SAMEB 2025 opens Brazzaville’s artisan village
Brazzaville stirred to life on 11 August as the fourth Salon des Métiers du Bois, or SAMEB 2025, opened on the esplanade opposite President-Massamba-Débat Stadium. The temporary village of pavilions resembles a bustling Kasai market, but its ambitions reach continental scale.
For two weeks, 136 artisans—including cabinetmakers, sculptors, raffia weavers and pearl jewellers—display their craft under the theme ‘Wood and Craftsmanship: From Forest to Home, Consume Congolese.’ Visitors flow between cedar-scented stalls and live demonstrations of digital milling machines.
Opening the fair, Forestry Minister Rosalie Matondo called the forest-wood sector ‘a decisive lever of diversification,’ standing in for Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso. Her speech echoed previous cabinet communiqués framing non-oil value chains as the spine of the 2022-2026 National Development Plan.
Policy context: Diversifying beyond oil
Close to 60 percent of Congo-Brazzaville’s export earnings still stem from hydrocarbons, according to the IMF. Yet presidential advisers insist that timber, once exported mainly as raw logs, can capture far more domestic value through furniture, eco-housing components and high-end décor (IMF 2024).
SAMEB’s co-organiser, the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, positions artisans as frontline actors in that strategic pivot. Minister Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo reminded attendees that President Denis Sassou Nguesso serves as ‘ambassador of African craftsmanship,’ linking cultural identity with economic sovereignty.
Government planners calculate that if just ten percent of locally harvested hardwood were processed domestically, the sector could add nearly 30,000 formal jobs by 2030, a figure echoed in a recent World Bank value-chain study (World Bank 2023).
The Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development, approved in June, sets a target of raising the wood sector’s GDP share from 4 to 10 percent within five years, backed by fiscal incentives such as VAT rebates on machinery and reduced export duties.
Harnessing a 900-million-m³ forest endowment
Congo’s forests hold an estimated 900 million cubic metres of commercial timber over 300 exploitable species, yet official data show only 1.7 million cubic metres processed annually. The gap reveals both ecological responsibilities and industrial opportunities.
Independent analysts from the Central Africa Forest Observatory point to upstream constraints—roads, certification, power supply—that inflate costs. SAMEB exhibitors counter with prototypes of solar-kiln drying and modular sawmills designed for off-grid districts, signalling a gradual technological leap.
The fair’s scientific forum devoted a session to sustainable quotas. Researchers from Marien Ngouabi University argued that selective felling, combined with community-based monitoring, can align carbon-market revenues with village budgets, an approach lauded in a 2024 UNECA briefing.
Skills, social support and branding ‘Made in Congo’
Minister Mikolo listed forthcoming measures: vocational modules at technical colleges, digital registries for artisan pensions, and a universal health scheme. By formalising the sector, the government hopes to transform precarious workshops into stable micro-enterprises capable of meeting export standards.
Brand visibility also matters. A pilot geographic-indication label for Kongo-Central mahogany chairs is under review at the African Intellectual Property Organisation. Officials say the seal will reassure buyers that timber is legally sourced and designs authentically Congolese.
At SAMEB, merchants already stamp ‘Made in Congo’ on artisanal jewellery crafted from doussie off-cuts. Local influencer Yvonne Malonga filmed the process for her 1.2 million social-media followers, underscoring how soft power and marketing converge with industrial policy.
Finance flows and SME scale-up
Access to credit remains the perennial hurdle. The African Development Bank, co-sponsor of SAMEB’s innovation prize, announced a ten-million-dollar line for green wood processing under its SME Support Programme, complementing the national Guarantee Fund created last year.
Commercial banks stationed kiosks inside the fairgrounds, pre-approving micro-loans on presentation of purchase orders. Woodworker Jean-Robert Mabiala reported securing capital to triple production of school desks bound for Pointe-Noire, illustrating how market visibility can translate into swift liquidity.
Longer-term capital will hinge on data. A partnership between the National Statistics Institute and the UN Development Programme will map artisan income flows, enabling risk-based pricing for lenders and evidence-driven subsidies for machinery upgrades (UNDP 2024).
Several startups unveiled mobile apps linking carpenters with surplus timber off-cuts from big concessions, reducing waste and costs. Developer Alain Banzouzi said his platform onboarded 200 artisans during the fair, underscoring digitalisation’s role in circular economy goals.
Regional synergies and green diplomacy
Delegations from Cameroon, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo walked the aisles searching for joint-venture partners. Inter-African timber trade remains modest, but AfCFTA rules of origin entering force in January 2025 could lower tariffs on finished wood goods.
Congo’s pavilion highlighted carbon-positive furniture destined for European eco-boutiques, tapping into the EU Deforestation Regulation that rewards traceable supply chains. Trade counsellor Bernard Itoua argued that ‘compliance can become a brand advantage rather than an obstacle’.
As closing day nears, organisers forecast thirty thousand visitors and contracts worth five billion CFA francs. While modest beside oil revenues, the figure reinforces a narrative of gradual but tangible diversification championed by the government and welcomed by development partners.
