Acacia Bandubola Mbongo, (née Acacia Bandubola), is a Congolese businesswoman and politician, who served as the Minister of the National Economy in the Cabinet of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 26 August 2019, until March 2023.

Background and education

Bandubola was born in the city of

Kisangani Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville or Stanleystad) is the capital of Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the fifth most populous urban area in the country, with an estimated population of 1,312,000 in 2021, and the larg ...

, to Henriette Mbokoso Bokwetenge and Raphael Bandubola. She attended ''CS Okapi'', a private school in Kisangani, where her parents lived at the time. In 1994, Acacia Bandubola relocated to

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, the capital and largest city in the country. She continued her studies at ''Lycée Bosangani'' from 1994 until 1999. In 2000, she graduated with a State School Diploma from ''Lycée Molière''. She holds a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

from the Protestant University in the Congo.

Career

In business

Bandubola has worked for

Ecobank Ecobank, whose official name is Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), is a pan-African banking conglomerate, with banking operations in 36 African countries. It is the leading independent regional banking group in West Africa and Central Africa, se ...

FINCA In English usage, a ''finca'' (; ) refers to a piece of rural or agricultural land, typically with a cottage, farmhouse or estate building present, and often adjacent to a woodland or plantation. Overview Especially in tourism, the term has r ...

, ''Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique au Congo (BIAC)'', and

Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include ...

. She also worked at a private economic consultancy firm in France.

In politics

Bandubola began her political activism as a student, in opposition to the oppressive policies of

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

. She belonged and supported several political parties while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including ''Envol'' and ''RNS''. While working in France, she was introduced to the ideology of

Étienne Tshisekedi Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (14 December 1932 – 1 February 2017) was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC ...

and joined the

Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Democratic Republic of the Congo) The Union for Democracy and Social Progress (french: Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social, link=no; UDPS) is one of the major contemporary political parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) together with the Movement for ...

(UDPS) political party. She became a vocal supporter of UDPS on many media outlets (radio and television) in the West. In the cabinet announced on 29 August 2019, she was appointed as the Minister of National Economy, replacing Joseph Kapika, who served in that position from April 2017, until August 2019. As minister, she condemns the practice of some businesses in the DRC, raising prices of staple consumables, including

corn flour Cornflour may refer to: * Cornflour (in the UK), corn starch, from the endosperm of the kernel of the corn (maize) grain * Corn flour (in the US and elsewhere), very finely ground cornmeal, ground from dried maize See also * Flour * Starch ...

, sugar and rice, due to the

Coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

scare. She recommends that government, businesses and the public should work together to maintain price stability during the

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

. Short of that, she recommends that government should fix commodity prices, when businesses engage in

price gouging Price gouging is a pejorative term used to describe the situation when a seller increases the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. Usually, this event occurs after a demand or ...

Family

Acacia Bandubola Mbongo is a married mother.

References

External links

DRC: Minister of Economy files complaint against Internet users for “attack” on her honor
(Translated from the original French Language) As of 11 March 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bandubola Mbongo, Acacia Living people People from Kisangani Year of birth missing (living people) Democratic Republic of the Congo businesspeople Government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Women government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo women in business Protestant University in the Congo alumni 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo women politicians 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo politicians