FAIEJ, a fund supporting youth-led businesses, and UNDP-Togo launched last Monday the Togolese Facility for Acceleration and Innovation (FTAI). This is a CFA265 million fund to back local innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs. 

The fund, which should bolster business creation and generate more jobs for the youth, will benefit startups and incubators. 

“It is a facility that operates as a fund to accelerate businesses especially SMEs which have been established for at least three years. It also focuses on innovation that propels business activity. The goal is to facilitate the financing of innovation which is risky,” said Komi Aokou, chief of exploration at the UNDP SDG acceleration lab. 

The UNDP says the facility is the main component of the “Project to support the promotion of entrepreneurship and the private sector for the creation of sustainable jobs.” It should also significantly contribute to achieving the SDG2 and SDG3.

SMEs looking to benefit from the FTAI should meet some criteria. Notably, they should have a turnover that ranges between CFA5 million and CFA1 billion. 

 Esaïe Edoh

Lomé’s fishing port garnered over 1,324 tons of fish between January and May 2021. The figure, which is up 36% compared to the same period in 2020, was disclosed by the Togolese ministry of maritime economy, fishing, and coast protection. 

The ministry attributes the increase to newly-built infrastructures at the port.  “This is a significant development for artisanal fishing in Togo,” a video posted on the ministry's Twitter account reveals.

While the increase is to be lauded, it should be noted that the main portion of the annual output will be obtained starting from July and August - that is when the fishing season begins in Togo. 

In 2017-2018, the country’s fishing output exceeded 37,000 t. More than 90% of this volume was obtained by the fishing port of Lomé. 

The latter, let’s recall, was commissioned in 2019 by the Togolese government, with the aim of achieving a national output of 25,000 t per annum. 

Klétus Situ

The World Bank will disburse $470 million to support the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey (LON) road corridor project. This was reported by Agence nigérienne de presse.

The infrastructure, which spans 1,065 km, will boost trade between Togo, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Moreover, it will accelerate the transportation of export goods passing through the port of Lomé. In detail, trucks will spend 62% less time to move from Togo to Burkina Faso, and 54% less from Burkina Faso to Niger. 

In addition, the quality of transport services provided on the concerned axis will improve, as a result of the project; social and economic infrastructures will also be built.

“The LON Corridor is of strategic importance to Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo, and we are committed to helping these countries unlock their full economic potential,” said Anne-Cecile Souhaid, Senior Transport Specialist at the World Bank and leader of the project team. She added: “This project fosters regional cooperation by combining support for transport and trade networks with institutional reforms and logistics services that will jointly address the common challenges of participating countries.”

It should be recalled that the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey axis concentrates a large proportion of economic activities that make up respectively 28%, 40%, and 72% of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Togo. 

Out of the 13 banks present in Togo, 12 offer digital services. This was disclosed by the minister of economy and finance, Sani Yaya.

The services mentioned - financial and non-financial - help inform, support, and council customers in managing and controlling their transactions. 

According to Sani Yaya, two lenders launched Whatsapp-based mobile banking, enabling their customers to “conduct transactions on their bank account 24/7.”

Lauding the move, the official noted that “digitalization in most sectors is one of the top priorities of the government’s five-year roadmap.”

In January 2021, Mazamesso Assih, Togolese minister of financial inclusion, said the country plans to create a digital bank; not only to digitize financial services, but to have a fully digital bank that will support the economy and enable us to cover the whole country because there are digital fractures despite progress made in terms of financial inclusion. The statement was made during a virtual conference organized by the government of Benin. It focused on social response to the spread of Covid-19 in Africa. 

Esaïe Edoh

The Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Dussey received yesterday, July 15th, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador. The two diplomats mainly discussed cooperation between Lomé and Riyadh, as well as potential investments the latter could make in the former.

"Together, we reviewed our bilateral cooperation and investment prospects of Saudi Arabia in Togo. We examined the possibilities of bilateral cooperation between our two countries," Dussey tweeted.

New investments of Saudi businessmen in Togo should allow Saudi Arabia to strengthen its position in the West African country. 

Indeed, since 1980, Riyadh, through the Saudi Development Fund (SDF), has helped finance - through loans and grants - various projects in Togo, knowingly in the agricultural, infrastructure, and water sectors.

Esaïe Edoh

Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of finance and economy, recently urged the country’s banks to double down on efforts to innovate their services and financial products. This was during the National Credit Council (CNC), which he chaired. 

The official believes banks need to develop new, enhanced services and products considering businesses’ current investment and operational needs. 

Also, to relieve debtors, Yaya suggested that banks should extend their reimbursement periods and reduce the cost of borrowing. This, he said, should help “meet the financing needs of all components of value chains”; in a country where young entrepreneurs and agricultural actors struggle to get bank loans and those who do have to pay back in short periods.

The minister, however, praised how Togolese lenders are digitizing their offers, notably by providing online services. 

Among other improvements recorded in the banking sector, new loans granted in Q1 2021 amounted to CFA195 billion, which is 54% more than in Q1 2020. 

Esaïe Edoh

The government issued a tender notice to recruit consulting firms that will assess accounts of public institutions in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The closing date for bid submission is July 30, 2021. 

The audit mainly covers public companies, public administrations, State funds, or independent organizations that received State subsidies for the years concerned. 

The selected auditor will check if these parties used the funds they were provided as intended, hence meeting set regulations. In addition, the firm will ensure that goods and services purchased with the State funds were subject to contracts that respect Togo’s procurement code.

Finally, the auditing firm will authenticate all documents submitted to prove transactions undertaken by the audited entities. Subsequently, it will specify the financial impact of potential financial misconduct. 

Esaïe Edoh

Seeking CFA25 billion, Togo issued last Wednesday fungible treasury bonds on the WAMU securities market - an issue set to close on July 23, 2021. 

In detail, the bonds have a nominal value of CFA10,000 and will mature over 10 years, at an interest rate of 6.2% per annum. The proceeds will be used to support the recovery of the Togolese economy post-Covid-19. 

“The present issue, titled Obligations de Relance OdR (ed. note: recovery bonds),  aims to mobilize funds from legal and natural persons, meet the issuer’s budget financing needs in the framework of economic recovery, curb effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and return to performances recorded before the health crisis,” the WAMU securities agency said. 

This is Togo’s first issue on the regional money market this quarter; a quarter during which the country hopes to secure CFA110 billion. This is after raising CFA183 billion (against CFA165 billion forecast), on the same market, during the previous quarter. 

Togo, it should be noted, plans to spend in Q3 2021 nearly CFA200 billion to service its debt on the public securities market (MTP).