Pierre Antoine Legagneur is TogoCom’s new boss. He took over from Tarik Boudiaf, who had been acting as interim CEO since Paulin Alazard's resignation in August 2022. The rumor was confirmed last Friday by the Axian Group, which holds 51% of TogoCom.

"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Pierre-Antoine Legagneur as CEO of TogoCom. I am convinced that he will bring real added value to the Togolese market," announced Stéphane Oudin, CEO of AXIAN Telecom.

Legagneur, a telecommunications expert, was previously a director at TELCO OI, a telecom operator belonging to the Axian group (like TogoCom), active in the French departments of Réunion and Mayotte.

His experience will certainly be useful to TogoCom, especially amidst the local regulator’s criticisms against the operator–criticisms resulting from the merger of Togocel and Togo Telecom. The watchdog, ARCEP, even imposed TogoCom a CFA2.3 billion fine in 2021.

More recently, on May 31, 2023, the ARCEP issued a formal notice against Togo Cellulaire (the "mobile" branch of TogoCom) and Moov Africa-Togo, the two mobile telephone operators present in Togo, for "serious breaches of their service quality obligations."

Resolving the situation and strengthening the group’s position in the Togolese telephony market are thus the main challenges that the French citizen will have to address.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Launched in 2018 in Togo, the WACA Resip program has invested a total of 431 million FCFA in community forest management, according to data consulted by Togo First. These funds were poured into five sub-projects that aim to help Togo better preserve and manage its forest resources.

Five sub-projects

The investments break down into 89 million FCFA for the conservation and sustainable management of the Akissa Sacred Forest, CFA99.6 million to support the integrated management of mangroves along the Gbaga Channel, CFA81.5 million to support the sustainable management of the Afito hippo ponds,  CFA64.9 million to support the implementation of the Management and Development Plan for the sacred Godjé-Godjin forest, and CFA94.9 million to support the sustainable and participatory management of the Nyamessiva community forest.

"Through the WACA project, the ministry (of the environment) supports communities that still have remnants of forests, for sustainable management, for example by financing surveillance, fighting against vegetation fires, and initiating income-generating activities. It is noted that the populations living around the forests have these forests as their main resources, where they take their resources for their survival," according to Yawo Komi, deputy coordinator of the WACA program in Togo.

The project in Akissa involves tightening surveillance of the Akissa Sacred forest, creating firebreaks to fight vegetation fires, reforesting the mangrove, building a multipurpose platform in the Adamé village, and setting up income-generating activities such as market gardening.

In the Gbaga Channel, in the prefecture of the lakes, the program has strengthened the surveillance of the Channel's resources, reforestation of school plantations, training women in coconut oil production, acquiring equipment for women transforming coconut nuts, and developing access to the channel in the village of Agokpamé.

The Afito pond management program aims to help villagers in the locality find a "compromise" in their life with the hippos, protected species in the area. In addition to strengthening the surveillance of the hippo pond complex, activities include reforestation, combating vegetation fires, delimiting conservation areas, acquiring canoes and fishing nets, as well as building tourist infrastructure, and setting up income-generating activities.

In the community of Godjé-Godjin, the sacred forest of about fifty hectares -very rich in biodiversity, has benefited from surveillance activities to combat poaching, maintaining surveillance tracks, combating vegetation fires, and constructing infrastructure in the village of Godjémé (Yoto Prefecture).

In the Nyamessiva community forest, activities also involve training beneficiaries in beekeeping and market gardening techniques, as well as developing areas for market gardening and installing solar energy systems.

Overall, there is much to be done, and while the local populations appreciate this support, they also point out certain delays, particularly in the selection of contractors for the project. The issue resides in the fact that the team behind the project must work in agreement with the local communities, and this slows things down. "Everything is done by these communities and with these communities, we are forced to go at their pace," said the program's deputy coordinator.

At the end of May 2023, Togo had an inflation rate of 5.8%, compared to 8% a year earlier. According to the National Credit Council (CNC), which disclosed the figure, the improvement was driven mainly by two factors.

The first is "the good results of the previous agricultural campaign (2022)”. Reporting a better agricultural output, the CNC said it “has allowed for favorable market supply.”

In 2022, Togo, indeed, produced slightly more food than it did the year before, according to a report from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). Corn production reached 977,300 t in 2022, up 5% from 929,000 t in 2021. Millet and sorghum rose from 304,600 t in 2021 to 317,900 t in 2022. Rice production also grew by 3.8%, with paddy rice production standing at 171,800 t in 2022, against 165,500 t in 2021.

Besides agricultural output, the other reason that caused inflation to reduce is the battery of government initiatives launched to tackle the high cost of living in the country.

These include the expansion of the VAT exemption application from school canteens to university and company canteens, the reduction of the patent tax rate, as well as the social measures already taken in 2022 by the government to improve the conditions of the populations in the face of the high cost of living.

The inflation drop enabled Togo’s economy to end Q1 2023 on a good note.

Esaïe Edoh 

"Togo is a rapidly transforming country, with the aim of becoming a key regional transit center for West Africa, a regional hub for air transport, with ASKY Airlines as a major player, a regional hub for maritime transport and logistics, with the port of Lomé now a key transit port." This ambitious vision was hailed on July 3 by Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 2023 General Assembly and the Africa50 Infra Forum.

Adesina claimed that "the African Development Bank has invested massively in Togo."

In detail, the AfDB has allocated over $32 million to Togo's agricultural sector, contributing to inclusive growth and bolstering the country's food self-sufficiency by reducing the import of staple foods like rice, corn, and soybeans.

To improve the country’s transport infrastructure, the AfDB spent €60 million to build and operate the LCT container terminal at the port of Lomé, boosting the latter’s capacity to 1.5 million TEU. 

Besides infrastructure, the AfDB plays a key role in supporting youth employment. It allocated $24 million to promising SMEs created by young people. Likewise, the pan-African Bank has committed to facilitating the development of 20,000 affordable homes, with an initial technical assistance of $5 million to support the government's project implementation.

To boost rural electrification, the AfDB disbursed $3.7 million to power 317 communities across five regions with mini solar grids. This initiative aligns with Togo's ambition to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030.

The AfDB also financed the rehabilitation of various markets, including Kara’s.

Adesina, in a recent speech to Africa50's shareholders' general assembly, also praised Africa50's asset recycling initiative with Togo on the Lomé-Kpalimé road project. This initiative is expected to provide the Togolese government with new resources to finance other infrastructure projects in the country.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Matthias Veltin, Germany’s Ambassador to Togo, has ended his four-year mandate in the African country. On July 5, the European diplomat paid a farewell visit to Togo’s Prime Minister, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé.

"I would like, on this occasion, to express my gratitude to all the Togolese men and women for the warm welcome and excellent relations I have been able to enjoy here. We had a long discussion on all the sectors of our cooperation, starting with decentralization, health, energy, research, the issue of migration, and security", said the German official, while reiterating his country's commitment to cooperate with Togo, particularly with regard to politics, elections, efforts in favor of transparent management and good governance of the country.

Germany is one of Togo's main bilateral partners in Europe. Through its cooperation (the GIZ agency and the KfW development bank) in particular, the country supports various development initiatives, notably in agriculture, health, education and decentralization. Since the resumption of German-Togolese bilateral cooperation in 2012, Berlin has granted Togo €425 million. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Seventeen (17) institutions, including Togo’s Lottery (LONATO) and its Social Security Fund (CNSS), wish to join the shareholding of Africa50’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF). They voiced the ambition on July 3 in Lomé. The IAF fund, which is currently mobilizing $500 million, aims to bridge the infrastructure deficit in Africa.

"Our main objective is to help bridge the infrastructure financing gap in Africa, which is in the range of $68 to $108 billion per year... With the Fund, we enable Africa50 to play a leading role in leveraging the $98 trillion of assets managed worldwide," stressed Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

"This is the first time that such a large number of African institutional investors have participated in the capital round of an African infrastructure fund, it is a real turning point," said Alain Ebobisse, CEO of Africa50.

"This Fund allows us to invest what our future retirees should receive later in viable and reliable projects... Take good care of the pensions of Togolese retirees," declared Ingrid Awadé, Director General of CNSS Togo.

"We hope that this fund will serve as a lever for states, to help them mobilize more resources for infrastructure financing," added Georges Essowè Barcola, General Manager of Lonato, who was also present at the signing of the agreements.

In addition to the AfDB, which is investing $20 million, and the Africa50 group itself, several other players signed the agreement in Lomé. Among them, the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), CNSS of Togo, the National Lottery of Togo (LONATO), the National Social Welfare Fund (CNPS) of Ivory Coast, CNPS of Cameroon, the Deposit and Investment Fund of Morocco, Attijariwafa Bank, the Deposit and Consignment Fund of Benin, and the IFC. With the strengthened presence of the AfDB, Africa50's fund aims to open up to other continental and international players.

This development could boost growth in key sectors such as energy, water, sanitation, transport, logistics, telecommunications, and social infrastructure across the continent, as highlighted by Vincent Le Guennou, CEO of IAF, who was optimistic about the fund's future, which should quickly reach its fundraising target.

Regarding the amounts invested by the two Togolese institutions, they are yet to be known. 

The CNSS, which is among the largest investors, holds shares in many Togolese banks and also invests in real estate. For example, it holds 75% of the Dogta-Lafiè hospital. It also participated in the capital round of Kifema, thus supporting the construction of the Kekeli Efficient Power plant. Lonato is trying to follow in its footsteps.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) would like to boost its investment portfolio in Togo. On July 4th, the Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbé, covered the topic with BADEA’s Director-General, Sidi Ould Tah. 

The two men had the meeting in Lomé, on the sidelines of the first Infra for Africa Forum dedicated to mobilizing investments in infrastructure. Together, they reviewed the BADEA-Togo cooperation, with a view of increasing the Bank’s portfolio in the country.

"We reviewed the state of cooperation between the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the Republic of Togo. It is an exemplary cooperation that we wish to strengthen further in order to increase the volume of funding granted to the Togolese government," Sidi Ould Tah said.

He then congratulated Gnassingbé on the remarkable economic progress made by Togo and its position as a premier sub-regional logistical and financial hub.

"I congratulated His Excellency, the President of the Republic, for Togo's remarkable performance, its economic and social development, and the important role it plays as a regional hub, be it in aviation, industry, infrastructure, or logistics. Togo is also an important financial hub," he added.

In Togo, BADEA supports key projects in various sectors, including infrastructure, health, education, and energy.

Established in 1974, BADEA is a financial institution dedicated to the development of economic, financial, and technical cooperation between Arab and African countries. As a development partner, the Bank has been particularly active in Togo over the past decade. In October 2014, it pumped $10 million into a road rehabilitation project in Sokodé-Bassar, in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and in February 2015, it disbursed €14 million for helping boost rice farming in the Djagblé plain.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi