Patricia Nzolantima, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with expertise in Marketing, Brand Strategy, and Entrepreneurship, founded and currently serves as the president of Bizzoly Holdings, a women-owned company and foundation. In this role, she oversees the strategic direction and operations of the company. She was born in Kinshasa, the capital of République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), in 1979.
Nzolantima’s entrepreneurial preparation began in her high school years in Kinshasa. She baked and sold cakes and waffles on campus. By the age of 18, she had purchased a sewing machine and started manufacturing and selling clothing under the brand name, Bizzoly.
After graduating from the Université Protestante Au Congo in 2001, with a Law degree in International Public Law, Nzolantima went to work as a Client Service Manager with McCann Erickson at the age of 22 and remained there until 2005. From 2005 to 2008, she served as the Business Unit Manager with an export agency in Dakar, Sénégal.
In 2008, Nzolantima founded Exp-Comunicatt RDC, her first company and one of the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, specializing in experiential marketing, allowing international companies access into the African market. In 2012, Nzolantima was selected to join the prestigious Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), a U.S. State Department program aimed at inspiring and supporting African business leaders. Nzolantima also became the first woman in the DRC to participate in the Mandela Fellowship, an initiative of former President Barack Obama, which aims to empower young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.
Since 2013, Nzolantima has been a representative of Congo in the Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance at the G20 summit. In 2016 she released her book, Caravane des Portraits, a celebration of the women shaping the Africa of tomorrow. The same year, she delivered the opening remarks at the prestigious Global Entrepreneur Summit in Silicon Valley, California.
In 2017, Nzolantima founded Bizzoly Transport & Logistics, a transport and logistics company that employs women drivers in Kinshasa, Congo (RDC). The following year, she partnered with UBA Group to establish the first women’s visa prepaid card in the DRC to fund women entrepreneurs’ projects through its women’s economic empowerment hub. Three years later she established the first female driver academy to empower women in transportation and logistics and partnered with VISA International to launch the first women’s digital bank.
Nzolantima holds a master’s degree in law from the Protestant University of the Congo (DRC) and a Master of Science degree from the Cape Town Institute of Studies in South Africa. She has earned a PhD. in Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She continued her studies and received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2022, where she also served as the Co-chair of the Harvard Leadership Council Center for African Studies and Stanford University’s Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies in Palo Alto, California.
Patricia Nzolantima became Co-chair of the B20 India 2023 Action Council on African Economic Integration, the official G20 dialogue forum within the global business community, and a member of the B20 Brazil 2024 Women, Diversity, and Inclusion in Business Action Council.
