Equity Group backs global investors eyeing DRC’s multi-billion-dollar frontier

• Global investors eyeing DRC are on the rise. With DRC supplying over 70% of the world’s cobalt and ranking second in copper output, investors are exploring opportunities across services, logistics and processing.
• The DRC’s EAC membership, combined with the new EAC Customs Bond and the elimination of non-tariff barriers by June 2026, dramatically lowers the cost of moving goods from Mombasa and Dar es Salaam to Lubumbashi, making Kenyan and East African firms natural partners in the supply chain.
• From agro-processing to light manufacturing and the consumer economy around mining towns, the mission highlights that the DRC’s opportunity extends far beyond ore extraction, offering Kenyan traders a chance to plug into a fast-growing market of over 100 million people with vast infrastructure and food import gaps.

As the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) solidifies its role as the engine room of the global green energy transition, a seven-day high-profile trade mission in Lubumbashi and Kolwezi is offering Kenyan and international investors a rare first-mover advantage into the mineral-rich Katanga region’s expanding ecosystem.

A gathering of global investors eyeing DRC’s copperbelt

More than 50 delegates from 16 nationalities are convening in Lubumbashi this week, for a strategic trade mission organized by Equity Group, signaling widening global appetite for Congolese deal flow.

The delegation, drawing investors from Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and as far as Germany, the United Kingdom, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is embarking on a week-long programme featuring business-to-business forums and site visits in Kolwezi, the heart of the DRC’s copper and cobalt mining corridor.

The mission, which builds on similar Equity-led roadshows in 2021, 2022, and 2025, is designed as a deal-making platform linking capital to on-the-ground projects.

Equity’s DRC subsidiary, Equity BCDC, is positioned to structure and finance transactions across subcontracting, logistics, energy, and agro-processing, sectors that feed into the region’s mining-dominated economy.

“Through our strategic trade missions, we seek to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs, investors, and high-growth markets, empowering businesses to scale, expand, explore investment opportunities, and thrive across the continent,” said Nicole Dow, Equity’s Director for Brand and Global Communications, at the launch.

DRC’s Katanga: engine of global energy transition

The DRC is the world’s leading producer of cobalt and the second-largest producer of copper, both critical minerals powering the global shift to electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Katanga Province alone contributes approximately 40 per cent to national GDP and accounts for nearly 80 per cent of exports, according to Yves Bizunga, Equity BCDC’s Deputy Managing Director for the Southern Region.

“Katanga is not just a mining hub; it is a strategic engine for the global energy transition,” Bizunga told delegates, urging investors to look beyond ore extraction into services anchored to mineral exports, logistics, energy, subcontracting, and supply-chain finance.

Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange reached a record high of $14,527 per tonne in early 2026, driven by surging demand from data centers, robotics, and energy infrastructure investment.

Meanwhile, cobalt prices more than doubled in 2025, exceeding $56,000 per tonne, following the DRC government’s introduction of export quotas to manage global supply.

For investors, the DRC is not merely a source of raw materials but a strategic partner in the global energy transition.

Mining reforms that open doors

A recurring theme throughout the Lubumbashi meetings was the DRC’s evolving investment climate, a landscape that has historically been viewed as high-risk but is now showing tangible signs of reform.

Lydia Wabiwa, who heads the Haut-Katanga office of the Agence Nationale pour la Promotion des Investissements (ANAPI), moved to reassure delegates on procedures, incentives, and profit repatriation. The agency, she said, assists investors through applications and simplifies procedures to unlock incentives, urging delegates to route approvals through state-recognised channels.

Lubumbashi-based finance professional Michel Kinkele Orelis pointed to concrete governance improvements: mining governance and traceability reforms, stronger tax administration, and clearer compliance rules.

Company registration now takes about three days when documents are in order, while standardized invoicing, introduced in December 2025 and guarantees on profit repatriation have significantly improved predictability for investors.

These reforms are part of a broader push by the Congolese government to position itself as a responsible and transparent partner in the global mining sector. At the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto earlier this month, Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba highlighted DRC’s fiscal stability, administrative facilities, and a modernized regulatory framework as key attractions for responsible investment.

The government has also launched the PanAfGeo+ INVEST programme, a strategic initiative to strengthen geological data systems, enhance mining governance, and improve the investment climate, signaling a long-term commitment to sustainable resource management.

Beyond mining: agriculture, manufacturing, and the consumer economy

While mining dominates the headlines, the trade mission’s agenda reflects a growing recognition that the DRC’s opportunity extends far beyond the pit.

Eric Lwamba Mayanga, president of the Federation of Congolese Agribusiness (AGRICOS), made a compelling case for agriculture and agro-processing. The DRC, he noted, has vast agricultural potential and a fast-rising urban population driving demand for food, much of which is currently imported.

“AGRICOS offers potential investors a strategic gateway to sustainable agribusiness in the DRC, providing market insights, partnership facilitation, value chain support, and access to local networks,” Mayanga said.

The country’s geography amplifies this opportunity. Bordering nine countries and a member of the East African Community (EAC), COMESA, SADC, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the DRC provides access to Atlantic trade routes and regional corridors that connect to over 1.4 billion consumers across the continent.

Paty Paterne Mushagalusa, Associate Director for Commercial Projects at Equity BCDC, underscored the broader opportunity set: “Beyond mining, the country holds vast agricultural potential, major infrastructure gaps that present investment opportunities, and a large youthful consumer base driving urban demand”.

Regional Integration: The EAC Dividend

The DRC’s accession to the East African Community in 2022 has been a game-changer for cross-border trade and investment. The country’s inclusion expands the single market to over 300 million people and a combined GDP exceeding $500 billion, creating new corridors for Kenyan and regional firms in supply, transport, energy, and processing.

Recent developments at the EAC level reinforce this integration momentum. At the 25th Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State held in Arusha on March 7, 2026, leaders launched the EAC Customs Bond, a single regional customs guarantee replacing multiple national bonds along transit routes.

For traders moving goods from Dar es Salaam to Lubumbashi, or Mombasa to Kolwezi, this represents a direct reduction in transaction costs and working capital tied up in duplicate guarantee structures.

Heads of State also set a June 30, 2026, deadline to eliminate all remaining non-tariff barriers, a move that, if implemented, could significantly reduce the $4 billion to $6 billion that the East African Business Council estimates such barriers cost the region annually.

The integration of capital markets is also advancing. In February 2026, regional stock exchange executives met in Arusha to revive the Capital Markets Infrastructure project, which aims to link eight EAC exchanges, including the DRC’s nascent bourse, into a single trading network. With funding from the African Development Bank, the initiative could deepen liquidity and expand investment opportunities across the bloc.

Lessons from the Lubumbashi–Kolwezi trade corridor

Equity Group’s current trade mission is expected to culminate in deal pipelines and partnerships, with the regional lender matching investors to projects and discussing financing structures ranging from trade finance to working-capital lines.

For Kenyan traders and regional investors, the mission offers a template for engagement: move beyond a trading mindset to one of partnership and local value addition. The most successful investors in the DRC’s mining ecosystem are those who have embedded themselves in the local economy, providing logistics, energy, subcontracting services, and processing capabilities that capture value across the supply chain.

The Lubumbashi–Kolwezi corridor is already demonstrating this model. Kamoa Copper, the DRC’s largest copper producer and the second-largest in Africa, has pioneered local processing through an integrated smelter and has been a major user of the Lobito Atlantic Railway corridor, which connects Katanga to Angola’s Atlantic coast. The company’s commitment to local value addition, transforming resources on Congolese soil rather than exporting raw ore, offers a blueprint for investors seeking sustainable, long-term returns.

Critical Minerals demand: A window of opportunity

As global demand for critical minerals intensifies and the DRC’s reform momentum gathers pace, the window for first-mover advantage is narrowing.

The country’s participation in global forums like PDAC 2026, its strategic partnerships with the United States on critical minerals, and its deepening integration into the EAC all signal a country positioning itself as a premier destination for sustainable investment.

For the more than 50 delegates now traversing the Katanga region, including a significant contingent from Kenya, the question is no longer whether the DRC offers opportunity, but whether they will seize it before the next wave of global capital arrives.

As Nicole Dow put it at the launch: “The programme is built to connect entrepreneurs and investors with high-growth markets and give them direct exposure to frontier opportunities”. In Lubumbashi and Kolwezi this week, that frontier is being mapped, one deal at a time.

Read also: Inside the $9 billion U.S.-backed critical minerals deal in DRC and what it means for China

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