Author: Emmanuel Mbemba

A Financial Jolt for Congo’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem The coastal city of Pointe-Noire, often portrayed as the commercial heartbeat of the Republic of the Congo, offered an unambiguous signal of policy continuity on 23 August. During the fifth Horizon Initiative and Creativity Forum, 500 emerging entrepreneurs received a cumulative 63.8 billion CFA franc commitment—roughly 103 million USD—from the national Fund for Impulse, Guarantee and Support, FIGA. The measure, publicly endorsed by Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso and overseen by Minister Pierre Mabiala, advances President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s broader pledge to position youth employment at the centre of the national development agenda.…

Algiers Positions Itself at the Heart of AfCFTA From 4 to 10 September 2025, the Palais des Expositions in Algiers will become a continental crossroads as it hosts the fourth edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF). With 35 000 delegates expected from 140 countries and 1 600 corporate exhibitors, the fair stands as the most ambitious commercial gathering yet organised under the banner of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Algerian diplomats have characterised the effort as “a work of projection and observation,” signalling that the objectives transcend a conventional marketplace. Their assessment frames Algiers as a laboratory…

Youth Diplomacy Meets National Strategy The recent presentation of the International Forum of African Youth for Development (FIJADA) initiative by its Congo country representative, Daniel Biangoud, and mentor José Cyr Ebina, has resonated powerfully within Brazzaville’s policymaking circles. Their consultations with Prince Michrist Kaba Mboko, Executive Secretary of the Consultative Council for Youth, and with Leon Juste Ibombo, Minister in charge of the Digital Economy, revealed a convergence of priorities: an assertive desire to translate youthful creativity into measurable economic dividends. By choosing to brief senior officials immediately after the Kinshasa summit, the FIJADA delegation signalled both diplomatic tact and…

A Premier’s Walkthrough and the Optics of Confidence Few photographs capture the current economic mood in the Republic of Congo better than those showing Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso inspecting the immaculate counters and self-service terminals of BSCA Bank’s brand-new Côte Sauvage agency on 26 August. The tour, described in an official communiqué as a “strategic encouragement to private initiative”, aimed at signalling governmental confidence in a banking sector that has weathered successive external shocks and is now expected to spearhead post-pandemic recovery. By setting foot in the country’s first ocean-front branch, the head of government projected a message of…

A Regional Instrument Rooted in the 1996 Protocol When the heads of state of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa endorsed the Libreville Protocol in July 1996, they embedded a simple yet ambitious idea into regional public policy: any motorist circulating from Pointe-Noire to Yaoundé would carry a single document attesting to civil-liability coverage. Four years later, on 20 July 2000, the so-called Pink Card became legally compulsory throughout the six CEMAC member states. The instrument echoes the Green Card used in Europe, but it is tailored to the realities of Central African traffic corridors, where informal transport…

A Budget Letter Signalling Renewed Discipline When Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso circulated his budget-setting letter for fiscal year 2026, the document immediately resonated across diplomatic missions in Brazzaville. The ten objectives outlined by the head of government are framed as instruments for restoring long-term macroeconomic balance after the external shocks of the past decade. Far from a routine administrative exercise, the text is read by many observers as the clearest articulation to date of President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s determination to consolidate the gains secured since the 2022 Staff-Monitored Programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF Article IV Consultation 2023).…

A Rural Lifeline Set for Transformation In the early hours of 8 August 2025, drums and ululations rose across the village of Mpiem as Minister of Urban Sanitation, Local Development and Road Maintenance Juste Désiré Mondelé broke ground on the long-awaited upgrading of the 86-kilometre Mpiem-Kindamba corridor. The presence of Pool Prefect Jules Moukala Tchoumou, Mindouli Deputy Adélaïde Moungani and several customary authorities underscored the strategic weight of a route that links four agrarian districts—Kindamba, Kimba, Mayama and Vinza—to Brazzaville’s wholesale markets. According to the ministry’s brief, the six-month works amount to 1.7 billion FCFA, a figure fully integrated into…

Youth employability at the heart of Vision 2025 In Brazzaville’s humid August air, the handing over of five symbolic certificates to members of STAGI’s maiden cohort appeared at first glance as a modest photo opportunity. Yet the scene, hosted by Minister Hugues Ngouelondelé and flanked by senior United Nations officials, condensed a wider national ambition: repositioning the Republic of Congo’s demographic dividend at the centre of its Vision 2025 development framework. With nearly 60 percent of the population under thirty (World Bank, 2022), the government has repeatedly argued that macro-economic resilience and social cohesion rest on transforming idle potential into…

A Signature Moment for Pointe-Noire’s Business Climate The signing ceremony that united the Fonds d’impulsion, de garantie et d’accompagnement (Figa) and the Organisation de développement des entreprises locales (Odel) during the fifth Forum Horizon Initiative and Creativity reverberated well beyond the auditorium of the Autonomous Port of Pointe-Noire. By crystallising a 5-billion-CFA guarantee line, the pact gives tangible form to the aspirations set out in the National Development Plan 2022-2026, which prioritises small and medium-sized enterprises as vectors of inclusive growth. In the words of Figa’s Director-General Dayi Allaire Branham Kintombo, “our mandate is not to lend, but to manufacture…

MTN strategic realignment in Francophone Africa With a single communiqué released in Johannesburg, MTN Group signalled a decisive recalibration of its continental footprint, appointing Karl Toriola as Vice-President in charge of Francophone Africa. The reorganisation comes as the operator, already serving more than 290 million subscribers, seeks to consolidate fast-growing markets where smartphone penetration is climbing by double digits even in a subdued global economy (Reuters, 2024). The portfolio now under Toriola’s watch—Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Congo-Brazzaville—accounts for a disproportionate share of the group’s data-revenue momentum. By bringing those geographies under a unified executive command, MTN is aiming to…