The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of Africa’s largest and most populous countries, is presenting growing export opportunities for businesses in neighboring nations, despite ongoing political and economic hurdles.
Zambia-based entrepreneur Marion Peterson, co-founder of clean cooking solutions company SupaMoto, highlights the vast potential. “There is a huge market up there for everything.
They need everything,” she said in a recent interview with How We Made It in Africa, referring to Zambia’s northern neighbor. Her views are shared by many entrepreneurs and investors who see the DRC as an underexploited consumer base.
Although the country is Africa’s top copper producer and the world’s largest cobalt source, most everyday goods remain imported, with limited local agriculture and manufacturing.
With a population exceeding 110 million and a landmass large enough to contain several European countries combined, the DRC offers significant market potential.
In 2022, the DRC joined the East African Community, which now includes Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan, creating new avenues for regional trade and integration.
Simon Bentley, managing director of Zambian agricultural retailer Farm Depot, notes strong demand from Congolese customers at border stores. While interested in expanding operations into the DRC, he warns that entry costs are high.
Informal cross-border trade thrives, but more formal export efforts face bureaucratic and logistical barriers. “There is a lot of informal trade finding its way across the border, but for more structured exports, it is a headache to get products into the country,” says Tue Nyboe Andersen, managing director of Lusaka-based investment firm Kukula Capital.
He advises partnerships with Congolese entities for smoother operations, adding, “Trying to operate in the DRC from Zambia is not easy.” Other neighboring countries are also tapping into the DRC market.
Rwandan entrepreneur Herve Tuyishime, CEO of Paniel Meat Processing, has built a sizable export business supplying meat products to the DRC, where demand outpaces that of Rwanda, particularly for items like sausages, ham, and burgers.
His company operates near the Rwandan border town of Rubavu and has connected with buyers in Goma and Kinshasa.
Claude Nikondeha, founder of Burundi Fortified Foods, is similarly targeting eastern DRC, exporting porridges and considering local manufacturing to serve a market with greater purchasing power than Burundi.
The DRC’s potential is tempered by persistent challenges. Decades of conflict and political instability have plagued the country, with the M23 rebel group recently capturing key eastern cities such as Goma and Bukavu in early 2025.
Poverty remains widespread, with 73.5% of the population living on less than $2.15 a day in 2024. The business environment is difficult, yet the economy has demonstrated resilience, averaging over 6% GDP growth annually from 2010 to 2019, and expanding by 6.5% in 2024 despite a slowdown from 8.6% in 2023, largely fueled by mining.
Barthout van Slingelandt, managing partner at XSML Capital, notes that international media coverage often skews perceptions of the DRC, with English-language outlets emphasizing negative events, while French-language media provides a more balanced perspective.
XSML’s investments focus mainly on Kinshasa, a city of 15 to 20 million residents with a French-speaking population comparable to Paris. Urban development has accelerated there over the past decade, including new supermarkets and healthcare facilities.
Van Slingelandt observes that although many residents have limited means, “there is a substantial part of the population that does have disposable income and there is money that is going around.”
The DRC’s combination of vast population, natural resources, and emerging urban centers makes it a market of growing interest for Zambia and its neighbors, despite the complex realities on the ground.
