Backed by the Texaf Group, Silikin Village has, in just five years, become a key player in Kinshasa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, offering 9,500 m² of fully equipped and connected workspaces. In this interview, its Executive Director in charge of innovation programs discusses the project’s strategic vision, support mechanisms, accessibility challenges, and the regional ambitions of this Congolese innovation hub.

Bankable: Silikin Village presents itself as a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. In concrete terms, what kind of support do you offer to start-ups and project leaders?

Cécilia Bituka: Silikin Village offers comprehensive and structured support tailored to meet the needs of entrepreneurs at various stages of development. Initially, our focus was on projects in the ideation and structuring phase. Today, we have broadened our approach to also support more mature entrepreneurs who want to strengthen their market presence and access financing solutions tailored to their specific needs. A concrete example is the “Grow & Help Grow” program, a hybrid acceleration initiative combining start-up studio and accelerator models. It is specifically aimed at tech entrepreneurs and focuses on five key sectors: fintech, agritech, cleantech, edtech, and healthtech. The first cohort, made up of five entrepreneurs, will benefit from the program over nine months, with the aim of driving market growth and investment readiness.

Since its inception, Silikin Village has received support from both public and private donors, enabling the creation of modern, connected spaces that foster innovation for over 300 project leaders and entrepreneurs supported over the past five years.

As a structure dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship and innovation (SAEI), Silikin Village is not limited to start-up support. We also provide innovation consulting services to large corporations seeking to reinvent their approach to research and development (R&D) and actively contribute to building an innovative ecosystem in their sector. This dual commitment positions Silikin Village as a true innovation catalyst, co-creating sustainable solutions and energizing Kinshasa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
 
Bankable: To date, how much have you invested in this support, and what concrete results have you achieved?

CB: Silikin Village was founded in 2020 through the vision of a private group, Texaf, which opted from the outset for a co-construction approach. Their first major investment was the rehabilitation of the Cotex site, covering nearly 3.2 hectares, part of which was dedicated to hosting entrepreneurial ecosystem players. Since the beginning, Silikin Village has benefited from the support of public and private donors, enabling the creation of modern, connected spaces conducive to innovation for more than 300 project leaders and entrepreneurs over the past five years.
 
Bankable: At the end of the first quarter of 2025, Texaf’s rental income stood at €7.7 million, up 29% year-on-year, notably thanks to the opening of phase III of Silikin Village. Beyond the economic impact, is Silikin also a profitable investment for the group?

CB: Texaf Digital, through Silikin Village, has been profitable since 2025, albeit at a modest level compared to other historical activities of the group, such as Carrigres or Utexafrica, which continue to generate most of our financial results. That said, Silikin should not be evaluated solely from the perspective of immediate profitability.

Silikin Village is, above all, a long-term strategic investment. It embodies our vision of sustainable and inclusive economic development centered on local innovation and entrepreneurship. The steady growth in its revenues—driven in particular by the opening of phase III—confirms the growing demand for this type of high-end infrastructure in Kinshasa. We are confident in its continued growth, both in terms of impact and financial viability.
 
Bankable: Some project leaders consider your coworking spaces not very accessible. How do you reconcile the promotion of innovation with the demands of profitability?

CB: This is indeed a legitimate concern, especially in a context where many entrepreneurs launch their businesses with limited resources. It is precisely to address this reality that we designed a flexible and scalable offer at Silikin Village, able to adapt to the diverse needs of our ecosystem. We offer three workspace formats tailored to each stage of the entrepreneurial journey: an open coworking space at $150/month (VAT included), fully equipped (premium furniture, air conditioning, high-speed internet, cleaning services, printer, security), ideal for freelancers or small teams looking for a dynamic, collaborative environment; partitioned spaces offering a quieter environment for professionals who need more focus while staying connected to the community; and private offices designed for start-ups in their growth phase or organizations requiring confidentiality and stability.

Profitability remains essential to the sustainability of our initiative, but it is in no way contradictory to our mission: to create an inclusive, sustainable space that serves innovation and supports both Congolese and international entrepreneurs in their development.

To lower access barriers, we have also introduced a $10/day discovery offer. This allows freelancers, the curious, or project leaders to test the Silikin Village experience without commitment, fostering openness and democratization. Beyond the physical space, the true strength of our ecosystem lies in access to a genuine community of entrepreneurs, mentors, experts, and innovators. This relational capital, often decisive in a project’s early stages, is one of the pillars of our support.
 
Bankable: The goal was to expand Silikin Village to nearly 9,000 m² of workspaces by the end of 2024. Where do you stand in achieving this goal?

CB: This goal has not only been met but exceeded! In 2020, we started with a 700 m² campus, and today Silikin Village offers 9,500 m² of connected, well-equipped workspaces. This development has allowed us to host more than 193 SMEs and start-ups and 840 active members in our ecosystem, who benefit daily from our modern infrastructure. This expansion was made possible by solid strategic planning and collaboration with both local and international partners.
 
Bankable: Silikin Village has supported discussions around the Startup Act and the creation of economic zones dedicated to innovation. On May 23, 2025, the government adopted four decrees specifying the application modalities of this ordinance-law promoting entrepreneurship and start-ups. What concrete changes do these new texts bring to your current dynamic, and what role do you see for yourselves in their implementation?

CB: The Startup Act decrees provide a structured legal framework conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship. They open new opportunities for start-ups and strengthen private initiatives like ours. Silikin Village, as a key player in this ecosystem, plays a central role in implementing these texts. We act as a facilitator, trainer, and spokesperson, supported by our involvement in the Private Sector Collective for the Application of the Startup Act (COSEP).

We aim to position Silikin Village not only as a center of excellence for entrepreneurial innovation in the DRC but also as a key player in the Central African sub-region.

We are particularly well-placed to support start-ups in maximizing the opportunities offered by this legislative framework. This includes concrete actions in awareness-raising, training, and direct support to entrepreneurs, to ensure their success and foster the growth of entrepreneurship in the DRC.
 
Bankable: What are your future ambitions in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation? And what concrete projects support these ambitions?

CB: We aim to position Silikin Village not only as a center of excellence for entrepreneurial innovation in the DRC but also as a key player in the Central African sub-region. Our ambition is to create a dynamic ecosystem where start-ups, large companies, and public actors work closely together to stimulate innovation and encourage sustainable development.

Our future projects include: expanding our support offers for local entrepreneurs through programs such as “Grow & Help Grow” to support more start-ups in their growth and investment access journey; launching the “Scaling Up in DRC” program, a strategic project to enhance the maturity of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by attracting and supporting African and international scale-ups in the DRC; strengthening our collaboration with public and private institutions to create a favorable environment for innovation, particularly through the establishment of economic zones dedicated to innovation and facilitating synergies between sector players; and producing key data on our ecosystem to better understand its realities and challenges. These data will help demystify the complexity of our ecosystem and encourage greater investment and development opportunities.
 
These initiatives support our ambition to build a strong and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem capable of meeting long-term innovation challenges and playing a major role in the emergence of the DRC and Central Africa as innovation hubs in Africa.
 
 Interview by Aboudi Ottou