Democratic Republic of Congo - Empowering Women Entrepreneurs and Upgrading MSMEs for Economic Transformation and Jobs in Democratic Republic of Congo Project

Overview & Synopsis

The development objective of the Empowering Women Entrepreneurs and Upgrading MSMEs for Economic Transformation and Jobs in DRC Project for Democratic Republic of Congo is to enhance growth of new and existing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially women-owned, and promote job creation particularly for women in select geographic areas. The additional financing is requested to scale up well-performing activities that face higher-than-expected demand, deepen access to finance, sustain complex but high-impact business environment reforms, and extend the geographic scope to capture spillovers from strategic corridors, while allowing time to manage fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) risks in the East and resume activities when conditions permit. The Bank will work in four areas: first, expanding support to women micro-entrepreneurs and firm creation through integrated training, coaching, Business Plan Competitions (BPCs), and performance-linked grants to catalyze technology adoption, productivity, diversification, and climate resilience; second, strengthening financial inclusion by reinforcing credit infrastructure, topping up the Partial Portfolio Credit Guarantee Fund (PPCGF) including a new women-entrepreneurs window and a focus on renewable energy finance, and modernizing payments and digitization within participating institutions and the Central Bank of Congo (BCC), while advancing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML CFT) practices; third, improving the entrepreneurship ecosystem through targeted regulatory and institutional reforms such as re-dynamizing the One-Stop-Shop for Business Registration (Guichet Unique de Création d’Entreprise, GUCE), advancing commercial justice digitalization, supporting Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and deploying shared SME Centers to expand market access and value chain services; and fourth, strengthening implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and citizen engagement as activities expand along the Inga and Lobito corridors. The project intends to finance and coach thousands of additional women entrepreneurs, new firms, and established SMEs; unlock more MSME lending through the PPCGF with increased participation by financial institutions; operationalize additional SME Centers; and deliver reforms that reduce administrative burdens, improve transparency, and crowd in private investment, thereby increasing firm revenues, fostering economic diversification, and creating tens of thousands of new jobs with a strong focus on women’s employment and climate-smart results.