Next Thursday, the 2020 edition of the practical business guide will be released. This will be during a roundtable organized by Focus Yakou and the Togolese Chamber for Trade and Industry (CCIT). 

Prefaced by Togo’s minister of trade, industry, and local consumption, Kodjo Adedze, the updated guide compiles legal, economic, financial, and fiscal data related to the country’s business framework. Its theme is: “Opportunities and challenges brought up by the ongoing structural and strategic transformation in Togo.”

Its publication will be preceded by two panels themed respectively: “Ambitions for Adétikopé’s industrial platform, the Kékéli thermal plant, and Togo’s photovoltaic plant,” and “Covid-19 crisis: opportunities to foster innovation in business, labor rights, and social relationships?”

Among eminent figures of the Togolese politico-economic sphere expected at the roundtable are Adjadi Bakari Shegun - Special Adviser to the President of the Togolese Republic for Energy, Ekué Mivedor - Director-general of Togo Invest, Eric Goulignac - MD of Heidelbergcement Togo, Alain Hountondji - MD ADKontact, and Tiburce Monnou - a lawyer at the Togolese court. 

Jean-Marie Tessi, MD of GTA Assurances and Secretary-General of Togo’s Association of Large Enterprises (AGET), will be the moderator of the two panels announced. 

Séna Akoda

Togo is preparing for its very first regional elections which could take place next year. Talks in this framework are going on between the government - the ministry of territorial administration - and the various national political groups. 

If effectively held, the regional polls would follow local elections held a year ago. This would mark another step forward in the country’s decentralization process. 

Regional advisers elected in the projected polls will compose various regional bodies, notably the regional council and its executive committee. 

As a reminder, Togo’s five major territorial subdivisions have, since 2019, become territorial authorities, just like municipalities, and are now defined as "legal entities under public law with financial autonomy," by the law on decentralization and local liberties.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Local tomato paste company Tanko Timati and Chocotogo, which produces 100% made in Togo chocolate, will get a CFA110 million donation from the Fédération Genevoise de Coopération (FGC). The funds will help the two firms boost their activity. 

The monies will help improve agroindustrial processing in Togo, thus contributing to the government’s ambition to further dynamize agriculture. The latter is the largest employer of the country: 40% of the GDP and more than 200,000 jobs created in 2019. 

FGC’s donation falls under its actions for international solidarity. The cooperation, let’s note, is a partner of choice of many Geneva-based public entities invested in North-South development cooperation. 

Séna Akoda

Togo plans to increase production and sales of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and boost the contribution of these resources to the national economy.

To this end, regional actors of the sector, international partners, and public authorities gathered last week in Lomé to discuss a document aimed at developing a national program to sustainably manage NTFPs. This program would help boost the competitiveness of a sector which despite its great potential “is not valued at fair value.”

According to the ministry of forest resources, “the management program aims to improve the governance, production, processing and commercialization” of NTFPs such as shea, cashew, moringa, honey, parkia, etc.

The related document will help produce reliable data regarding NTFPs, facilitate the emergence of modern processing units, and boost the visibility of the products (and their derivatives) at the national and international levels.

Non-timber forest products refer to any product of biological origin, other than timber, derived from forests.

Octave A. Bruce

Without giving further details, the government announced it would rethink the mode of operation of the State holding Togo Invest. The move aims to help the organization better adapt to Lomé’s ambitions under its 2020-2025 development roadmap. 

Active since 2014, Togo Invest’s main mission until now was to accelerate investments in key projects. One of its main accomplishments was to invest in the Kékéli Efficient Power plant project. The holding did so through KIFEMA Capital, an investment vehicle. A group of local investors acquired 25% of the 65MW thermal plant. Financing for the project, which amounted to CFA60 billion, was co-arranged by Oragroup and the BOAD. 

In 2019, the government transferred some of its oil and gas assets to the holding. In detail, Togo Invest secured 100% of the Complexe pétrolier de Lomé SA (Compel), 40% of Société Togolaise de Stockage de Lomé SA (STSL), and 79.34% of Togo Oil Company SA (T-oil). 

Regardless, the State holding struggled to attract major investors on key projects such as the corridor project, the multipurpose logistics platform, the special economic zone, Cinkassé’s dry port, or the heavy rail project. 

This situation, according to the government, calls for restructuring.“Given the changing context of intervention and the lessons learned from the first years of implementation, Togo Invest's operational model needs to be rethought and adapted to better serve the Government's ambitions within the framework of the implementation of the Togo 2020 - 2025 roadmap.”

Last Thursday, a framework agreement was signed between the Public Procurement Regulator (ARMP) and the Centre Africain d’Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG). The agreement aims to boost the capabilities of public officers involved in procurement in Togo. 

In the long-range, the new partnership should make the procurement system more performant, efficient, and transparent. According to the secretary-general of the minister of economy and finance, Badanam Patoki, the move was driven by a constant desire for innovation and efficacy, concerning procurement. 

Let’s recall that still to achieve more transparency, the ARMP and the University of Lomé announced a forum themed ‘Fighting Corruption, and Improving Ethics and Deontology in Public Procurement,’ which would be held this month.

Besides improving the skills of public procurement agents, the ARMP is also exploring avenues for a joint Master's degree program specializing in public procurement with the University of Lomé and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. It also has plans to open the African Institute for Public Procurement. 

Séna Akoda

Between 2016 and 2018, the Community development emergency program (PUDC) led to the installation of over 10,000 solar-powered light poles in Togo. 

With the poles, populations can charge their devices and connect to the internet, according to the official portal of the Togolese republic. 

In the framework of the PUDC, which aims to foster growth and boost access to light, Togo benefits from the UNDP’s support.  

The project’s end-goal is to install 100,000 light poles as well as seven multi-dimensional platforms, notably through the "Ecovillages initiative."

Togo’s national coalition for youth employment (CNEJ) has a new steering committee. 

The new committee, which has 17 members, was officially set up on December 10, 2020. The related ceremony was chaired by the minister of grassroots development, youth, and youth employment, Myriam Dossou D’almeida. 

Presided by Dr. Tchasso Kpowbié Akaya, the committee will proceed to the technical examination of projects submitted by the coalition. 

Established for a three-year term, the steering body’s mission will consist of bolstering job creation on a massive scale and positioning youth at key positions in the public and private sectors in the country, as well as beyond our borders.

CNEJ aims at creating “at least 3,000 jobs per year.”