Togo First
Togolese students to get more scholarships from Morocco
Morocco announced it will increase the number of scholarships it grants to Togolese students. The information was relayed on May 10, by Togo’s minister of foreign affairs, Robert Dussey, following a videoconference with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita.
In effect, the northern African country plans to grant over 100 scholarships to Togolese students yearly, up from 70 now. Beneficiaries will mostly be fresh high school graduates and college students with a year into university (and no more than 23 years old).
“I thank the Moroccan Kingdom for its announcement regarding the provision of 100 scholarships to Togolese students,” Dussey said.
Besides the scholarships, Morocco also said it would soon set up a diplomatic mission in Lomé to improve the relationship between Lomé and Rabat.
Daniel Agbenonwossi (intern)
Government sets a cap on the number of active SIM cards per user, per operator
Every mobile user living in Togo is to have no more than 3 active SIM cards per operator henceforth. This was decided in a decree dated 29 April 2021 and signed by the Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation, Cina Lawson.
According to a press release issued by the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) on 10 May, which was consulted by Togo First, “this provision strengthens the legal framework, particularly concerning the identification of mobile service subscribers, to ensure compliance with regulatory and international obligations.”
According to ARCEP, the move will help tackle criminal activities involving the use of cellular phones and responds to a major complaint of consumer associations.
This new regulation, the regulator emphasized, “applies only to individuals.” Furthermore, the ARCEP warned that “those using more than three SIM cards per operator have six months to comply with the legal provisions or risk the suspension of all their numbers.” It also called on operators to ease the process for users.
As a reminder, before this decree’s issuance, users could have an unlimited number of chips for any given operator.
Before the year ends, Togo will launch two major projects to attract more investments from its diaspora
This year, two major projects will be carried out by the High Council for Togolese Abroad (HCTE). The first is the census of Togolese living abroad and the second is the creation of a registry for Togolese entrepreneurs and investors living outside the country.
This was disclosed on May 10 by the minister of foreign affairs, Robert Dussey, on the sidelines of the launch of the Diaspora Window. The latter aims to provide technical support to the HCTE towards attracting more investment in Togo. On this occasion, Dussey also mentioned steps the government plans to take via the HCTE, to get the Togolese diaspora to contribute to national development.
In effect, the two projects announced will help the government have accurate demographic data on Togolese abroad and identify those of them who can contribute to its 2020-2025 Roadmap, by investing or with their business projects.
Besides these two projects, in 2022 or 2023, the country should establish the Investment Fund for Togolese Abroad (FITEX), create an incubator for the diaspora, as well as launch a platform to integrate Togolese abroad in public and international institutions, as well as in multinational companies also.
Séna Akoda
Cina Lawson sets a new threshold for the quality of services mobile operators are to provide
In a decree issued on April 29, 2021, Togo’s minister of the digital economy and digital transformation, Cina Lawson, revealed new quality indicators for 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile services, and thresholds to be achieved by telecom operators active in the country.
The quality indicators and thresholds concern five segments of mobile services: voice, SMS, USSD, web browsing, and data transmission. In addition, there are network infrastructure and commercial indicators.
Comparing this data to that collected in the field will help determine real quality levels of services provided by mobile network operators in Togo. The data will be obtained through quality of service measurements and experiments conducted annually on the various mobile networks.
Financed by the operators, the assessments will be based on methodologies previously defined by the Telecommunications and Posts Regulatory Authority (ARCEP).
Moreover, the regulator will be able, as part of its control mission and at its own expense, to carry out or have carried out continuous audits of the quality of services throughout the country, throughout the year.
Earlier this year, the ARCEP said it acquired an XCALL PU 12 - a tool used to measure the coverage and quality of services on 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. This box, which is the size of a central unit, helps measure coverage, voice quality, navigation, SMS messaging, or downloads and uploads.
Klétus Situ
Togo to hold three key events during the upcoming Dubai Expo 2020
Togo will participate in the upcoming Dubai Expo 2020, scheduled to begin in October. The African country will host three events at the international forum.
The first event, the Economic Day, will take place on December 19, 2021. The other two - the National Day of Togo and the Startups Day - will take place respectively on December 21, 2021, and February 8, 2022.
The three events will be an occasion for Togo to showcase its economic potentialities and investment opportunities.
In preparation for the Dubai Expo 2020, a preparatory meeting was held last week. On this occasion, participating nations were briefed on the progress of preparations. African delegations present took this opportunity to express their ambition to bring Africa’s economic identity to light.
According to Levi Uche Madueke, AU’s head of strategic partnerships, the Expo will also be an opportunity to change the world’s perception of Africa and prove that it is ready to do business. “The time has come for us to reach out to the world, and for the world to understand us, and also see how they can collaborate with us,” he declared.
Each African delegation will have a pavilion at the Expo.
A hundred Togolese cooperatives to be registered with the FAO’s support
In the next few days, about a 100 farmers cooperatives will benefit from the support of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to get officially registered.
This was announced last Thursday by the UN body which stated it would provide €10,000 (about 6.5 million CFA) to these groups. The move, according to the FAO, aims to enable the beneficiaries to establish partnerships with national and international institutions.
“We have identified a hundred cooperatives with which we want to carry out activities in the field, but they are neither registered nor well organized with a lack of real knowledge of their role and responsibility,” said Oyetunde Djiwa, FAO Program Officer in Lomé.
Indeed, in Togo, nearly 25,000 farmers cooperatives are active but only 20% of them are registered according to recent data from the ministry of agriculture.
The situation prevents the remaining 80% from accessing loans and other forms of support that could allow them to become major producers, according to Djiwa.
The projected registration will be co-piloted with the national project for the promotion of rural entrepreneurship (PNPER).
Togo opens single window to bolster its diaspora’s contribution to national development
Today, May 10, Togo is set to launch a special window where its diaspora can get information related to procedures and steps to follow, to contribute to the country’s development.
This was disclosed by the minister of foreign affairs, Robert Dussey, on Twitter at the end of last week. Alongside the launch of this window, the action plan to boost the participation of the diaspora in the 2020-2025 roadmap will be initiated.
“No nation can build itself and thrive without involving all its sons and daughters in the management of public affairs,” said the government during the inauguration ceremony of the 77 delegates of the High Council for Togolese Abroad (HCTE).
To this, the then Prime Minister, Komi Selom Klassou, had added: “the HTCE is now the proven receptacle of the potential of our compatriots and it gives priority to our diaspora’s concerns.”
To encourage investment from the diaspora, Togolese authorities took many initiatives including among others the exemption of visa for binational Togolese, the 2014 Diaspora meetings, the Diaspora Success Week, etc.
Last February, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) adopted a proposal by Togo to declare the 2021-2031 decade as the “decade of African roots and diasporas.”
More recently, Togo signed an agreement with France, establishing a legal framework called “Talents in common” to enable more members of the Togolese diaspora to serve the country’s development. This was during a visit by Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé to France, at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron.
Every year, Togolese abroad officially transfer nearly $500 million, or 8 to 9% of GDP, back home. These monies are mainly sent to aid families.
Séna Akoda
Government suspends export of metal scraps to bolster local supply chain
"The export of scrap metal and ferrous by-products collected within the Togolese national territory is suspended until further notice.” The announcement was made via a joint statement of the minister of trade, investment, and the minister of economy.
The recently-initialed measure should enable the various players in the iron processing industry to get more supplies, on the local market especially.
While iron ore exploitation is not very developed in Togo, metal transformation is one of the most important segments of the national industry. Last year, for example, ManuMetal, a company that is specialized in recycling iron scrap, entered the Togolese market, with an estimated investment of 2 billion CFA francs.
The year before, in 2019, President Gnassingbe inaugurated Steel Cube Togo (SCT), an iron production plant, which currently produces about 30,000 tons of concrete iron per year, using 40,000 tons of input.
Junior Atiglo-Gbenou
Car dealer Diwa International raises its capital by half a billion CFA
Togolese car dealer Diwa International has increased its equity to more than CFA750 million, after raising its capital by over CFA500 million.
According to our sources, Jonas Daou’s company issued 55,150 new shares with a nominal value of CFA10,000, fully subscribed and paid in cash. This should allow the firm which partnered a few months ago with Morris Garage (MG) to better face its growth prospects.
The partnership between Diwa International and the British company enables the former to sell MG cars such as the RX5 - a modern city SUV. Daou’s company however also sells CHEVROLET and ISUZU cars, in addition to industrial, automotive, and marine lubrication solutions of the following brands : ENEGEN, PETRONAS, and TEXACO.
It should be emphasized that before entering the car sales market, Jonas Daou had established Sodigaz (now Zener), a cooking gas supplier. It is with the latter that the businessman joined the Elite Lounge BRVM program, the 3rd compartment of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM), dedicated to SMEs/SMIs of the UEMOA.
Séna Akoda
Authorities work on strategy to boost e-commerce in Togo
In line with efforts to become a digital hub by 2025, Togo plans to implement an e-ecommerce development strategy backed by a five-year project going from 2022 to 2027.
To this end, the authorities are carrying a study to assess the e-commerce sector in Togo, and determine what is needed for the strategy to succeed.
The move takes place as the country tries to democratize the use of digital payment modes (credit cards, mobile money, etc) by public administrations. It should, experts say, spur a boom of e-commerce in the country.
It is important to note that in 2018, mobile money transactions alone generated CFA607 billion. Also, many private private and institutional initiatives promote online trade in many sectors, ranging from agrofood, logistics, and transport to electronics, cosmetics, etc.
Séna Akoda