Togo First
BCEAO gets a new governor, another Ivorian
The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) has a new governor. His name is Jean-Claude Kassi Brou and he’s Ivorian. The Bank’s new boss was appointed last Saturday, June 4, during its latest extraordinary summit which was attended by the presidents of WAEMU states, including Togo’s leader, Faure Gnassingbé.
Before his appointment, Brou was the chairman of the ECOWAS Commission. A former Ivorian minister of mines and industry, he will effectively take over the BCEAO on July 4, 2022.
It should be emphasized, however, that Jean-Claude Kassi Brou has worked at the institution he will now lead for eight years. Among others, the economist was the Director of International Relations (in charge of economic integration policies in the WAEMU), and the Director of the Department of Economic Studies and Currency.
Brou, 69, is quite experienced when it comes to the West and Central African macroeconomic landscape, as evidenced by his work as Resident Representative for the World Bank in Chad and the IMF in Senegal. He also served as a consultant on public enterprise reform and private sector development to the former government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The BCEAO handles the currency of all eight French-speaking West African countries. In the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank issued a battery of measures to make it easier for the WAEMU States, and businesses, to secure the financing they needed.
The predecessor of Jean-Claude Kassi Brou as the BCEAO’s governor was also Ivorian, Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, who was recently appointed Vice President of Côte d'Ivoire.
KingCafé to open up its capital, and raise $1.5M in the process
KingCafé, a Togolese company specializing in the industrial processing of coffee and cocoa, will open up its capital in two or three months. The firm which has been active in Togo for around four years will do so through fundraising of $1.5 million (CFA900 million).
The news was disclosed to the press on June 6 by KingCafé’s CEO and sole partner, Paul Kpelly. The project, he noted, aligns with his vision of growth.
Concretely, the operation will enable the firm, according to its boss, to expand in WAEMU, Central Africa, France, and the US. Also, 30% of KingCafé’s shares will be transferred to investors in the process.
In detail, the money that will be raised–mainly from institutional investors, investment, and private equity funds–will be used to get the equipment needed to expand. This includes a new roaster and a mill with a production capacity of 2 tons per hour.
In 2021, KingCafé reported a turnover of CFA96 million, zero debt, and said it was fully expanding its distribution network. Now, it wants to raise its annual output from 2.5 tons to 150 or 300 tons, or even 1,000 tons. Its ambition is to enter unexplored markets and consolidate its footprint in markets where it already operates, ultimately making Togo’s Arabica coffee one of the best in the world.
Séna Akoda
Africa’s first African Women Entrepreneurship Academy opens in Togo
The first African Women Entrepreneurship Academy was launched in Togo last week, on June 2nd. The program aims to train and boost the capacities of 25 female Togolese entrepreneurs, with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship.
Backed by the US State Department, it will be deployed through the Center for Resources on Social Entrepreneurship (CeRES).
“We are living in a world of excellence and competitiveness never equaled before. And we cannot continue to do things the same way, hoping to have different results and, above all, to have better comparative advantages,” said Ngmebib Bileba, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Social Action, Promotion of Women and Literacy, at the launch of this program.
The program will last two months and will cover the following modules: "Pre-startup phase: from idea to reality", "The feasibility study", "Business plan", "Becoming an entrepreneur", "How to make things happen", and "Access to financing". This package of modules will be followed by a mentoring phase.
"Officially integrating women into the economic fabric of society brings tangible and quantifiable benefits. We all know, today, how much women entrepreneurs, both in the informal and formal sector, contribute to the economic prosperity of Togo and are its engine," said Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, U.S. Ambassador to Togo.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: Semoa launches e-ticket solution
The Togolese Fintech Semoa launched an event ticketing solution last week via its YEM and WhatsApp Dédé platforms. It was used for the first time last Friday for the Togo-Eswatini match.
The new solution lets fans buy tickets using Tmoney, Visa, and Master Card. “These CashPay services offer autonomy to organizers of cultural events, conferences, training, and others, in the management of admission passes,” Semoa indicated.
"I am convinced that YEM is an essential segment missing in the digitization of cash services and brings added value to users," said Edem Adjamagbo, CEO of SEMOA.
According to the fintech, the new digital solution also helps reduce the environmental impact of printing paper tickets.
Semoa specializes in e-payment services. Among others, it has developed for Ecobank a WhatsApp-based mobile banking app called Xpress Cash. The latter lets users withdraw funds without a banking card, from their T-money or Flooz wallet.
In March 2022, Semoa inked an agreement with Orabank. As part of the deal, the fintech is to deploy WhatsApp Banking for all Oragroup subsidiaries.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo: Ministry of Trade seizes 40 t of corn
Forty tons of corn were seized by the Togolese Ministry of trade last Wednesday night. The seizure aligns with the government’s efforts to fight the high cost of living in Togo and secure stocks of necessities.
"In June, the government issued a regulation for the export of necessities, including corn," said Kodjo Adedze, Minister of Trade, before noting the violation. "Here you have a truck of 40 tons that tried to leave the country fraudulently even if last May 16 we issued a legal basis that regulates the exit of necessities to avoid shortage and mitigate the inflationary effect which we currently experience," the official added.
Authorities were able to proceed to the seizure following an alert via the toll-free number 8585. This number is used to report any irregularity in the commercial field.
Besides measures such as the recent seizure, the Togolese government also capped the prices of certain products, and kept regulating their export, among other measures.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
UMOA-securities: Togo to seek CFA25 billion next Friday
Togo will issue more recovery bonds on June 10, 2022, and it will try to raise CFA25 billion. The bonds will be issued on the regional money market, UMOA-securities.
With a nominal value of CFA10,000 and an interest rate of 5.3%, the bonds will mature over 36 months
So far into the year, Togo’s public treasury raised CFA236 billion from regional investors. That is more than half of its annual target, which is CFA550 billion.
Esaïe Edoh
Between 2020 and 2021, passenger traffic at Lomé’s airport soared by 52%
The international airport of Lomé (AIGE) recorded a 52% year-on-year surge in passenger traffic in 2021. According to the airport’s authorities, from 460,000 in 2020, the figure jumped to 960,000.
This level is closer to that recorded in 2019: 916,000 travelers. In 2020, the traffic collapsed due to Covid-19 and related protection measures taken by the Togolese government.
The rebound in traffic recorded last year is good news for the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC).
"Our goal is to reach 1.5 million passengers by 2025. With the resumption of flights, we have exponential growth," said ANAC’s boss, Gnama Latta.
Togo, let’s recall, wants to be an air hub in West Africa, in line with its government’s 2020-2025 development roadmap. That is why it renovated its international airport in 2016 and has been introducing several reforms in its aviation sector.
Esaïe Edoh
How can African farmers benefit from AfDB’s recently-launched $1.5B agriculture support facility?
On Friday, May 20, 2022, the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced a $1.5 billion (about CFAF 920 billion) support plan for the African agricultural sector. The finance project would help African countries cope with the food crisis threatening the continent. The latter is presently deprived of more than 30 million tons of foodstuffs due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Under the initiative which spans two years, over 20 million African smallholders will access certified seeds, quality fertilizers, and innovative technologies, and this would accelerate the production of 38 million tons of additional food. In detail, the plan is expected to produce 11 million tons of wheat, 18 million tons of maize, 6 million tons of rice, and 2.5 million tons of soybeans.
"The African Development Bank will provide fertilizer to smallholder farmers across Africa over the next four cropping seasons, using its leverage with major fertilizer manufacturers, loan guarantees, and other financial instruments," the pan-African institution said.
How can African countries benefit from the facility?
During the AfDB’s Annual Meetings that were recently held in Accra, between May 23 and 27, the Bank’s president, President Akinwumi Adesina (pictured), detailed steps to be taken by countries that want to benefit from the African Emergency Food Production Facility.
"I received a call from [Senegalese] President Macky Sall. He wanted to know what he had to do to benefit from the facility. I told him it was very simple. It's a needs-based facility. What is important is to develop a project and submit it to AfDB. The Bank will then evaluate it. It will only finance farmers in countries that make the request based on a project submitted by governments," explained the president of the development finance institution, based in Abidjan.
However, the banking institution insists that requests for support must be supported by the implementation of reforms aimed at "addressing systemic barriers that prevent modern input markets from functioning effectively," in line with the commitments made by African agriculture and finance ministers to AfDB in early May.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Ethiopian Airlines connects Lomé to Washington
Ethiopian Airlines launched today, June 1, a new connection to Washington via Lome.
The carrier will fly from Addis Ababa to the US capital, via Lomé, thrice a week.
“We are very pleased to launch a new passenger service connecting Lomé with Washington DC. The U.S. is one of our most important markets due to the presence of a large African community and the growing business and tourism ties with Africa,” said Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew in an inaugural statement.
“The new flight further enhances the air connectivity between Africa and the U.S. and helps in fostering the economic, trade, tourism, and diplomatic ties between the two regions,” he added.
Apart from strengthening Lome's position as a sub-regional hub to the US, this new route brings Ethiopian Airlines' frequency to 10 flights to Washington DC, compared to the current 7 weekly flights.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Climate Change: Canada to help Togo and three other West African countries better collect and process climate data
Canada will grant $20 million (about CFA12 billion) to four West African countries–Togo, Ghana, Liberia, and Gambia–to help them build the capacity of their national climate measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems.
The announcement was made last week by the Canadian minister of environment and climate change, Steven Guilbeault, during an official visit to Ghana. On the occasion, Guilbeault met with the Ghanaian ministers of environment and lands, Kwaku Afriyie and Benito Owusu-Bio, respectively.
The financing will help beneficiaries develop strong and effective mitigation policies and actions against climate challenges, by helping them get transparent, accurate, and comparable information on emission sources. It (the financing) will be administered by NovaSphere, a Canadian non-profit organization, which will “help the countries track emission reduction progress as they work towards achieving their goals under the Paris Agreement,” according to a statement of the Canadian government.
“NovaSphere is honoured to be collaborating with the Government of Canada to support implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and climate governance with partner countries Ghana, Liberia, The Gambia, and Togo”, commented Tom Baumann, CEO of NovaSphere.
The non-profit deploys targeted technical and financial support for climate governance to help build the capacity needed to establish effective and efficient measurement, reporting, and verification.
It will also help Togo and the other countries better secure financing to implement their respective NDCs.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi