On November 13, 2019, the parliament passed a law on the attributes and functioning of the Grand Lomé autonomous district. 

The district will be managed by a council of 52 advisors and a district governor. Its communities will be represented by 26 advisors while the other 26 advisors, as well as the district governor, will be appointed by the Head of State. 

"This entity was created in response to a need to execute actions in the capital, some of which relate to development, maintenance, operationalization, and modernization, that are beyond communities' capacities. This was declared by Payadowa Boukpessi, minister of territorial administration," after the law's adoption. 

The Grand Lomé autonomous district is endowed with its own financial autonomy and legal status. It regroups the Lomé-commune and Agoè-Nyivé municipalities. It is the local authority representing the whole of the capital. 

M.S.A 

At end-September 2019, Togo's public debt ratio was 68%. The good news was revealed yesterday by the minister of economy, Sani Yaya. The official was addressing parliamentarians in the framework of the adoption of the supplementary budget act 2019. 

Yaya added that "efforts are pursued to keep the debt ratio, at the end of December 2019, below the WAEMU standard which is 70% of the GDP." 

Already at the end of the first quarter of this year, the country's public debt fell below the 70% standard according to official sources; quite an improvement considering that it exceeded 80% at the end of 2016. 

R.E.D

A U-Lab incubator will soon open its doors at the University of Lomé. 

The incubator will produce quality innovations that tackle real issues both at the local and global levels. Entrepreneurs incubated at U-Lab will receive tailored technical support from experts, and financings; this, as a result of a partnership between the University of Lomé, Ecole des Mines Albi Carmaux in France, and Deal & consulting. 

"By launching this incubator, the University of Lomé will contribute to the country's development efforts, and especially to the national development plan (PND)," reads a release on the university's website.

All together, setting up and running the incubator should cost more than $850,000 (nearly XOF5008 million). The University will provide 21.87% of the funds. 

Next Tuesday, the academic institution, under the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will organize a reflection day on the theme "Academic incubator at the University of Lomé, a lever combining research and entrepreneurship." 

A.M.S

Initially scheduled for November 11, 2010, the training of agricultural drones’ pilots has been postponed to coming December 9th.

This comes from a press release signed by Dona Etchri, head of the West African accreditation center for agricultural aviation and agricultural precision. 

The training center's management decided to postpone the date of the classes' opening to allow as many people as possible to join. Some applicants from Togo, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, the Central African Republic, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon have already validated their registration. 

The training, let's recall, falls under a deal reached between Dona Etchri, founder of the E-agribusiness platform, and Chinese firm Quanfeng Aviation. 

Séna Akoda

The Youth Entrepreneurship Promotion Program (PPEJ) is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. 

The Togolese initiative has since 1994 provided more than XOF500 million in subsidies to about 3,000 young entrepreneurs. It is, according to Victoire Tomegah Dogbe, minister of grassroots development, a pioneer of tools supporting self-employment of youth. 

Previously known as the Youth Insertion Fund (FIJ), the PPEJ targets youths aged between 16 to 30 years, with an education or not, coming from one of the CONFEJES member States and who have taken part in a workshop on business creation and entrepreneurship. 

R.E.D

Once again, Togo is among the top 10 countries most open to other African citizens. This is revealed in the latest update of the Africa Visa Openness report 2019 released yesterday at the Africa Investment Forum organized by the African Development Plan (AfDB). 

According to the document, for the first time since 2016, Africans have free access to 51% of the continent. In detail, they no more need a visa to visit 25% of its countries (25% in 2018, 22% in 2017, 20% in 2016), and get visa on arrival in 26% of the other countries with no visa-free policy (against 24% in 2018 and 2017, and 25% in 2016). 

According to the AfDB, "moving forward, championing greater visa openness across Africa will help to capitalize on the gains to be realized from the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Single African Air Transport Market and the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons." These are all initiatives that Togo adheres to.  

Regardless of its efforts relative to visa openness, Lomé still has more to do to stand on par with others such as Benin, where all Africans can come visa-free, or Seychelles, Rwanda, Senegal, and Ghana. Most of these countries have launched an e-Visa platform.  

Let's also indicate that citizens from non-ECOWAS countries, with the exception of one, can get a visa on their arrival in Togo. 

Public transport startup Gozem celebrates this month, a year of activity in Togo. The firm, founded by Nigerian Emeka Ajene, claims more than 250,000 downloads on the Google Playstore and thousands of customers and drivers.  

This performance is attributable to the security and reliability the startup provides. The firm uses taxi-bikes, taxi-cars, and tricycles to provide its services.  

Gozem offers insurance, through a partnership with Ogar Assurances, as well as emergency support via Togo Assistance, in the event of fatal accidents. 

"Gozem is proud to close its first year in Lomé with very encouraging figures. We wish to grow much faster next year while making the Gozem service more easy to access and professional," declared Jean-Martial Moulaud, Country Manager of Gozem Togo. 

Let's recall that the startup recently expanded to Benin. 

Séna Akoda