The Kara University launched an online course on volunteering and citizenship on November 27, 2023. The project was launched in Kara, in partnership with the Togo Volunteer Agency (ANVT). 

The course includes three modules: civic engagement; volunteering and development; and equity, gender and inclusion. They will be delivered in hybrid mode.

According to the two partners, the project aims to provide enrolled students with key volunteering skills and civic values "so that they are prepared to play an active role in the development of Togolese society".

"We aspire to see both national and international volunteers and learners emerge from this training with a renewed vision of their role in society, not only armed with technical skills but also imbued with the profound values of citizenship and commitment to solidarity", said ANVT DG Omar Agbangba.

Students who take the course will receive in-depth knowledge of the institutions of the State and crucial information on their rights and duties to participate fully in the public life of the country.

In addition to Kara’s students, local and foreign volunteers can take the free course.

The recently launched course is the fruit of a partnership concluded in 2020 by the ANVT and the University of Kara. The partnership’s goal was to enable the university’s students to learn civic values, helping them become more employable after graduating.

Esaïe Edoh

Lomé hosted on Monday, Nov. 27, a B2B meeting between some major German firms and young Togolese entrepreneurs. The German side regrouped representatives of big companies, like Bosch and Siemens. With the Togolese side, they discussed opportunities for investments and partnerships. The meeting was organized by the Togo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Togo) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

"The Togo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and UNIDO have agreed to organize this meeting between economic operators from Togo and those from Germany, who have made the trip just for this," said Nathalie Bitho, acting president of the CCI-Togo. "Togo, and its economic operators, in particular, are looking for partnerships and want to develop networks with which to work. We are therefore taking advantage of the age-old relationship between Togo and Germany, taking into account the quality and expertise of the German service, to enable Togolese companies to benefit from it".

"We have come from Germany because we strongly believe that Togo is an excellent platform for investment. We have come with a delegation of German companies, from Siemens to Bosch, mainly active in the fields of agriculture and energy, because these are areas of the future where your country and ours can work well together”, said Prof. Rolf Steltemeier, of UNIDO's Investment and Technology Promotion Office (IPTO) in Germany.

Facilitating external relations

On the sidelines of the meeting, the CCI-Togo announced it will set up an office to facilitate similar events in the future, and to connect local businesses with foreign companies. "For economic operators who are not present today and who would like to get in touch with these German companies who are here, and perhaps even those who are not here, the CCI-Togo now has a dedicated service to put Togolese economic operators who so wish in touch with their counterparts in these brotherly and friendly countries", said Nathalie Bitho.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

A delegation of Togolese private and public economic operators and German business leaders from the Groupement Mittelstand BVMW held a mini-business forum in Berlin on November 21. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the fourth G20 Compact with Africa Summit. 

At the mini-forum, the Togolese side, which was led by the Ministers of Trade and Energy, Kayi Mivedor and Mila Aziablé, presented the country’s economic opportunities, in the energy, mining, agro-industry, and logistics sectors, especially. From the Germans, they discovered their expertise in the energy, agro-industrial, and logistics sectors.

Based on the exchange, both parties are already considering partnerships to penetrate new markets.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo's President, Faure Gnassingbé, expects the country’s next elections to be held “no later than the end of the first quarter of 2024”. The deadline was disclosed last Saturday, Nov.25, at the Council of Ministers.  The meeting’s focus was the progress of preparations within the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), in particular the finalization of the electoral roll, which now counts 4.2 million registered voters.

Initially, the elections should have been held at the end of this year, but the final dates have not yet been announced. According to the communiqué from the Council of Ministers, "the President of the Republic has instructed the government to take, without delay, all measures to enable the next elections to be held no later than the end of the first quarter of 2024". An agenda that takes into account "the persistence of security challenges" and aims to "guarantee all - candidates, voters, and citizens - the necessary security throughout the national territory".

The next elections are the legislative and regional elections. The former will produce new deputies and the second will be organized for the first time, a milestone in Togo’s decentralization process..

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo was represented by eight startups at the Tech Africa - Europe Emerging Valley summit, held in Marseilles, France, on November 27 and 28. The firms are Anaxar, a mobility and transport startup, Semoa, a fintech, Makifaa, an image management company, Clinicaa, a healthcare startup, G-Avicole, Ego Transfer, Suisco, and Trankyl. These players represent a wide variety of fields, from logistics and healthcare to finance and education.

The summit gathered over 250 startups and 50 investors from 70 countries in Africa and Europe, around panels and networking sessions. 

One of the highlights of the Togolese delegation’s participation was a round table entitled "Togo: A startup ecosystem ready to take off!" This was a platform that enabled the Togolese startups to showcase the country’s potential for innovation and its ambition to become a tech hub in West Africa.  The roundtable was sponsored by the Agence Togo Digital (ATD) of the Ministry of the Digital Economy and Digital Transformation (MENTD), with the backing of the #ProDigiT project of the German Development Cooperation (GIZ - Togo) in Togo.

KYA-Energy Group, a Togolese manufacturer and seller of solar-powered appliances, sealed a partnership deal with Ecobank on November 27. Under the agreement, KYA-Energy will make its Kya-sop solar-powered generators available to Ecobank clients. The deal was sealed on the sidelines of the 18th Lomé International Trade Fair.

In detail, the deal will enable eligible clients (businesses) to secure need-tailored loans to buy the generators. The loans will be given through a green fund at good rates.

"We are making available to the population loan packages with attractive conditions to facilitate the acquisition of this equipment from Kya-Energy Group and at the same time, participate in the energy transition," said Souleymane Touré, Director of Ecobank Togo.

For his part, Yao Azoumah, CEO of Kya-Energy Group, said the new partnership is a catalyst that guarantees wider access to Kya-sop solar-powered generators.

Kya-sop generators are solar-powered devices that offer a decentralized electricity supply system, using standardized hybrid mobile cabinets. They are designed and assembled locally for a range of applications, including solar irrigation, and electrification of health centers, schools, SMEs, and homes.

The Togolese government wants to reform its Economic and Social Council (CES). The Council of Ministers approved last Saturday, a draft organic bill aimed at making significant changes to the law in force since 2019, which governs the composition, organization, and operation of the CES. 

Lomé explained that the revision stems from the need to remedy certain shortcomings of the previous law, notably concerning the appointment of members, their distribution by sector of activity, and their mode of remuneration.

The new bill, currently under discussion, aims primarily to clarify and strengthen the CES's remit, modernize the process of appointing its members, and broaden their representativeness by including representatives of the public sector, the private sector, and civil society.

"The adoption of [this new] organic bill (...) will enable our country to make the Economic and Social Council operational by proceeding with the appointment of its members," the government indicated in a press release.

The CES, it should be recalled, has the role of advising public institutions, especially the presidency and parliament, and helps draw economic and social policies. For many years, efforts have been mustered to launch the Council, as revealed by a recent mobilization of partners last May.

The government of Togo seeks firms to conduct feasibility studies focused on the digital sector, as part of preparations for a Compact program scheduled for end-2024. The related call for expertise was recently launched in partnership with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). 

CMC-Togo, the cell responsible for implementing the MCC’s Compact Program in Togo, steers the tender. Applicants, local and foreign firms, will be filtered based on the quality and cost of their proposals, which are due by December 4, 2023.

Selected in autumn 2022 for MCC Compact financing, Togo initiated an in-depth analysis of issues slowing its economic growth. Completed in February this year, the analysis revealed two key sectors requiring particular attention: the energy and digital sectors. The main challenges in the former include high costs and unreliability. In the latter, major bottlenecks, according to the study, include insufficient use of bandwidth and prohibitive service costs.

Based on the study’s conclusions, Togolese authorities want to determine the most appropriate investments to tackle identified challenges. In the energy sector, the government wants to improve production, transmission, and distribution. In the digital sector, the focus is on expanding connectivity and implementing interoperable payment systems and technological innovations.

Togo will present its priorities regarding climate change and ways to tackle it locally at the coming COP28 in Dubai. This year, the global meeting will be held in Dubai, UAE.

Speaking at the council of ministers on November 23, Foli Bazy-Katari, minister of environment, revealed some of the priorities the West African country plans on shedding light on at the COP28. These include projects that focus on best agroecological and water management practices. The country will also highlight its policy for building a climate-resilient, low-carbon economy, according to Bazy-Katari.

Like other participating States, Togo has set up its office and pavilion at the COP28 venue. These, the environment minister claims, will “ensure greater visibility of actions completed, underway, or planned by Togo, in its efforts to tackle climate change’s harmful effects.”

Ahead of the COP28, Togo has held several preparatory meetings attended by various players involved in the fight against climate change.

Togo opened on November 23, 2023, its first mall offering exclusively Made-in-Togo products. Named "Togo Mall", the facility was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé

Located within the Centre des Expositions et Foires (CETEF), the new mall offers a wide range of goods, including agri-food products, clothing, handicrafts, and household appliances.

The site will remain open throughout the year. The launch comes just a few weeks after the fourth edition of the Month of Local Consumption ended.