An eminent and influential business figure in Togo, Yiva Kodjo BADOHU has made a fortune by selling frozen and deep-frozen products. The CEO of Togo Food was also vice president of the chamber of commerce and industry (CCIT).

Now president of the Incentive Mechanism for Agricultural Financing (MIFA), Yiva Badohu believes that "the greatest challenge for the country is to feed the population and the future lies in the production and processing of agricultural products."

He thus works to push more young people to hop on to the entrepreneurship wagon, especially in the agricultural sector.

CEO of the Jonction de Croissance Agricole au Togo (JCAT), Yao TOYO produces and exports organic Soya to the European Union (EU). His company, founded in 2011, contributes significantly to this bludgeoning market (Togo is the world's leading exporter to the EU). After modest beginnings, JCAT reported a turnover of 6 billion FCFA in 2019; a performance driven by the PAEIJ-SP, which is a project aimed at boosting youth employment and integration in promising sectors.

The businessman and politician (he is the deputy mayor of the Ogou 1 municipality) is presently working to finish building a 6,000-ton store to accelerate the local processing of soybeans.

A computer scientist by training and former member of SG2's Africa branch, Yao DOGBO has more than 40 years of experience in the technology sector. CEO of CERGI Banking (Conseil Etudes Réalisation et Gestion Informatique), a company established in 1991 and specialized in developing banking software, his solutions are used by institutions in the UEMOA and CEMAC regions. The ultimate goal of the man who received the Grand Prix des Nouvelles Technologies des Bâtisseurs de l'Afrique in 2018 is to take the African banking sector to a new level, by relying on IT.

A former auditor at Deloitte, a private equity specialist with more than 20 years of experience, Vissého GNASSOUMOU worked at Cauris before co-founding with another Togolese, Marc Savi de Tové, their private equity firm Adiwale Partners (2016).

They finance SMEs in French-speaking West Africa to foster economic growth in the region. Supported by partners such as the African Development Bank (ADB), Adiwale Partners, which has already secured more than €50 million in funding, wants to support and transform small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sub-region.

Boss of Midnight Sun Group (MNS Group), a construction company (then a water and sanitation company) created in 1996, Victor James Sossou has conquered several markets in the sub-region. Notably, he won contracts in Niger, where his company successfully carried out major water and sanitation projects in the regions of Maradi, Tahoua, and Zinder.

In Togo, MSN Group delivered last year the 2837km-long Boulevard des Armées (along the Colombe de la Paix-Collège Protestant axis passing through RAMCO and GBADAGO). The businessman, also Honorary Consul of Slovakia in Togo, ensures that his firm thrives despite a raging competition in the construction sector in recent years.

The current Prime Minister of Togo, Victoire Tomegah-Dogbé has been in the government for the past 12 years. Before her recent appointment as head of the government, she was minister of grassroots development and director of cabinet of the President. One of the personalities the leader trusts the most, Tomegah-Dogbé holds a Master's in economics and management she obtained in 1982.

Six years later, she obtained another degree in management, at AARHUS in Denmark, then a specialized graduate diploma in governance, poverty, and gender from the UNDP virtual school.

In 1986, Tomegah-Dogbé began her professional career as chief of staff at Industries Togolaise des Plastiques (ITP). Subsequently, she was successively promoted head of supply, then administrative and financial Director. From 1992 to 1994, she moved to Shell, where she was in charge of the firm's network in Togo.

In 1994, Tomegah Dogbe took over the management of ITP, a position she stayed in until 1998; the year in which she joined the UNDP. There, she occupied various positions of importance, knowingly at the institution's offices in Togo, Congo Brazzaville, Burkina-Faso, and Benin. She was at the UNDP until she became the minister of grassroots development, in 2008.

In her recent position, she has spearheaded many initiatives such as the ANADEB, PN-PTFM, FAIEJ, PRADEB, and PAIEJ-SP, all in favor of vulnerable groups, especially youth and women.

Company director and founder of the BATIR party, Vicencia MEYER is well known for "supporting youth and women." Her reputation helped her party secure two seats in the parliament after the 2018 legislative elections. The cacaveli market, built on a hectare and a half, is one of many projects she helped concretize.

Thierry Feraud is since 2016 the managing director of the Lomé-based brewery BB (subsidiary of Castel Group). Before that, he was head of the commercial department at Brasseries STAR in Madagascar.

Under his management, the BB regained momentum and held its own against counterfeiting and the invasion of the Togolese market by numerous imported beers and drinks. His next challenge is to preserve the brewer's monopoly which is threatened by rival SNB which recently entered the Togolese market.

Managing Director of Nioto, n°2 of the national employers association, Thierry AWESSO heads the Nioto plant, one of the main companies in the Togolese free trade area. Very committed to SMEs, he regularly confronts decision-makers on the difficulties these companies face in finding capital to carry out their activities. Thierry AWESSO is particularly interested in bank financing and the modernization of agriculture.

Mrs. Tchotcho D'ALMEIDA BOEVI is an important actress in the Togolese private sector. After holding the position of treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Togo (CCIT), she is currently an advisor in the same structure. Mrs. Tchotcho D'ALMEIDA BOEVI always worked for a stronger and more resilient Togolese private sector.