The largest flour mill company of the Democratic Republic of Congo is MIDEMA (Minoterie De Matadi), established in 1973. MIDEMA mainly produces premium quality wheat flour as well as cattle feed. MIDEMA remains the only mill in the country to produce fortified flour with iron and folic acid, which has been produced since October 28, 2006 on the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO).  It is important to note that the monetary crisis that shook the world has forced many companies to close their doors, but the MIDEMA continues to resist.

The MIDEMA silos in Matadi port, with its own quay (n° 11).
 

MIDEMA directly employs more than 300 workers and indirectly creates thousands of jobs through its customers and the milling industry. MIDEMA's customers include bakers, distributors and "mama mikate" (street retailers), all of which, in turn, create jobs. The milling industry and has more than 1,000 bakeries, which use an average of 30 workers and deliver bread to more than 50 vendors, resulting in 80,000 indirect jobs.

The daily output of the milling industry totals 15,000 45 kg bags of wheat flour. Each 45 kg bag gives an average of 400 loaves, providing the Congolese at least 6 million loaves a day. MIDEMA is known in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the quality of its flour.

Heavy MIDEMA investment in Matadi with their own conveyor belt to the quay.
 

Since 2008, MIDEMA has been training its bakers with IFC, a financial arm of the World Bank,  to introduce customers to the culture of  banking. This banking has opened the doors of microcredit agencies, which gave a boost to the development of their production units. For more information on this partnership with the World Bank, please read Reaching Small and Micro Entrepreneurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Another investor in MIDEMA is the Seaboard Overseas and Trading Group. Beside these, there are now numerous private investors from Lebanon, India and Pakistan creating small to medium sized mill businesses in addition to large companies such as African Milling in Lubumbashi. This economic sector becomes very competitive and some historical groups, such as ORGAMAN (founded in 1931), had to cease activities due to a drastic decrease of benefits. MIDEMA is also seriously challenged by this tense economic environment.
 

For more information on milling companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo with contact details, please see the (non-exhaustive) Democratic Republic of Congo Milling Supplier Contact List and 4.6 Democratic Republic of Congo Storage and Milling Company Contact List.