The Congo Entrepreneurship Guarantee Fund (Fonds de Garantie de l’Entrepreneuriat au Congo, FOGEC) signed a memorandum of understanding with microfinance institution Bisou-Bisou on Dec. 9, 2025, aimed at facilitating access to credit for members of the National Network of Rural Women’s Associations (RENAFER).

Under the agreement, the two parties plan to set up a guarantee product known as “Kolisa Libenga”, designed to make it easier for rural women to access loans provided by Bisou-Bisou.

FOGEC Director General Laurent Munzemba said the fund intends to allocate more than $2 million to the project. The guarantee mechanism is expected to enable RENAFER members to obtain individual loans of up to $5,000 from Bisou-Bisou. No timeline has yet been announced for the signing of a final agreement or the launch of the scheme.

FOGEC said the partnership reflects its strategy of expanding access to finance beyond the traditional banking system and supporting economic participants often excluded from conventional financing channels, particularly those operating in the informal sector. Munzemba added that the fund plans to scale up similar partnerships to reach other categories of entrepreneurs in both urban and rural areas.

RENAFER, the programme’s beneficiary, is a non-governmental development organisation established in February 2020. According to information published on its website, it serves as a national platform for information and training for rural women, with a focus on sustainable agriculture, addressing constraints on production and promoting financial empowerment. The network says it has a presence in 12 of the country’s 26 provinces, including Kinshasa, Kongo Central, Equateur, Maniema, South Kivu, North Kivu, Tshopo, Haut-Katanga, Kasai Central, Kasai Oriental, Kwilu and Lualaba.

By contrast, Bisou-Bisou, FOGEC’s operational partner in the programme, appears to operate mainly in Kinshasa and surrounding areas, based on publicly available information. This raises questions about how RENAFER members in other provinces will be able to effectively access the scheme.

However, during the presentation of its Pillar 3 report for the 2024 financial year in May 2025, Bisou-Bisou said it had entered into a partnership with Vodacash, the fintech arm of Vodacom that operates the M-Pesa mobile money service. The partnership aims to expand the institution’s nationwide reach while keeping operating costs under control. Bisou-Bisou cited these costs as one of the factors behind its net loss of 607.2 million Congolese francs in 2024, equivalent to about $213,000 at the average exchange rate for the year.

Timothée Manoke