An ALLIANCE culture to safeguard Africa's forests

Ngombé
Over time, the company's presence has
attracted an estimated 10,000 people
to the village of Ngombé. Job creation,
vocational training and access to quality
basic services have enabled INTERHOLCO
to open up the village of Ngombé, located
more than 900 km from the capital,
Brazzaville:
%
of the population
is under 35 years of age
%
are of local origin;
2% come from other countries
people work
for the company in 2019
(including subcontractors)
people with rights
linked to the company
(estimate 2019)
INTERHOLCO's presence also creates jobs
indirectly. INTERHOLCO invests in developing
infrastructure and guarantees access to basic
services, including schools, a medical and social
centre, a library, housing, access to drinking
water and electricity. In this way, INTERHOLCO
supports the sale of materials and the provision
of the corresponding services. By way of an
example, in 2019 INTERHOLCO invested more
than 90% of its expenditure at local and subregional
levels, specifically in services (e.g. local
suppliers, transport, etc.) and supplies (e.g. fuel,
spare parts, food, etc.). All this helps to develop a
local and sub-regional market.
In the village of Ngombé, you can buy
FSC © paper from Madame Mariane.
Due to its geographical proximity to fragile and
war-afflicted countries, by the end of 2016 35 ,
RoC was hosting 54,000 refugees and asylum
seekers, mostly from the DRC, Central African
Republic and Rwanda. The shops in the village of
Ngombé are run by Rwandan, Cameroonian and
Congolese (DRC) traders who have found their
vocation in the services they provide to the local
community: hairdressing salons, where clients
choose their hair with the help of a tablet, cafés
and restaurants, nightclubs, a market, sewing
workshops, grocery shops, small shops, several
churches and mosques, hardware shops, card or
telephone credit card dealers and more.
INTERHOLCO is also responsible for the
construction and maintenance of permanent
roads.
According to the World Bank, “roads are the
arteries through which the economy pulses. By
linking producers to markets, workers to jobs,
students to school, and the sick to hospitals,
roads are vital to any development agenda. 36 ”
In October 2019, the Managing Director of IFO (a
subsidiary of INTERHOLCO) signed an agreement
with the Congolese state. The objective is to
participate in the construction of a road to link
the north of the country directly with the port
of Pointe-Noire. This 1,460 kilometre-long road
was the main route out of Brazzaville towards
the north of the country at a time when the
N2 highway had not yet been asphalted. Once
completed, the road will make it possible to cross
the Alima River by ferry. For more than 20 years,
it has only been possible to cross the Alima River
by dugout canoe.
We left Rwanda in 1994,
stayed in Zaire until 1997 and then
we came to the Congo. In Rwanda I
ran a business and here I am trying
to do the same. We are fighting for
our children, who are at school in
Brazzaville. We have three children,
born in 1999, 2004 and 2011. It
takes a lot of time and money to
support them. We sell bread,
drinks and rice here - basic products
tailored to our customers'
requirements. A whole bag of rice,
weighing 25 kilos, can be bought for
25,000 CFA - it is the most expensive
product.
Jean-Marie Vianey ZABILINDA
A Rwandan refugee, who has been
running a food shop in the village of
Ngombé since 2014
35
Data provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
36
Claudia Berg, Uwe Deichmann, Harris Selod ‘How Roads Support Development’, World Bank blogs : https://blogs.worldbank.org/
developmenttalk/how-roads-support-development
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