In Togo, Moov Africa launched a challenge for entrepreneurs: Moov Africa Start Up Challenge. This is the first edition of the project and it rolled out on August  12.

Deployed in all markets where the Maroc Telecom group operates, the challenge aims to foster digital transformation as well as “modern and innovation entrepreneurship.” Also, it should, according to Abdellah Tabhiret, managing director of the group’s Togolese subsidiary, “identify, support, promote, and finance startup founders in Togo, those who have the courage and audacity to start new projects, and who believe, like us, in this country’s huge potential.”

Projects submitted must impact communities, regardless of the domain of activity (health, finance, agriculture, tech, etc.). There will be several stages (application submission, pre-selection, acceleration programs including training and support sessions, and country finals) before the international finals where the winners from each country will compete.  

The top three winners will get respectively six, three, and two million CFA. Applicants have until August 28, 2022, to register. 

Octave A. Bruce

On August 11, 2022, Togo and Japan sealed a CFA1.75 billion financing deal that will benefit vulnerable people in the West African country. The agreement was signed by the Togolese Minister of Agriculture, Antoine Lekpa Gbégbéni, and the Japanese ambassador to Togo, Ikkatai Katsuya.

As part of the deal, which is part of the Kennedy Round Project, Togo will get white rice for vulnerable people. Katsuya said the support will help Togo cope with climate change’s impact on rice production, especially, and with economic disruptions spurred by the Covid pandemic.

Besides, the Japanese added that the facility would also back the Togolese government in its efforts to ensure food and nutritional security for its population.

For his part, the Togolese minister of agriculture, Antoine Gbégbéni, noted that thanks to revenues generated by selling some of the rice the country obtained from Japan, this year, under the KR project, “several projects included in the 2025 Togo government roadmap for agriculture have been financed.”

Indeed, so far this year, Togo received 6,000 tons of white rice (worth CFA3 billion) from Japan, under the Kennedy Round project. Early next year, Lomé expects another 2,700 tons of white rice, under the same project.

Esaïe Edoh 

Over the next decade, Togo and other sub-Saharan African countries will get $2 billion from the U.S. under a program aimed at bolstering democracy on the continent. The funding was disclosed by the U.S. State Secretary, Antony Blinken, on Aug 8, during a trip to South Africa.

These funds will be deployed under the "Global Fragility Act," a State Department mechanism that aims to foster "more peaceful, inclusive, and resilient societies in places where conditions are ripe for conflict."

Concretely, in line with the program, the U.S. will provide support in specific areas that it will identify. Washington’s strategy builds on "decades of lessons learned in conflict prevention, such as cultivating good relationships between community leaders, government officials, and security forces, which are essential to defusing tensions before they escalate into violence, and building resilience to the destabilizing effects of climate change, such as more frequent and severe droughts," according to the U.S. Secretary of State.

It should be highlighted that in Togo, America, which is represented by ambassador Fitzsimmons, has been increasingly helping boost security in a context where terrorism expands in the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea regions. For example, the two countries are set to cooperate on a multi-year mission to prevent conflicts in Africa.

Besides Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Guinea are the West African countries to benefit from the facility. 

Next December, a US-Africa summit will be held. On this occasion, representatives from Washington and their African partners will talk about issues like food security, amidst the war in Ukraine, and climate change. The move happens as some of the US’ rivals, like Russia, have been seeking to strengthen their cooperation with Africa, in the economic and diplomatic areas.

Ayi Renaud Dossav

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) provided Zener, a Togolese liquefied petroleum gas company, a €16.2 million in financing to expand its terminal at the port of Lomé, among others. 

"The €16.2 million facility structured by IFC for Zener, whose operations cover the entire liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector in Togo, includes an €8.1 million loan from IFC on its own account and a parallel loan of €8.1 million to be mobilized from other partners," IFC said in a statement issued last week. 

Besides expanding its LPG terminal, Zener is to use part of the funds to increase the availability of gas cylinders by an additional 3,600 tons throughout the country, and equip five future service stations with LPG cylinder exchange stations and solar kits.

Ultimately, the goal of the World Bank’s private sector arm is to have Togo reduce the use of biomass (firewood) as a source of energy and “increase access to LPG as a domestic energy source,” in response to concerns about environmental preservation.  In Togo, let’s emphasize that more than 90% of the population uses biomass–charcoal, and firewood notably–to cook.

"Zener has the only LPG import terminal by sea in Togo, which is currently operating at maximum capacity. IFC's support will allow Zener to expand the terminal to keep increasing LPG’s use and help reduce the country's carbon footprint as consumers adopt LPG as a better alternative to biomass fuels," said Jonas Daou, Zener's Managing Director.

Zener is among the companies identified by IFC for a pilot initiative called "Local Champions." This is a program designed to support high-potential local businesses in low-income countries. 

 the recent funding, the IFC had announced its support for another local "champion," the Gozem Transport Company. It is helping the latter finance 6,000 motorcycle cab drivers. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi 

A week ago, on August 2, Sandra Ablamba Johnson, Minister, Secretary General of the Presidency of Togo, and Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, U.S. Ambassador to Togo, met. On this occasion, the two women talked about issues related to the implementation of reforms falling under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Program.

The US diplomat praised Togo for what it had achieved by implementing the reforms while Johnson attributed the achievements to President Gnassingbé’s commitment to the task. The Togolese official praised her leader for launching a battery of reforms “whose benefits now go beyond the resources that the country can expect from the MCC.”

The two personalities also talked about the organization of the next US-Africa leaders' summit and regional security issues.

Togo and the US have a partnership that covers several areas, including security, diplomacy, economy, trade, education, health, and agriculture. When the two officials met in Lomé, Johnson lauded the cooperation between their countries, as well as America’s help relative to maritime security and development programs implemented in Togo.

Esaïe Edoh

The Togolese government has set up a committee to regulate its Universal Health Insurance (AMU) scheme. This was disclosed during the council of ministers held on August 3, 2022. 

The committee, according to the council, will provide the necessary guidance, ensure financial balance, and help make the insurance system sustainable. It should also “strengthen the governance framework of this insurance”, in line with the first axis of the government’s 2020-2025 roadmap which aims to boost social inclusion and harmony in Togo. 

The council, on Wednesday, assessed and passed a draft decree that defines the mission, composition, organization, and functioning of the new committee. 

The AMU is managed by the National Health Insurance Institute (INAM). Overall, the project aims to guarantee access to quality health for all Togolese.  It is based on a risk pooling and solidarity financing mechanism.

Esaïe Edoh

Lomé, the Togolese capital, will host the second edition of the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) on November 28 and 29, 2022. This edition will take place physically, unlike the first one which was held online. The AFIS is organized by IFC and Jeune Afrique Media Group.  

During the event, conferences, workshops, and roundtables will be held, enabling African industry leaders to contribute to the economic recovery of the continent through the development of a competitive, innovative, inclusive and sustainable financial industry.

"AFIS is a platform launched in 2021 to allow leaders of the financial industry to exchange on financing issues in Africa. This edition will bring together leaders of banks, insurance companies, businesses that operate in the mobile money segment, fintech, and capital markets. The meeting will be attended by regulators, ministers of economy and finance, and representatives of major development institutions," Frederic Maury, Deputy Director of the Africa Financial Industry Summit, told Togo First.

More than 500 participants from 30 countries are expected. They will discuss four major topics which are key to finance, according to the organizers. 

Among the expected are eminent figures like Makhtar Diop, Managing Director and Executive Vice President of IFC, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, CEO, M-PESA, Nezha Hayat, President of the Moroccan Capital Market Authority, the Governors of BEAC, BCEAO, and the Central Bank of Kenya, and Mary Wangari Wamae, Executive Director of Equity Group Holdings.

"The first pillar is everything that concerns financial digitalization (fintechs, mobile money, etc.). The second pillar is green finance (Sustainable Finance) and the third is related to economic integration, the AfCFTA. There is a fourth theme that has been invited in light of the period of high inflation that we are going through. It is the impact of inflation on the soundness of the African financial industry and the outlook,” added Frédéric Maury, who also is in charge of editorial content and programs at the Africa CEO Forum.

The goal of organizers, through the AFIS, is to “stimulate innovation and impact the continent’s economy”, in a context where the finance industry grows rapidly in Africa and new users are emerging.

With a deforestation rate of 0.42% per annum between 1990 and 2015, Togo, under its government roadmap, plans to achieve a forest coverage of 25% by 2025. By 2030, the country wants to plant a billion trees. 

"In 2020, the government took the initiative through the government roadmap 2025, to instruct the Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources, to ensure that in 2025 this forest coverage which is 24.24% is increased to 25%," Komi Tellu, Head of Forestry Division at the Directorate of Forest Resources, told Togo First, explaining the reforestation strategy put in place by the government. "We must reforest a total of 43,000 hectares," he added.

According to the authority's estimates, 138,000 hectares of land and 21 million seeds are available this year. "For 100 million seedlings yearly, we would have to spend 40 billion CFA francs annually," he added.

WACA’s  contribution

To reach 25% of forest coverage in 2025 and one billion seedlings by 2030, an objective reiterated on June 1, the day of the tree, the country plans to finance local communities and private actors who contribute to the reforestation and establishment of forests, as indicated by the Minister of Environment, Foli-Bazi Katari.

The government also counts on several initiatives that will contribute to the achievement of this goal. This includes the West Africa Coastal Areas Program or WACA. This is a World Bank-backed regional program whose Togolese component was launched in 2018.

Though it focuses mainly on coast protection and biodiversity conservation, the WACA also has an agro-forestry component.

"We also intervene in the reconstitution of lake and river ecosystems, which explains our interventions in reforestation," said Félicien Bamoudna, monitoring and evaluation expert for the WACA project. The WACA should end in December 2023.

A million seedlings

"The objective of the WACA Project, in this sense, is to reforest 1000 hectares, for a little more than 1 million seedlings to be planted over the period, and an amount to be disbursed of about 700 million CFA francs," explained Yawo Komi, Deputy Coordinator of the project in Togo.

"We started these actions in 2020 where we reforested 177 hectares. We continued in 2021 where we reforested 179 hectares," he added. 

A “weak” contribution?

Compared to the objective of one billion trees, this contribution, the top management admitted is “very weak”. The authorities, however, attribute the poor performance to timing issues. 

"When we were setting up the WACA project, the government's ambitions were not the same as they are today, but it is still possible for us to rectify the situation", as the project has only just passed the mid-term review.

Moreover, the species planted are not only aimed at restoring ecosystems but also protecting coastal areas from erosion. This is particularly the case with the mangrove, which is the main species planted by the program, to help preserve the land against coastal erosion. For example, one goal is to limit the silting up of Lake Boko-Zowla, which is endangered by natural and anthropic pressures.

Several benificiaries

For its reforestation ambitions, the World Bank-supported program is collaborating with several beneficiary communes (Lakes 1, Vo1, Vo2, Vo 3, Vo 4 and Zio 4), which have substantial areas for agro-forestry activities. The reforestation will be carried out in the administrative reserves and on the banks of the rivers.

To date, 397 hectares have been reforested by WACA, i.e., 33% of the objective; it is also announced that 12 hectares (i.e., 67) are to be reforested between 2022 and 2023.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi