Today, XSML, the fund manager active in Central Africa, announced its investment in Inzia, a Kinshasa based restaurant providing traditional Congolese cuisine. Inzia was established in the 1970s and has gained a long standing reputation for good quality, traditional Congolese food, music and dance. In June 2012 the restaurant was completely destroyed by a fire and has since been partially rebuilt and re-opened with limited service and capacity.
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
XSML’s financing allows the owners to bring the restaurant back to its former glory. Once fully restored the restaurant has a capacity of 400 persons offering Congolese gastronomy for lunch, dinner and special events like weddings and conferences. Inzia’s Friday live music is legendary in Kinshasa as its customers flock to the restaurant to eat and dance the Congolese rumba.
Inzia sources its menu ingredients directly from small farmers, producers and fishermen in Congo, thus playing an essential role in the livelihood of many small farmers. Inzia offers traditional dishes from all Congolese provinces and helps preserve Congolese culture. The restaurant has been founded and managed by Mrs Ekila and more recently by her daughter, Mrs Fodderie.
Inzia’s Managing Director, Mrs Fodderie states: “With the long term financing provided by the Central Africa SME Fund, Inzia is now able to rebuild its restaurant to its original state and capacity with a modern kitchen and new fittings. We expect our customers to again enjoy traditional evenings of Congolese cuisine and dance which nowadays are hard to find in Kinshasa.”
Marcel Posthuma, Managing Partner at XSML says: “With our investment we are able to keep this culinary institute in Kinshasa. It has been a point of reference over decades for people looking for local Congolese dishes and music from all parts of Congo. While restoring the restaurant to its former glory, we also add new services like catering.”
Inzia is the nineteenth investment made by CASF and its sixteenth investment in DRC. CASF is an investment fund investing in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. The fund is based on the belief that sustainable economic development in the fast growing markets of DRC and CAR can be achieved by encouraging entrepreneurship. Currently, many opportunities in these countries remain unexploited due to the lack of risk capital and support. By stimulating entrepreneurial endeavors jobs and income are created. CASF is a USD 19m fund with 80% allocation to DRC and 20% in CAR. CASF provides risk capital with an investment size ranging from USD 100,000 to a maximum of USD 500,000. Investors in CASF are IFC, FMO and the Lundin Foundation.
About Inzia
Inzia is a traditional Congolese restaurant based in Gombe, Kinshasa. Inzia offers à la carte as well as buffet menus in combination with live music. Its long standing service makes it the restaurant of choice to enjoy true Congolese cuisine.
About XSML
XSML is an independent private equity fund manager, founded in 2008, with a focus on frontier markets. While building and managing funds for these markets, XSML, eXtra Small Medium Large, helps to grow small businesses into medium and large enterprises. The managing partners have an extensive background in emerging markets in the areas of asset management, corporate and development banking and corporate restructuring. Our experience has shown that demand for finance from small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) remains largely untapped despite increased interest in frontier markets from international investors. XSML bridges the gap between international investors and SMEs in these markets. XSML is currently fund-raising its second fund: the African Rivers Fund.
