Dr. Patricia Nzolantima

Patricia Nzolantima is a pure African product with over 18 years of experience in entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment.

As a serial entrepreneur, Patricia is a seasoned leader in market disruption initiatives on the African continent.

She is the Founder and chairwoman of Bizzoly Holdings, a women-owned company, and foundation. She is also the co-founder and managing director of EXP-Comuni- cart, one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s first marketing agencies.

She founded the first women’s economic empowerment hub in Kinshasa, an accelerator program for women entrepreneurs to scale up their business; and the Bizzoly Transportation and logistics which operates under Ubizcabs, the first female-driven taxi company in the Democratic Republic of Congo; “Ubizdelivery”, the first women logistics services

In March 2020, Patricia launched the first female drivers academy to empower women in transport and logistics. Patricia’s third company, Bizzoly Brands and Co. Sarl a FMGG company specializes in households products and value chains under the “Working Ladies brands’’

In 2018, in partnership with UBA Group, she launched the first women visa prepaid card in the DRC, with the “Working Ladies brand’’ to finance women entrepreneurs’ projects through her women economic empowerment hub.

In January 2020, she signed a partnership with VISA International to launch the first women's digital bank

In 2012, she was the first female in DRC to have been selected and participated in the Young African Leaders (YALI), Mandela Fellowship program, an initiative of the former President Barack Obama.

Patricia has attended several time the GES (Global entrepreneurship summit), opened the summit plenary with the former secretary of State John Kerry, in the Silicon Valley; Working closely with the former Secretary state John Kerry during his Africa visit tour in 2013. She met former president Bill Clinton and was a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Since 2013, she attends the G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance summit with the South Africa delegation.

In 2013, Patricia was awarded the Woman of Year by the Dutch multinational company Vlisco, and in 2016 she became the “muse’’ of the 170 years anniversary of the Vlisco Campaign.

In 2018, Forbes Afrique named her as one of the top 100 African economic Leaders of Tomorrow.

She has also been highlighted on the “Choiseul Institute 100 Africa Economic Leaders of Tomorrow Under 40’’ in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Patricia holds a master’s degree in law from the protestant University of Congo (DRC) and a master’s degree in business English and marketing management from the cape Studies Institute in Cape Town, South Africa.

In addition, she has earned several professional diplomas; she got an MBA from Harvard University’s Business School. Patricia graduated (Cohort 4) from the Seed Transformation Program of Stanford University, the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, working to end the cycle of global poverty.

In May 2017, Patricia was selected as one of 20 Africans from across the continent as a member of the Harvard University, Center for African Studies (CAS) Leadership Council. CAS is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary body at Harvard University that aims to broaden public and scholarly awareness about Africa, African experiences, and perspectives.

Member of the YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is a global leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries.

In 2018, she was the first female to join the YPO Congo and, Board member.

In 2019, she became a Board member of the YPO People Action Network and Women’s Business Network. (African Champion ). She’s a YPO Global Envoy ambassador for the DRC of the Global Diplomacy Network.

Patricia has been the 2020 Africa winner of the YPO global Impact award, and a Global finalist for her work in empowering women in transportation and logistics.

February 2021, she has been selected as one of the Remarkable Women in the field of transport by the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

She graduated from Alibaba business school, e-founder program. A program designed to empower African business owners to build sustainable companies.

In December 2020, Patricia got her Doctorate Degree in business administration, specializing in entrepreneurship from the Virginia Commonwealth University and London graduation school.

Patricia is a public speaker, a role model, and an author who has published: “Caravane des Portraits”, a collector album telling the stories of unknown heroines of DRC – artists, entrepreneurs, inventors, and senior executives – who deserve to be highlighted.

“Nyota and the puberty” is a book designed to empower girls through puberty. Her goal is to create a better and more accurate depiction of Africa. She is presently DRC Ambassador for Women in Africa Initiative.

Patricia believes that Leaders should use the full potential of their network to help women gain more visibility. Mentoring alone does not equal promotions for women, but sponsorships could be the key to unlocking workplace gender barriers.

Society cannot be altered overnight, but by identifying what is important, we can help each other create strategies to break the glass ceiling.