DR Congo Launches COPA Digital Framework to Support Tech Startups

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is setting up COPA Digital, a program that will finance and support startups, digital small and medium-sized enterprises, incubators and other organizations involved in digital innovation. The program will select projects, award grants and support beneficiaries as they develop their businesses.

The government formalized the initiative on Friday, September 18, in Kinshasa through a memorandum of understanding between the TRANSFORME Project Coordination Unit and the Digital Transformation Project (PTN) Management Unit.

The agreement starts the operational preparation of the competition, although the authorities have not yet announced its opening date. The organizers have designed the first COPA Digital cycle as a pilot phase that will run for an indicative 16 months from the effective start of activities.

However, the authorities must still validate several elements before they launch the program. These elements include eligibility criteria, specific beneficiary categories, the application schedule, submission procedures, mechanisms for monitoring the use of funds and grant amounts.

COPA Digital forms part of the third component of the PTN, which focuses on advanced digital skills development and innovation. The component aims to strengthen the capabilities of training institutions and the Congolese digital ecosystem.

Through the program, the authorities aim to support the emergence of companies that can develop solutions for the domestic market and create digital-sector jobs.

The initiative comes as the DRC's startup ecosystem remains at an early stage of development. A World Bank assessment of the country's digital economy, published in 2021, found that startup activity remained concentrated mainly in Kinshasa, Goma and Lubumbashi.

The assessment also identified shortages of business support structures, financing and training. Incubators and accelerators remained relatively scarce, while their services often focused on providing workspaces, internet access and basic entrepreneurship training.

In addition, the World Bank identified limited access to venture capital and found that many entrepreneurs depended primarily on their own resources to finance their businesses.

Skills shortages and limited technological readiness also constrain companies' ability to develop their solutions and scale their operations, according to the assessment.