Kinshasa, October 22nd, 2026 (CPA).- Entrepreneurs were urged to prioritize productive loans likely to generate income and strengthen their businesses during a training session organized by the men’s department of a church in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the ACP learnt on Thursday from the organizers.
“Credit is a good tool because it can help bring a project to fruition more quickly. But this credit must be productive credit,” said Espérance Nsarhaza, an expert in financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and development.
During this third session, dedicated to financial education and entrepreneurship, Ms Nsarhaza explained that savings and credit are two complementary tools for carrying out projects, emphasizing that savings enable people to gradually build up their financial capacity, whilst credit provides access to a significant sum within a shorter timeframe.
“You can do both. You must save. You can also take out loans,” she said, adding that the choice between saving and borrowing should take into account, in particular, the nature of the need, its urgency and the duration of the project.
According to Ms Nsarhaza, entrepreneurs must, in particular, determine whether their need is short-, medium- or long-term before choosing the appropriate method of financing.
She also recommended that entrepreneurs carefully assess the true cost of a loan before committing to it, taking into account the annual percentage rate (APR) and the various fees associated with the financing, rather than limiting themselves to the nominal rate advertised by the financial institution.
The expert also explained that financial institutions rely on several criteria to assess a loan application, including the character of the project leader, their repayment capacity, their capital, the collateral offered, and the terms and conditions of the financing.
She therefore encouraged entrepreneurs to prepare robust applications, present coherent projects and provide realistic financial projections in order to improve their chances of accessing finance.
For his part, Serge Fortune Kayembe, deputy head of the men’s department at the Philadelphia Gombe Missionary Centre, said that this series of training sessions aimed to empower the congregation by strengthening their knowledge in the areas of financial management and entrepreneurship.
“We want to encourage men not to be content with prayer alone, but to enrich their faith through knowledge and training,” he said, quoting the biblical passage from 2 Peter 1:5, which recommends adding knowledge and virtue to faith.
He explained that the training sessions focused in particular on budget management, saving and credit – three topics considered complementary for the better management of financial resources.
Mr Kayembe also called on the men, women and young people of the church to participate actively in the forthcoming sessions, believing that financial education could help improve the management of personal and family finances. The Men’s Department of the Philadelphia Gombe Missionary Centre established in 2008 – the year the church was founded – organizes training, sports and mentoring activities with a view to encouraging men’s involvement in church life. ACP/