbo Foam Limited, BIDCO, Geomaps, Nyanja Associates among others.
The DRC has a population of nearly 100 million and offers Kenyan entrepreneurs a huge market for their agriculture produce, locally manufactured goods and additional opportunities in the service industry through hotels and tourism as well as professional services.
The announcement was made in the presence of DRC’s President His Excellency Felix Tshisekedi at a business dinner hosted by Equity Group to celebrate the signing of the accession treaty by DRC after admission into the East African Community (EAC) and in furtherance of the Kenya-DRC Trade relations. The dinner was attended by the Kenya DRC trade mission delegation comprising of government officials including Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development Betty Maina and some of the Kenyan traders who participated in the trade mission last year.
While speaking at the event, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi expressed his gratitude to President Felix Tshisekedi and his government for the support during the trade mission and further expressed Equity’s commitment to boost investment in the country with an announcement of USD 100M capital injection in EquityBCDC to enhance Equity’s capacity to fund development projects and large mining & manufacturing companies in DRC.
Dr. Mwangi also noted that among the 26 companies who’ve made their commitments some will require DRC’s government support and made a plea to the DRC government to assist them conduct feasibility studies. Some of these firms include Kenya Builders & Concrete Co. Ltd that is looking to set up a cement company and Tru Foods Limited looking to set up an edible oil manufacturing plant.
This follows the signing of the accession treaty into the East African Community (EAC) by DRC after admission as the seventh member of the EAC regional bloc during the virtual 19th Extraordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State chaired by President Kenyatta on March 8th.
