Togo advances reform to centralise SME and youth entrepreneurship support
Friday, 06 March 2026 12:03 
(Togo First) - Togo’s National Assembly has passed a bill on first reading to transfer the mandate and assets of the Youth Economic Initiatives Support Fund (FAIEJ) to the Agency for the Development of Very Small, Small and Medium Enterprises (ADTPME). The vote took place on Thursday, March 5, 2026, during the third sitting of the year’s first extraordinary parliamentary session.
The reform aims to streamline public support schemes for entrepreneurship. Authorities cited the need to create synergies between existing programmes, avoid institutional overlaps and improve the effectiveness of policies supporting very small and small enterprises.
“The transfer we have requested goes beyond a simple administrative change. Above all, it will allow our country to continue modernising its support mechanisms for the economy and youth employment,” said Mazamaesso Assih, Minister of Grassroots Development and Social and Solidarity Economy, who defended the bill before lawmakers.
According to Semondji Mawussi Djossou, chairman of the National Assembly’s finance and economic development committee, the initiative is part of reforms launched with the creation of ADTPME in 2022. The agency has already begun to deliver results, prompting the government to propose integrating FAIEJ’s activities into this framework, he said.
The reform also provides for the transfer of FAIEJ personnel, assets and liabilities to ADTPME. The government says the measure should ensure a smooth operational transition and preserve jobs linked to the fund’s programmes.
Created to support youth economic initiatives, FAIEJ has provided technical and financial support, notably through loans and guarantees for micro-projects. Between 2012 and March 2024, the programme says it helped create more than 26,000 sustainable jobs and mobilised 8.63 billion FCFA in financing.
The bill will now be sent to the Senate for examination. After that stage, it will return to the National Assembly for final approval, in line with legislative procedure.
R.E.D
