Facebook and Kinaya Ventures announce the launch of the Boost Your Business program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, designed to support Congolese small and medium-sized businesses and assist them in their digital transformation efforts.
On April 13, the city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) welcomed this program, which was conceived by Facebook and is being piloted in French-speaking Africa by the open innovation platform Kinaya Ventures.
Boost Your Business is an initiative designed by Facebook that aims to encourage entrepreneurs to seize the opportunities offered by social media to grow their businesses.
After a successful pilot in 2018, which trained 1,000 entrepreneurs in three French-speaking African countries—Benin, Guinea, and Senegal—the program, orchestrated by Facebook's partner Kinaya Ventures, will now expand to six countries and 16 cities in French-speaking Africa.
This means that 10,000 entrepreneurs in the DRC, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Guinea Conakry will be able to benefit from a free, intensive one-day training course in digital marketing on Facebook, WhatsApp Business, and Instagram until February 2020.
"The Boost Your Business program is a great way for entrepreneurs in the formal and informal sectors in French-speaking Africa to learn and improve their skills. The sessions are open to everyone and are totally free. We are particularly proud to be rolling out this project, which is fully in line with Kinaya Ventures' mission to contribute to the development of the tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem in French-speaking Africa," said Eva Sow Ebion, co-founder and innovation specialist at Kinaya Ventures.
The first workshop in the DRC was held on April 13 during Kinshasa Digital Week, as a prelude to the Tech and Innovation Roadshow, a tour during which representatives from Facebook and Kinaya Ventures visited Kinshasa, Lumumbashi, and Goma to offer training and workshops and discuss with public decision-makers the role of innovation and technology in developing the country.
"Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are powerful tools for African entrepreneurs," said Phil Oduor, Head of Economic Impact Policy at Facebook and program manager. "Through the Boost Your Business program, we want to empower them to reach their full potential and teach them how to grow their businesses using our platforms."
To roll out the program in more than 16 cities, Kinaya Ventures is relying on a network of more than 100 local, national, and regional partners.
Individuals interested in participating in the Boost Your Business program, as well as companies interested in contributing to the initiative, can express their interest by filling out an online form on the platform https://www.kinayalab.com/boost-your-business/.