Togo First
Togo’s Ollo Africa Partners with Trades Union to Digitize Artisan Savings
Togolese fintech Ollo Africa, which specializes in managing traditional savings circles known as tontines, has partnered with the Union of Regional Chambers of Trades (UCRM) in Togo. The agreement aims to modernize collective savings practices and progressively integrate artisans into the formal financial system.
The initiative, supported by Ecobank, which is already a partner of Ollo Africa, is initially projected to reach over one million artisans by 2027.
The project hinges on the Ohana Africa mobile platform, developed by Ollo Africa and recently approved by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). Following a pilot phase, the application will provide a secure and transparent way to manage savings, withdrawals, and loans, while also helping artisan groups achieve legal compliance.
This collaboration is significant because the artisan sector accounts for nearly 18% of Togo’s GDP and employs more than one million people. However, the majority of these workers remain outside the banking system, still relying on informal tontines to finance their businesses.
The rollout will take place across the six Regional Chambers of Trades and will be preceded by training sessions to ensure platform adoption. Ecobank will be responsible for safeguarding the collected funds and providing the necessary banking infrastructure.
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Togo’s Insurance Authority Moves to Streamline Claims Process
Togo's General Directorate of Insurance (DGA) convened a two-day seminar last week for medical and automotive experts, aiming to streamline the process of compensating traffic accident victims.
The meeting, held under the theme, "La contribution des experts dans le processus d’indemnisation (The Contribution of Experts in the Compensation Process)," sought to standardize appraisal practices and reduce the persistent delays in settling claims.
According to Assignon Koffi, the Director of Insurance, slow compensation times are often caused by divergent assessments among insurance companies, experts, and victims.
Hounou Dovene, Head of Claims at GTA Assurance, added that administrative and financial challenges also contribute significantly to the delays. Insurance premiums, which have remained unchanged since the 1980s despite economic shifts, have led to a structural deficit for insurance providers.
The seminar successfully identified these bottlenecks and facilitated the proposal of concerted solutions designed to ensure faster and more equitable compensation, in compliance with the regional CIMA insurance code.
Togo: Chinese-Funded Water Project Nears Completion in Plateaux Region
A Chinese-funded rural water project in Togo's Plateaux region is ahead of schedule, with key infrastructure already being handed over to local communities.
Of the 300 boreholes planned under the Village Water Supply Project, 230 have been completed, accounting for about 76.7% of the total, according to project director Huang Xianzhou. Of those completed, 113 boreholes have already been officially transferred to local communities.
Field visits conducted in late October across the Ogou and Haho prefectures confirmed the advanced state of the work. The two-year project is slightly ahead of its initial timeline and aims to provide sustainable access to potable water in 300 villages.
The Governor of the Plateaux region, Dadja Maganawé, praised the partnership, stating it supports the Togolese government’s social policies, particularly in rural areas. Chinese project officials noted that improved water access will also help strengthen local agricultural and economic activities.
In villages such as Donvé, Fodjouayé, and Kokoudavé, residents now have access to hand-pump-operated water points. Beneficiaries emphasized the tangible change in their daily lives, which eliminates the need to travel long distances for water.
The project is part of the ongoing Sino-Togolese economic cooperation and is being executed on the ground by a consortium including Zhongmei Engineering Group, China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, and CREEC Consulting.
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Togo Trains 3,000 Youth in Online Safety and Data Protection
Togo’s data protection authority and national cybersecurity agency have launched a campaign to educate young people on how to protect their personal data and stay safe online. The initiative, held late last week in Lomé, trained about 3,000 participants on responsible digital practices and basic cybersecurity measures.
Organized by the Personal Data Protection Authority (IPDCP) and the National Cybersecurity Agency (ANCy), the campaign is part of the government’s broader push to strengthen digital security awareness. Workshops focused on topics such as how to safeguard personal information on mobile phones and the internet, with an emphasis on prevention and personal responsibility in digital spaces.
“Regularly backing up data, checking messages before replying, and limiting what you share online can go a long way toward preventing online scams and data theft,” said Malik Arnold Geraldo, director of training and capacity building at ANCy.
Officials said the campaign supports Togo’s drive to strengthen digital sovereignty and public trust in its growing online economy. The country has launched several initiatives in recent years, including the creation of the National Cybersecurity Incident Response Center (CERT.tg) and the adoption of the 2024–2028 national cybersecurity strategy.
As more public and private services move online, authorities say cyber threats are increasing and increasingly affecting young users. Raising awareness, they argue, remains one of the most effective tools against cybercrime. “By teaching young people how to understand and manage their digital environment, we are helping to build a generation of responsible users who value the protection of their personal data,” ANCy said.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo Plans National Survey to Map Financial Access Gaps
Togo will launch a nationwide data collection campaign on November 6 to update its database on financial inclusion among households and businesses. The month-long campaign, running through December 6, 2025, is being carried out by the government in partnership with the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
Authorities said the initiative aims to strengthen policy planning to expand access to financial services, particularly for vulnerable populations. The survey will provide updated indicators on both the supply and demand of financial products, whether formal or informal.
“The baseline survey on the demand and supply for financial services will measure access and usage levels, identify needs and obstacles, and highlight opportunities for improving financial inclusion across different user categories,” said a joint statement from Minister of Development Planning and Cooperation Sandra Johnson, Finance Minister Georges Barcola, Minister of Territorial Administration Hodabalo Awaté, and Minister of Economy and Strategic Foresight Badanam Patoki.
The National Institute of Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED) will oversee technical coordination and field operations across the country. Enumerators will gather data from households, businesses, and financial institutions to capture local economic realities.
The findings are expected to help the government assess progress in financial inclusion and design better-targeted policies to bring more citizens into the financial system. They will also help identify underserved regions or groups, supporting the creation of tailored strategies to improve access to banking, digital, and microfinance services.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, 87.1 percent of Togolese used financial services in 2023, a level driven in part by government programs such as the National Inclusive Finance Fund (FNFI), launched in 2014, which has enabled hundreds of thousands of citizens to access credit suited to their activities.
Esaïe Edoh
Patient Pouwereou Bodjona Pioneers Recycled-Steel Boatbuilding in Togo
In a small workshop in Agoè, Patient Pouwereou Bodjona welds together the hull of a steel canoe for a new client. In a country where wooden boats dominate the waterways, the 30-something entrepreneur is betting on a different material, recycled steel. Since founding Bo-Bateaux in 2016, he has been trying to build a local boatmaking industry rooted in innovation, sustainability, and resilience, though financing and regulation remain major hurdles.
The idea was born of tragedy. In 2011, Bodjona learned of a boat accident on Lake Togo that killed 36 people when a wooden canoe capsized in strong winds. “I saw it on television and thought, why not design safer boats?” he recalls.
Though he holds a degree in German, Bodjona has no formal training in marine engineering. His path has been built through self-teaching, trial, and error. “As a kid, I made small cars, toys, and little robots,” he said. That curiosity eventually led him to explore boat construction after observing a nearby water basin. “These basins should make us money, not cost us money,” he said, envisioning new uses in tourism and recreation.
In 2014, his project won recognition at the Forum of Young Togolese Entrepreneurs (FJETS), securing funding to build his first prototype , a wooden canoe. “It worked, but not for long,” he said. The experience convinced him to switch to steel, which he began mastering in 2016. To work with his new material, Bodjona took a 41-day training in arc welding and earned a professional craftsman’s card. “That’s the only formal training I’ve had,” he said. The rest he learned by watching YouTube tutorials and practicing. “I even built my own welding machines,” he adds proudly.
His workshop, where three boats are currently under construction, is modest but busy. Working mostly alone slows production, yet since 2018, Bo-Bateaux has produced 12 vessels, including 10 steel canoes and two unsinkable prototypes. “You can flip them any way, and they’ll still float,” he said. Steel boats, he argues, offer greater durability than wood. “When a wooden canoe cracks, you have to pull it out of the water for a week to dry before repairs. With steel, a welder fixes it at sea.” In 2024, Bo-Bateaux generated 5 million CFA francs ($8,000) in revenue, mostly from service contracts with the National Agency for Sanitation and Public Hygiene (ANASAP), which uses its boats to clean and dredge urban water basins. “It’s a decent income when there are contracts,” he said, though the company remains unprofitable.
Selling the boats is harder. “Buyers want to see before they pay. It’s like a car, you test it first,” he explained. But building display models requires capital he doesn’t have. “If we don’t have money to make them, no one will buy,” he said.
Bureaucracy is another obstacle. Registering a single boat costs about 830,000 CFA francs, a heavy burden for a small business with limited turnover. “We come with an innovation, but the system doesn’t know how to handle it,” he said.
Funding is another challenge. “Grants helped us start, but they don’t make a business sustainable. We need to earn money from real products and services,” he said. A costly setback in 2018, when two boats were washed away during heavy rains, taught him to rethink design. That incident led him to develop the unsinkable model and even train in scuba diving to retrieve submerged vessels. “It wasn’t a failure, it was a lesson,” he said.
Bodjona now sees opportunities in tourism and artisanal fishing. “People dive in our coastal waters; there’s potential for leisure and marine tourism,” he said. Yet he laments the lack of awareness among young Togolese about the blue economy. “This sector is worth billions, but somehow we’ve been kept from seeing its potential,” he said, calling for more education and public support.
He hopes the government will ease regulations for young firms. “Authorities could test startups like ours for six months or a year, giving us some flexibility to grow,” he suggested. He also advocates for reserving certain market segments for local entrepreneurs. “Foreign investors have their place, but some niches should be protected for youth-led businesses,” he said.
For now, Bodjona continues to weld and assemble his steel boats in his small workshop, preparing new orders and seeking authorization for public demonstrations. His story reflects both the struggles and promise of industrial innovation in Togo, self-taught expertise, a growing market for local technology, and a drive to turn the blue economy into a source of national pride and opportunity.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Lomé to Host Regional Workshop on Improving Local Budget Management
Lomé will host a regional workshop on November 3-4 focused on sharing experiences and best practices in local government budget management to improve public access to basic services. The event is organized by the Association of Togolese Municipalities (FCT) and the Council of Local Governments of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (CCT-UEMOA), with financial support from German Cooperation (GIZ).
The meeting will center on innovative approaches to local budget management, aiming to promote the exchange of local and regional experiences and encourage the adoption of more effective financial governance mechanisms. Organizers say these tools can enhance service delivery and strengthen local administration.
Participants from several West African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo, will take part. The program includes presentations on the fundamentals of local budget management and panel discussions comparing practices with both indirect and direct impacts on access to essential services.
According to the organizers, local budgets are a key tool for planning and managing territorial development. Sound financial management allows local governments to forecast, administer, and execute revenues and expenditures more efficiently, ultimately improving conditions for communities.
Togo showcases data-driven education management at ADEA 2025
As African education ministers grapple with chronic financing shortfalls, Togo presented a practical approach to maximizing limited resources through data management at the Association for the Development of Education in Africa Triennale this week ( ADEA 2025, in Accra; Ghana).
Speaking at a panel on sustainable education financing (on Thursday 30 October 2025), Alex Gbeteglo, head of statistics at Togo's Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, outlined how the country has positioned data at the center of its education planning strategy. "We need to better understand needs, guide public decisions, and optimize resources," he told participants at the three-day gathering that concludes Friday.
The West African nation has deployed an integrated information system linking schools, inspectorates, and regional directorates into a coherent network. "We can now act quickly and adjust policies based on real-time information," Gbeteglo said.
Teacher management goes digital
At the heart of Togo's approach is the CGRH application, a digital platform that centralizes teacher management nationwide. The system tracks deployment, performance, and field-level needs across the country's education workforce. "We can now determine where to deploy teachers and measure their pedagogical effectiveness," Gbeteglo explained.
The Togolese official, who has been directly involved with the system, described its practical impact saying: "All inspectorates can now easily access data from our annual census and obtain real-time information on pedagogical monitoring. From my position at the ministry, this transformation is already improving data use and significantly raising data quality across our education system."
Building capacity with international support
The initiatives are backed by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the KIX program, which have supported Togo in developing digital tools and training regional staff in information management.
The panel, which brought together education experts from across Africa, emphasized that reliable data remains essential for equitable resource allocation and rigorous performance monitoring ; challenges that have taken on greater urgency as external funding contracts.
Togo's presentation comes as African countries search for ways to do more with less, leveraging technology and improved governance to maintain educational progress despite tightening budgets.
Organized by ADEA, the triennial meeting is a pan-African forum that brings together African education ministers, experts, development partners, and stakeholders every three years. It aims to assess progress and shape policies for improving education systems across the continent. Founded to promote evidence-based dialogue and peer learning, the platform coordinates efforts to address Africa's educational challenges, from foundational learning to higher education and skills development.
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Ecobank launches instant international payment service in Togo
Ecobank Group has launched a new instant cross-border transfer service in Togo, in partnership with Singaporean fintech Thunes. This innovation marks the start of a continental rollout that will eventually cover the banking group’s 35 markets.
The system enables Ecobank customers, both individuals and businesses, to send and receive money in real time from or to more than 130 countries. The service is powered by Thunes’ global Direct network, which connects over seven billion mobile wallets and bank accounts.
“This partnership aligns with Ecobank’s mission to provide borderless banking services and support financial inclusion in Africa,” said Jeremy Awori, CEO of the Lomé-based banking group.
According to Thunes CEO Peter De Caluwe, the collaboration aims to make payments across Africa faster and more efficient. “Together, we provide quicker and more reliable access to liquidity and open new growth opportunities,” he said.
The solution is expected to facilitate household and business transactions, including family remittances and cross-border trade payments. It also offers new opportunities for Togolese businesses as digital payments continue to grow, supported by regional institutions such as the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
Togo will be the first market to implement the new system, allowing Ecobank clients to receive instant payments from global remittance providers. Ecobank is also among the three banks in Togo testing the BCEAO’s instant payment system, known as PI.
Gnassingbé Urges Africa to Fund Infrastructure with Its Own Capital
Council President Faure Gnassingbé urged African countries to develop frameworks to channel their substantial domestic financial resources into regional infrastructure, industrial, and energy projects. He spoke on October 28 at the third Luanda Summit on Financing African Infrastructure in Angola.
Gnassingbé noted that large pools of African capital, from pension and sovereign wealth funds to insurance and household savings, remain invested outside the continent, often in low-yield assets.
“Our continent has considerable financial resources,” he said. “Much of this capital is underused or invested abroad. We must turn this trend around. It is time to create instruments capable of channeling these African resources into regional, industrial, and energy infrastructure.”
For Togo, he added, mobilizing these resources will require bolder financial engineering, including public-private co-investment platforms, regional investment vehicles, and African credit guarantee schemes to strengthen investor confidence.
Gnassingbé emphasized that the continent’s banks and financial institutions have a central role to play in pooling risks, mobilizing capital, and reinforcing economic sovereignty.
“African institutions must take the lead,” he said. “Infrastructure financing will not come solely from external aid; it depends on our capacity to harness our own resources to build the Africa we want.”
The Togolese leader also underlined the strategic role of infrastructure, especially road networks, in enhancing competitiveness. “When a transport corridor functions properly, logistics costs drop and transit times fall. That’s how landlocked countries become true trading hubs,” he added.
African leaders at the summit also discussed strategic investment opportunities under the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and the African Union’s Master Plan for Regional and Continental Connectivity.