Created in 1869, the FINASUCRE group produces brown, blond, white and refined sugars from cane and beet, marketed in industry and large distribution. It also produces caramels and specialties. It sells renewable energy in the form of electricity. It produces alcohol, molasses, beet pulp and other animal feed products.

Through its subsidiary Galactic, FINASUCRE is a major producer of lactic acid and its derivatives, and conducts research into the production of biodegradable and recyclable plastics. The engineering and production of equipment for sugar mills completes the range of Finasucre’s activities. The group has factories in Belgium, the Netherlands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia, China and the USA.

The group operates a concession of 11,700 hectares under sugar cane in the Democratic Republic of Congo and owns 14,700 hectares of farmland in Australia, as well as 4,900 hectares of land with development potential.

Created in 1925 in Kwilu-Ngongo (Democratic Republic of Congo), the Compagnie Sucrière (CSKN) is one of Finasucre’s subsidiaries and is a semi-public company. where the Congolese state is a 40% partner. The country’s only sugar producer, the company includes sugar cane plantations, a sugar mill and a distillery.

On the agronomic level, the compagnie sucrière has experienced declines in sales of sugar and alcohol in the DRC. Sugar sales decreased by 31%, or 69,378 tonnes of sugar sold in 2017, compared to 101,218 tonnes sold in 2016. In this period, all countries where Finasucre is active have experienced a decrease in sugar sales. In the DRC, this decrease is explained by climate change, the slowdown of the Congolese economy and increased commercial competition from officially and unofficially imported sugar.

To cope with the decline in turnover recorded since 2016, Compagnie Sucrière has requested AMSCO’s intervention in the provision of expatriate staff, in order to achieve its development objectives, which are, among others, the improvement of its operations and the skills & capacities of its local staff.

Since June 2019, AMSCO has placed 13 experts of various nationalities, in the positions of deputy MD, CFO, Supply Chain Manager, Plant Manager etc… to execute this development plan and special emphasis has been placed on the transfer of skills and technologies to local staff.
AMSCO’s intervention was in the following areas:

• The setting up of a training plan in 2019 but which will be executed during the period 2020-2021, in order to reinforce the capacities of the staff, in the fields of Management and Leadership, with the aim of ensuring local succession;
• The improvement of the living conditions of the population through the construction of dry toilets and blocks of toilets.
• The installation of 22 hand pumps across the concession to provide clean drinking water to workers, their families and neighbouring Native people. At the Kwilu-Ngongo City level, the company provides drinking water to the neighbourhoods of Tumba, Mvambanu and Nsele. It has also granted a local organization a water source in the concession and supported the implementation of a project that currently provides drinking water to Mayenga and surrounding neighbourhoods. Solar panels have been installed to electrify the area.
• The allocation of housing throughout the concession to elements of the Congolese National Police, teachers, local service managers and public officials. Electricity and drinking water have been connected to these homes and to local churches free of charge
• Free access to medical care for company employees, their family members as well as land rights holders.
• The maintenance of the main roads of its concession, the 17 kilometres of road linking the national road to the city of Kwilu-Ngongo, without any financial compensation from the Congolese Government to cover the cost of this public service. All of these roads contain numerous bridges which are rehabilitated one after the other, as the case may be, by the company
• Access to education for 205 secondary school and 250 primary school students during the 2017-2018 academic year
• The integration into professional life of 843 young Congolese from various schools and the University of Kinshasa through internships in the Sugar Company.

Feronia is an agro-food company with operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

At the heart of Feronia is a long-established palm oil company, Les Plantations et Huileries du Congo S.A. (PHC), incorporated under the laws of the DRC. The Company owns three plantations in the remote areas of Lokutu, Yaligimba and Boteka.

When Feronia acquired 76.17% of the shares of the Company PHC from a branch of Unilever plc in September 2009, the three plantations were suffering from several years of lack of investment and disruptions caused by the conflicts in the DRC.

The Corporation’s first priorities were to rebuild the company and resume production in order to secure its future and that of more than 3,800 internal employees and so many other thousands of jobs that the Corporation generates through its presence in the region. These efforts have included the rehabilitation of the palm oil plants on the Lokutu and Boteka plantations and the construction of a new plant in Yaligimba, which began operations in 2013. The company has also rehabilitated internal road networks, implemented a program to replace palm trees that are more than 25 years old and therefore less productive with new palm trees, and is working to rehabilitate and enrich the social infrastructure.

Feronia plantations produce Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO). CPO is part of the traditional staple diet of the Congolese and, through the internal sale of Feronia products in the DRC, the company contributes to the reduction of dependence on imported products and improves food security and the quality of products consumed locally.

Feronia’s vision was to transform PHC into a profitable and sustainable agricultural business that benefits local communities, society at large and inspires investment in the region.

To achieve this vision, PHC has put in place a program of investment and improvement of its operations, skills & capacities of its local staff, through the recruitment of technical experts made available by AMSCO.

It is thanks to Feronia’s vision that the partnership between PHC and AMSCO was born. In its program of investment and improvement of its operations, skills & capacities of its local staff, PHC requested the intervention of AMSCO in the provision of experts, in order to achieve its development objectives.

Since 2016, AMSCO has placed nearly 25 experts of various nationalities to implement this development plan and, above all, to transfer skills to local staff.

AMSCO’s involvement has been in the field of:

• The implementation of the training plan for local staff and above all, carried out with this company, a project to develop local skills throughout the national territory through a program called “PHC Academy of Talents” which is underway: 48 people will be trained to prepare the succession of PHC’s management entry-level positions as part of this program, in the implementation phase.

In addition, the following initiatives are being implemented by PHC:

• Preventive driving training, organized in collaboration with the National Institute for Professional Promotion, 65 participants took part in the two-week preventive driving training in Yaligimba. The training covers such issues as good driving practices, risk anticipation and general road safety rules. It is part of the Occupational Health and Safety program, which aims to completely eliminate the risk of road accidents in the plantations.
• Four (04) hospitals, four (04) health centres and 16 clinics/dispensaries spread over the three Feronia plantations were renovated and equipment was renewed to provide medical resources to employees, their families and communities in the regions where PHC operations are located. This was done within the framework of the PHC Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP).
• Provision of clean, safe drinking water for people in the surrounding areas. Between 2016 and 2018, PHC drilled 69 wells in and around the Boteka, Lokutu and Yaligimba farms.
• As part of its commitment to best environmental practices, Feronia PHC has established a policy of collecting domestic waste from the communities of the Yaligimba plantation. The waste, which used to be burnt by households, is now sent to waste disposal centres where it is properly treated and disposed of, thus improving the health of the plantation communities.