Togo First
Togo: The Urban Development and Infrastructure Project (PIDU) seeks a consultant to develop its website
Togo’s Urban Development and Infrastructure Project (PIDU) is searching for a consultant to develop its website.
A call for manifestation of interest was launched to this end and it will close on January 29.
In detail, the hired consultant will research the project, design the website’s template and produce its content, put it online and manage it.
The PIDU was launched more than a year ago. It aims to improve access to modern infrastructure in many Togolese towns such as Lomé, Tsévié, Atakpamé, Kpalimé, Sokodé, Kara, and Dapaong.
The International Development Association (IDA), which is part of the World Bank, financed the project with XOF16 billion.
Séna Akoda
Togo: PAEIJ-SP to help its beneficiaries find outlets for their products
With some of its partners, the Togolese Ministry of youth will help beneficiaries of the Youth Employment and Insertion in Profitable Sectors Project (PAEIJ-SP), to find outlets (local and regional) for their products.
A call for manifestation of interest was issued to recruit a consultant who will carry out the project. The deadline for submission of tenders is February 10, 2020.
The recruited firm will assess the SMEs/SMIs’ current marketing and commercialization system, to identify its advantages and shortcomings.
Other responsibilities falling under the contract include identifying beneficiaries’ needs for skill enhancement, relative to the marketing and commercialization of their products. The selected consultant will also produce a support plan for better positioning of these products in targeted markets.
In the long run, this should give the PAEIJ-SP more impact.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Mobile and landline internet users experience major disruptions
Since 22 Jan 2020, smartphone and landline users could not connect to the Internet (3G or 4G) in Togo.
“Our mobile and landline internet services are seriously affected,” reveals TogoCom, the former State-owned mobile operator.
The operator attributes the situation to technical issues with submarine cables in Portugal and Spain.
“All our technical teams are working to rapidly fix the issue,” reassures TogoCom.
Séna Akoda
Ogar Assurances exits Togo
Ogar Assurances exited Togo and thus closed its last operation in West Africa.
The exit comes after a meeting of the regional regulator of insurance markets (CRA). During the meeting, held in December 2019, the regulator retrieved all of Ogar’s accreditations.
Prior to the ultimate move, the CRA had prohibited the insurer from registering any subscription or renewing expired insurance policies, unless Ogar produced a solid financing plan. This was at a session in Douala, on July 22-27, last year.
Unfortunately for the insurer, it couldn’t meet this condition and subsequently had to end its activities in West Africa, a market it intended to conquer.
Séna Akoda
Loans given by microfinance institutions in Togo grew by 8% in Q3 2019, y/y
In Q3 2019, loans given by Togo’s microfinance institutions were up 8%, compared to the same period in 2018, data from the West Africa Central Bank (BCEAO) shows. In the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the figure grew by 12.1% y/y, to stand at XOF1,498.9 billion.
Togo, over the period reviewed, was behind Mali (+17.1%), Burkina Faso (+13.5%), Senegal (+13.3%), Côte d'Ivoire (+12.9%) and Benin (+8.2%). However, volumes of loans granted in Niger recorded the least growth rate across the union, +3.1%. In Guinea Bissau, the figure slumped by 36.7%.
Regarding deposits, Togo recorded the second-highest increase rate for the quarter concerned, knowingly 11.4%, right after Mali (+17.9%). The two are followed by Benin (+9.8%), Côte d’Ivoire (+8.8%), Senegal (7.5%), and Burkina Faso (6.1%). In contrast, they slumped in Guinea Bissau (-23.1%) and Niger (-0.9%).
Over the period reviewed, deposits in the WAEMU stood at XOF1,454.1 billion, up by 8.9% compared to the year before, XOF1,335.5 billion.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
UK’s impact investor CDC Group invests $20M in Adiwale Fund I, to support SMEs in Francophone West Africa
CDC Group, UK’s State-owned impact investor, just committed a $20 million investment in the Adiwale Fund I, a private equity fund targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa. Adiwale Fund I is the first fund raised by Adiwale Partners, a private equity management fund founded by Togolese natives Jean-Marc Savi de Tové and Vissého Gnassounou.
The announcement was made earlier this week, at the Uk-Africa Investment Summit.
Besides Adiwale Fund I, CDC Group also invested $19.2 million in Verod Fund III (which is active in Nigeria and Ghana). This makes a total of $39.2 million of commitments announced by the British group to support West African SMEs.
In detail, Adiwale Fund I will invest mostly in Francophone West Africa, with a focus on Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea, and Togo. Financings could vary between $3 million and $10 million. As for Verod Fund III, it will mostly target English-speaking West Africa.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
3.2km-long road in Kara to be asphalted for XOF2.6 billion
The International Development Association (IDA) will finance works to rehabilitate and asphalt a 3.2km-long road in Kara (450 km from Lomé).
The works, which are estimated to cost XOF2.6 billion, are part of the Urban Development and Infrastructure Project (PIDU). They are divided into two parts.
The first part spans a distance of 1.5 km and asphalting works will cost XOF1.11 billion. Works for the second, which covers a distance of 1.7 km, will cost XOF1.488 billion.
The works should be completed over a 12-month period. The two parts will be respectively taken care of by two different consortiums: NECBAPS-EEBTP-EGK and EEBTP-EGK.
The information was disclosed by the ministry of urbanism and housing.
Séna Akoda
Togo-Brazil business forum will be held in São Paulo
The Togo-Brazil business forum should be held in São Paulo this year.
We planned to hold it (the forum) in 2020 and we will do it, said Brazil’s ambassador to Togo, Antoniõ Carlos de Salles Menezes. This was yesterday, during a meeting with the president of Togo’s national assembly, Yawa Dzigbodi Tsegan.
Besides Togolese officials and Brazilian businessmen, the event should attract economic actors and entrepreneurs from the ECOWAS.
The idea for the forum, let’s recall, emerged in June 2019, during a trip to Brazil by Togo’s minister of foreign affairs, Robert Dussey. It aligns with the Togolese national development plan.
R.E.D.
More than 7,000 young entrepreneurs participate in the ongoing agripreneurs forum in Kara
A total of 7,350 people applied to take part in Togo’s first agricultural entrepreneurs’ forum. The event which started today takes place at the University of Kara in the northern region.
A quarter of the applications (1,126) were sent by women. The total number of applications registered has, according to the forum’s organizers, exceeded the expected, that is 5,000 entrepreneurs.
The forum, the organizers added, is aimed at informing participants - women and youths especially - about the selection and support of the best local entrepreneurs operation in the poultry, fishery, and beekeeping sub-sectors.
“Three hundred (300) women and youths, separated in two batches of 150, will be selected.” Following the incubation of this group, 150 of them will benefit from financial and technical support. They will subsequently be dispatched in Kara’s agropole.
Séna Akoda
French Agricultural Research Centre, CIRAD, wants to restart cooperation with Togo
The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), which has many operations in Africa, wishes to rebuild its relationship with Togo.
In an interview with newspaper CommodAfrica, Christian Cilas, CIRAD’s regional director for West Africa, said the institution wants to “revitalize some regions like Guinea Conakry and especially Togo.” According to the French executive, the CIRAD worked with Togo in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and should, he hopes, restart cooperating very soon.
To this end, the research centre will try to reach out to “the Togolese Agricultural Research Institute to re-develop research actions with this country which we consider to be important.” Potential areas for cooperation between the two institutions include climate change (creating crops that are better adapted to drought), genetic improvements of coffee and cocoa.
Let’s recall that in West Africa, the CIRAD covers Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Worldwide, the research centre cooperates with more than 100 countries, in 12 regional centres.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi