Bpifrance, strategic partner of FIGA for its development
03 Mar, 2023
Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance, received in audience, Friday March 3, 2023, in his office, Nicolas Dufourcq, Director General of the Public Investment Bank of France (Bpifrance). The latter was accompanied by Armel Fridelin Mbouloukoué, Director General of the Guarantee and Support Impulse Fund (FIGA) of the Republic of Congo.
"The purpose of this visit is to celebrate the Agreement that we signed earlier, whereby Bpifrance and the Fonds d'Impulsion de Garantie et d'Accompagnement (FIGA) will develop a stronger relationship for the assembly of all the operations which are under the authority of the Director General of FIGA", declared Nicolas Dufourcq, at the end of the hearing.
"The idea of working on the entire layer of small Congolese entrepreneurs with support and guarantees is the starting point. Then, development banks for entrepreneurs is an adventure in which we can do many other things, as we have done in France. We start with that in the Congo. And the role of Bpifrance is to give advice. Because it is an adventure that we have been living for a very long time. We learned a lot and what we learned, we pass it on,” he continued.
BPIfrance, as a bank, is also a consulting agency. "We make credit, we make equity investments, we make innovation financing, we make guarantees, we make sureties, we do consultancy. In France, we carry out 7,000 consultancy assignments per year. So, we are a big consulting company", explained the host of Minister Jean-Baptiste Ondaye.
This bank also provides preferential rates for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). "In France, for small and medium-sized enterprises, when you create your business, you are entitled to a zero-rate honor loan. Of course, it's preferential. Then, when you create an innovative company, you are entitled to small subsidies. You can obtain loans where no guarantee is taken on your assets or on the assets of the company. This is called unsecured loan. As there is no guarantee, the risk is covered by the French State. This is our method, and it is very effective", added the French banker.
Statement by the Director General of FIGA
"FIGA was a promise from the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-N’Guesso. Today it is reality! We thank the Minister of Economy and Finance who now has a benevolent eye on the activities of FIGA. Since the Government has adopted the FIGA Transformation Project.
During this audience with the Minister of Economy and Finance, we took stock of FIGA's activities and the support we expect from Bpifrance. This bank accompanies us. She has extensive experience in this area. We are counting a lot on Bpifrance to develop our activities", said Armel Fridelin Mbouloukoué.
The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance
