From now on, Gozem taxi-bike riders can pay for fuel at any TotalEnergies gas station via their Gozem Champion wallet. 

The two companies inked an agreement to this end on May 23, 2022. 

"This partnership will, first of all, allow Gozem drivers to better maintain their vehicles with good quality TotalEnergies gasoline," said the Lomé-based start-up. "Secondly, they will be able to save time by paying directly for fuel through their Gozem e-wallet instead of withdrawing cash," it added.

"Thanks to this partnership that will emerge, there is no doubt that the passage of champions in our stations will be more pleasant and that the service will be improved. For that is the purpose of digital technologies: to move us towards a better customer relationship," said Frederic Maupetit, CEO of TotalEnergies Togo.

Only two TotalEnergies stations in Lomé accept the new payment mode at the moment, one in Hanoukopé and the other in Totsi. More will follow in the rest of the country and other African markets where Gozem and TotalEnergies operate.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

During the 2021-2022 cotton season, Togo had an output of 50,000 t, against 130,000 t expected. This is about 25% lower than the 66,000 t recorded in 2020-2021, according to the sector’s actors. 

This year, 74,000 ha of arable lands were used, instead of the 193,000 ha announced when the season began.

The sector’s regulator, Nouvelle Société Cotonnière du Togo (NSCT), said there was a drop because farmers turned away from white gold to soybeans since the latter was more profitable.

For this new 2022-2023 campaign, the objective is to plant 180,000 ha for a production of 146,000 t of cotton.

To reverse the situation, NSCT took several measures to draw farmers towards cotton. Among others, it increased the price of first and second choice seed cotton. During the new campaign, these will be sold at CFA300 and CFA280 per kilogram, compared to CFA265 and CFA225 previously. 

The company expects farmers to cultivate 180,000 ha and produce 146,000 t of cotton in the 2022-2023 campaign.

Esaïe Edoh 

M Auto Electric Mobility, an electric car maker based in the Adétikopé industrial zone, has officially launched two brands of electric bikes on May 22, 2022. The bikes were presented to the media during a press meeting held at the 2 février hotel. 

There is the Chap Chap model which costs CFA900,000 and the Commando model which costs CFA1,179,000. 

“Pay as you go” and Mobile Money

The bikes can be purchased in instalments or fully. Both models can be paid over 36 months, making mobile money (Flooz or T Money) payments 25 days per month. Buyers of the Chap chap models can pay CFA999 per day while those purchasing the Commando model are to pay CFA1,299 per day. 

M Auto also said it would sell the bikes’ batteries all over the country, leveraging partnerships with various fuel-selling companies. Among others, it reached agreements with TotalEnergies, Somayaf, and Energium. In the long run, battery swapping sites should be opened in 200 gas stations.

“M Auto’s long-term ambition is to have a battery-swapping station every one kilometer,” the firm said. 

Charging a battery costs CFA1300 and a fully-charged battery can last over a distance of 75 km, according to Emmeline Brutus, project manager at M Auto.

A manufacturing plant coming soon

After previously announcing an assembly factory in the country, M Auto now says it wants to open a manufacturing plant in Togo. The plant, the firm says, which is being built and should be completed next year, will generate 3,000 jobs in Togo and Benin, according to Yasmeen Jawaharali, co-founder of M Auto. 

"Togo has a large fleet of two-wheelers for commercial use and government policies that are very favorable to the establishment of local electric vehicle manufacturing units. This is a great opportunity for M AUTO," added the co-founder. 

To date, about 300 M AUTO motorcycles are in circulation in Togo.

Green investments

M Auto is mostly owned by Africa Transformation and Industrialization Fund (ATIF), a fund based in Abu Dhabi and focused on industry and economic development in Africa. 

One of the fund’s associates, Shegun Adjadi Bakari, is a former senior advisor to  President Faure Gnassingbé. Bakari believes that M Auto is “a technological and quality product for African populations” in their energy transition. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

During an audience, last Thursday, International Business Bank Togo’s MD, Tahari Nabil, told Togo’s PM, Victoire Tomegah-Dogbé, that the lender would align its projects with the government’s priorities under its 2020-2025 roadmap.

"Our priorities are first to improve the whole digitalization process and, of course, our financing strategy and, at the same time, to assist the government in its vision of growth development and investment in all sectors,” Nabil said. 

Besides the new commitment, International Business Bank Togo (IB Bank) has been working with the National Council of Employers of Togo (CNP-Togo) for some weeks to activate the guarantee line of the African Solidarity Fund (ASF) for Togo.

With a seed capital of CFA30 billion, IB Bank Togo wants to acquire “holdings in companies of the banking sector, especially credit institutions, electronic money institutions, decentralized financial systems, financial companies, auxiliary services companies and any other entity whose activity would be linked to it."

Esaïe Edoh

Next Friday, May 27th, Togo will seek CFA35 billion on the UMOA-securities market. The country’s treasury will, to this end, issue recovery bonds with a nominal value of CFA10,000.

The bonds are set to mature over 180 months or 15 years, at an interest rate of 6.15% per annum. 

This year, Lomé hopes to raise CFA550 on the regional market, in line with its 2022 finance law. So far, it has mobilized CFA225 billion through seven operations.

Esaïe Edoh

To better impact consumers, Togo’s Electronic Communications and Posts Regulatory Authority (ARCEP) will bet on regulation by data and capacity building of the media in the processing of information related to ARCEP. 

In this framework, the regulator hosted last Tuesday–World Telecommunication Day- a masterclass regrouping media professionals and consumer associations. 

“In line with its new strategic plan, the ARCEP has placed regulation by data (ed. Note: relying on the power of information to guide the market and consumer choices) at the heart of its vision,” said Michel Yaovi Galley, Director General, ARCEP, during the masterclass. This, he added, means, “fostering access to digital services through regulation by all and for all” which will imply “relying on the latest technological tools and its platform for monitoring and supervision of the quality of service (QoS)” and thus “demonstrates the ARCEP’s expertise and know-how.”

Leveraging the media as a "link in the message transmission chain"

According to Hervé Pana, Communication Advisor at the ARCEP, previously, data was not accessible in telecoms, but the regulator changed things by opening an era of Open data. In this new context, Pana stressed, media outlets have a major role to play in bettering telecom regulation in Togo. 

"Regulation by data can not thrive without the contribution of journalists who, through the production of analysis and relevant content, enlighten and guide the choice of consumers," the Communication Advisor said.

This, the regulator emphasized, will require optimizing editorial content to turn telecom service consumers into more than consumers. Hervé Pané believes they should become actors or rather micro-regulators of telecoms. To this end, the ARCEP plans to organize more masterclasses and workshops.  

Covering the 2021-2023 period, the ARCEP’s new strategy aligns with the goals of the Togolese government. This plan involves setting up several operational sites, which will fuel Togo’s digital transformation, improve and boost competition, and better protect consumer rights. To date, 60% of the projects falling under the regulator’s strategy have been completed. 

Octave A. Bruce

The UN Development Program (UNDP), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and France will help Togo better tackle tax evasion. 

Last Tuesday, the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR), in partnership with France’s Public Finance General Directorate, the OECD, and UNDP, launched a program to this end. Present at the launch was Essien Atta-Kakran, Togo’s Customs Commissioner and Acting Tax Commissioner of the OTR. 

Named “L’inspecteur des impôts sans frontières” (IISF or tax inspector without border in English), “the program focuses on technical support relative to tax verification,” the OTR said. 

The IISSF was operational in around 50 countries in 2021. It helps developed countries fight tax evasion, notably by reinforcing their capacities in areas such as international tax verification, surveying tax crimes, and the efficient use of automatically exchanged data. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The new director-general of the International Labor Office, Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, met with President Faure Gnassingbé last Tuesday, May 17, in Lomé. During his audience with the Togolese leader, Houngbo told him about the priorities he will focus on throughout his mandate, knowingly reducing the cost of living, bolstering social protection, and getting actors of the informal sectors to formalize their business. 

“One of my priorities will be the international response to issues of the household basket and rising inflation which we are concerned about at ILO. We also, as much as possible, help universalize social protection. The sector linked to this social protection is the informal sector. We will dedicate ourselves to boosting productivity and formalizing the informal sector so that it contributes more optimally to the economic life of countries,” ILO’s new boss told President Gnassingbé.

Houngbo, who was once Togo’s Prime Minister, also intends to tackle ecologic transition issues, child labor, and modern slavery.

Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo currently heads the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The 11th Director-General of ILO and the first African to hold the position, he will officially take office next October.

Esaïe Edoh

The government of Togo recently reminded the country’s mass consumption exporters that the export of mass consumption goods is subject to prior authorization from the ministry of trade. The reminder came via a decree issued on May 16, 2022. 

The decree - which was signed by the ministers of agriculture, economy, security, and trade - adds that the authorization must be requested by the exporting party. Valid for 30 days, starting from the day of issue, the authorization certificate covers a single export, the decree states. 

Any actor who fails to comply with the decree “exposes themselves to sanctions and could even lose the authorization in question, in line with regulations in place.”

Though the new measure aims to tackle the general surge in prices in Togo (of food products especially), it is an extension of the measure issued in June 2021. 

Indeed, at the time, the government issued a similar decree that subjected the export of various products to prior authorization from the trade ministry. The goods concerned included corn, sorghum, millet, beans, rice, yam, cassava, and cassava flour. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi