DRC: Patricia Nzolantima, an entrepreneur committed to women’s empowerment

Today, in Kinshasa, women can be drivers of car or motorbike taxis, in part thanks to the women’s taxi service, Ubizcabs. An initiative led by the Congolese entrepreneur Patricia Nzolantima, who is also the founder of a women’s start-up accelerator.

In Congo, and even internationally, Patricia Nzolantima is known as a “serial entrepreneur”. In fact, the Congolese woman has launched several companies and initiatives in different sectors: communication, marketing, transport, humanitarian… She holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Protestant University of Congo (UPC) and a Master’s degree in Business English, Management and Marketing in Cape Town in 2006. She embarked on entrepreneurship in 2008 by launching Exp-Comunicart, a communication and marketing agency present in 15 African countries. Despite a successful business, everything collapsed overnight.

In 2018, she got up from her previous failure. While studying business administration at Stanford and Harvard, she launched Ubizcabs, a premium taxi service with women as taxi drivers. The service allows women to drive taxis, a profession practiced exclusively by men in the DRC. It also aims to contribute to their autonomy, employment and emancipation. To distinguish itself, the start-up relies on a premium service. The taxis which are recognizable by their pink and gray colors, offer drinks on board, Wi-Fi… A service that attracts many customers.

It also provides customers with a mobile application to request a ride. For each ride, the customer pays 13.50 euros. A high price compared to the current prices, but for the entrepreneur, the aim is to offer better wages to her employees. For each month of work, each driver receives a salary of $ 300 as well as a bank account and a bank card to encourage her to become independent and manage her income on her own.

Facing the funding challenge to get back on track

A few years ago, the entrepreneur set up a holding company, Bizzoly, to bring together all her activities, which range from a start-up incubator for women, to magazine publishing and the production of mineral water. Considered today as a success story, Patricia is aware of the obstacles she had to face to succeed and does not hide them. “Nothing was easy, especially that banks didn’t believe in me at the beginning,” she confides to Le Monde newspaper. To increase her fleet of cars, she had to look for an alternative solution, by raising funds from foreign investors for 27 million euros.

According to the entrepreneur, her success is the result of many sacrifices. “I wanted to let go of everything many times, but deep down, I don’t regret anything when I see what I’ve accomplished,” she told the French newspaper.

Because of her entrepreneurial experience, she works in favour of Congolese women through different initiatives. In 2018, she created the International Working Ladies Group, a foundation whose mission is to enable women to use their leadership to bring about positive change. It also works in education, health, entrepreneurship and networking. She also created the WIA Hub, an accelerator for women’s start-ups in the DRC, which helps women who have gone through entrepreneurial difficulties to get back on their feet. 

Patricia Nzolantima was recently admitted to the Globalize Accelerator programme at Silicon Valley for senior executives and entrepreneurs.