For nearly five decades, a famous quote remained etched on the lips of many Congolese: ” A woman does not build a country”. This expression taken from the Lingala language literally means ” a woman cannot lead a nation or a country “. Mamitsho Pontshi Lobo, the 3rd female Congolese civil aviation pilot, struck off the professional card this quote which reduced the Woman to a social lazy. On the strength of his years spent in command of aircraft in the DRC, Mamitsho Pontshi, nicknamed “flying leopard” was named on July 8, on presidential orderDeputy General Manager of Congo Airways.
Nowadays technical fields interest more and more women, they are in engineering, mechanics, electricity, carpentry, piloting etc, trades formerly attributed to men. Women today have broken down barriers and made their way into leadership positions in various fields.
Mamitsho Pontshi in the cockpit with the Head of State Félix Tshisekedi
M. Ponsthi: Youth and studies
Originally from Mweka territory in the province of Kasaï, the future of Mamitsho Pontshi was unsuspected. 160 years ago, her great-great-grandparents would never have imagined that one of their descendants would pilot a Congolese airbus. Fourth of a family of 7 children, of a father engineer of the office of road, Pontshi lived in many provinces of the country in his youth following the work of his father.
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First, a few years after his birth, his father was transferred to kikwit, in the province of Bandundu. There, Mamitsho completed his primary education. After having obtained the maximum of the percentages in the fourth year, she is sent directly to the 6th (terminal), thus skipping a class (5th), she quietly obtains her school certificate. At the end of the 2nd secondary year, his family is once transferred, but this time to Mbuji-mother, it is there that she did her scientific humanities by obtaining her baccalaureate in physical mathematics in 2001. Then, an nth transfer from her father brought her to Kinshasa. In love and passionate about aviation, since the age of 15, she enrolled at the Higher Institute of Applied Techniques (ISTA) in Kinshasa where she obtained her civil aviation technician engineer diploma, aeronautical exploitation option in 2006.
The motivations that will dictate his choice of professional career
Arrived in the province of Kasai during her father’s second transfer, Mamitsho observes many things and makes two observations, observations which will constitute her greatest motivation to realize her dream.
Photo credit: Twitter account of Mamitsho Pontshi
First, she notices that women are very discriminated against, reduced to household chores, they were not considered enough in society, they had no say and rare were those who hoped for a career. promising professional because they were not already doing major studies and even less studies of a scientific nature. This observation was the stimulus that had pushed her to study science and she ended up among the best of her class.
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Then, she notices that in the planes, the pilots were only men and the women were in the back like hostesses to prepare what to serve the passengers. This is how she decided after her technical engineer diploma to push her studies further. She traveled to South Africa to pursue her dream of becoming a pilot, she enrolled in a private school at Aero and ended up at Air Safety where she obtained her professional pilot’s license in 2010.
A professional career that is struggling to take off
When she returned home with her 230 flight hours, the work sector was not at all easily open to her. In 2011, she spent 3 months at the Goma Express Company, where she was discovered and was quickly sent for training in the USA so that she qualified in HS 125-700, 800 and 800XP in 2012. She went from training to training, on her return she worked at Katanga Wings from 2012-2013, she flew Hawkers 125-700 and 800, then from 2014-2016, she worked at Air Baraka. In 2016, she qualified for Airbus 318, 319, 320 and 321 at ATCT in Tunis and finally joined the national aviation company, Congo Airways, of which she is Deputy General Manager today.
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Mentor for young girls wishing to embrace aviation
Secretary General of the National Association of Pilots of Congo (ANPC) since 2013, human rights activist, Mamitsho mentors young girls wishing to embrace aviation. She encourages young girls to have a love of studies, work and to release their potential and become independent. Mamitsho Pontshi also focuses on gender promotion, community development, youth economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health rights.
Pilot at the DGA of Congo Airways Company
Since last weekend, Mamitsho Pontshi, with more than 2,600 hours to her credit, is one of the women appointed to various decision-making positions. The announcement was made by reading a series of presidential orders on the national broadcaster. Appointed DGA of Congo Airways, Mamitsho thanked the Head of State through her twitter account for the choice made on her and at the same time, she affirmed that she and her team will work to restore the image of this company.
My gratitude to HE the President of the Republic for the confidence placed in my modest person appointing me DGA within @CongoAirways.
This being a heavy responsibility given the context, we will work hard to restore the tarnished coat of arms.#FlyingLeopard— Pontshi Mamitsho (@PontshiMamitsho) July 10, 2023
Indeed, the appointment of Mamitsho within the executive committee of Congo Airways, comes at a time when the company is facing a major bankruptcy. On March 2, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Congo Airways and A&M Development Group, 1.300.000.000 $ had been injected for the revival of this airline.
Mamitsho Ponsthi Lobo’s life journey is a real school for many young girls, she inspires and motivates other people by her determination and perseverance in having wanted to realize her dream, but also through the story of her life. , it raises women’s awareness to show the desire to pursue higher education and why not dream of being part of those who make decisions? Women today have no limits, so dream big and aim high.