The French Development Agency (AFD) awarded a new grant of €8 million (about CFA5.24 billion) to the Ecowas Commission this week. The funds will help the Commission bolster its food storage and security program in West Africa, according to the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (ARAA).

In the short term, the three-year facility aims to consolidate achievements of the first phase of the Regional Food Security Reserve (RFSR). This regional mechanism, adopted in 2012, enables ECOWAS countries to show regional solidarity in the event of a major food crisis in the region.

"We are convinced that this new support will contribute to the sustainability of the food security storage system in West Africa and will make it possible to mobilize other development partners to further strengthen resilience against the various shocks affecting food security in the region," explained the Director of AFD Nigeria.

Before providing this grant, the EU released a €56 million financing (including €31.9 million allocated to the AFD) for the pilot phase of the ECOWAS regional storage strategy, which covers the project that was recently backed by the AFD. 

Adopted in 2012, the ECOWAS Regional Storage Strategy tackles needs arising from a major food crisis in one country or more in the subregion. To do so, the strategy leverages local and national stocks and the RFSR.

CinetPay, an Ivorian payment gateway active in many African countries including Togo, has secured $2.4 million (CFA1.4 billion) in seed funding from 4DX Ventures, a Pan African venture capital fund, and unicorn Flutterwave. The financing will enable the startup to expand its digital payment services in francophone Africa.

CinetPay said it will “boost its sales and marketing efforts across the markets in West and Central Africa.” “Our vision is to be the first payment aggregator in Francophone Africa by 2025. First in terms of our geographical presence in 15 countries in Francophone Africa. First in terms of innovation, first in terms of market share,” said Idriss Marcial Monther, founder of the startup. 

For Flutterwave, the partnership with CinetPay is a diversification from the mobile money moves the unicorn has made, notably by partnering with MTN to enable a set of businesses to receive MTN mobile money via the gateway. 

According to Olubenga Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave, the goal is to “simplify payments on the continent.”

CinetPay operates in nine French-speaking African countries, namely Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Congo, Guinea, and Benin. It allows merchants and e-merchants to accept money payments from more than 130 mobile money operators, bank cards, and digital wallets. It started operations in Togo in June 2020. 

Esaïe Edoh

Bboxx, a British solar energy startup, has 50,000 customers in Togo. The firm owes this performance to the government’s efforts to democratize access to reliable, clean, and affordable electricity in the country. 

Bboxx and EDF are involved in the government’s CIZO scheme to boost access to power in Togo. As part of the program, the British startup provides solar panels to households and SMEs, as well as solar-powered pumps to farmers. So far, it has impacted more than 200,000 Togolese people. 

Now, “the ambitions of Bboxx EDF Togo for the next two years include distributing 50,000 more domestic solar panels and 5,000 solar-powered water pumps.” 

To this end, the firm plans to collaborate with the government to boost agricultural production, via a partnership with the ministry of agriculture.

Under the CIZO, Bboxx plans to soon deliver smartphones to Togolese citizens on a pay-as-you-go model. It has already signed an agreement with the government in this framework. 

Esaïe Edoh 

After remaining closed for the past two years, land borders in the ECOWAS land region could reopen next month, on January 1 to be exact. The date was suggested on December 6 during a meeting gathering some of the region’s ministers and the West African Health Organization. 

The recommendation, which was addressed to ECOWAS presidents, includes the effective implementation of harmonized instructions at the borders, mutual recognition of PCR tests for Covid-19, and the harmonization of their period of validity.   

“The recommendation was made based on the lessons learned over the two years the borders were closed. The pandemic has disrupted demand, supply, and investments in key economic sectors. It has also negatively impacted trade and people’s movements,” the meeting’s participants declared.

Due to the closure, ECOWAS States lost 6.7% of their GDP between 2020 and 2021, the officials estimated yesterday. This corresponds to about $50 billion. The losses show that reopening borders is important for economic recovery and it is “a fundamental issue.”

The suggestions will be presented next Thursday and Friday in Abidjan, during the ECOWAS ministers’ council. They will be subsequently sent to heads of State and government for adoption. 

Let’s recall that ECOWAS leaders decided to shut their borders to stymie the spread of the Covid-19 virus across the region.

Esaïe Edoh  

Gabon and Togo are looking for new ways to boost their cooperation for the benefit of their respective populations. A meeting was held in Lomé last week in this framework. It was chaired by the Togolese Prime Minister, Victoire Dogbé, and her Gabonese counterpart, Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda, who was in Togo on a 48-hour official visit. 

Participants discussed topics related to various sectors, including agriculture, the digital industry, and the wood sector, among others. 

Relative to agriculture, the two delegations stressed the need to have a participative strategy, a national plan to allocate lands, and a fishery exploitation system. They did so after reviewing issues related to the sector’s potential, production, investment opportunities, the infrastructure servicing farming areas, the energetic cost of processing facilities, land, and importing fishery products.

Regarding digitization, the Gabonese and Togolese officials said they need to launch cooperation axes to implement the different components of the Novissi project as well as innovative ways to handle the health crisis in Gabon.

For the wood industry, both parties committed to continuing talks about a memorandum of understanding toward establishing a cooperation framework that will foster legal supply and acquisition of wood between them. In line with this objective, Togo intends to, according to its presidency, “emulate Gabon’s successful strategy regarding wood processing, and proceed to the efficient installation of a wood-processing unit at the Adétikopé Industrial Platform (PIA).” In this regard, “the State of Togo will also be able to benefit from Gabon's carbon credit mechanism, which will enable it to support its reforestation plan.”

During Gabon’s PM visit, her delegation visited the Grand Lomé technical landfill. Credible sources reported that they subsequently expressed interest in taking advantage of Togo’s experience in terms of urban waste management.

Officials from the two nations also discussed issues about inclusion and social protection, communication, transport, maritime economy, and institutional relations.

Togo and Gabon, let it be recalled, have been cooperating for several years, notably in the above-mentioned sectors.

Esaïe Edoh