Last Monday, Togolese minister of mining and energy, Marc Ably-Bidamon, met Alibaba’s vice president, Brian Wong, to discuss a possible reinforced trade partnership between the two parties.

This was on the sidelines of the New Economy Workshop’s launch in Hanghzou, China. Ably-Bidamon gave Wong a letter from president Gnassingbé inviting Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, to Togo for a working visit.  

Ending today, fourteen Togolese public officers are attending the tech giant’s New Economy Workshop. At this occasion, they will learn more about digital economy, Big Data and financial inclusion.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and Wave International, two South African firms, are interested in the Togolese market. Indeed, representatives from the two companies were recently received by President Faure Gnassingbé.

TIA leverages sciences and technology to advance industrial development and boost youth employment in SA while Australia-based Wave International is a private investment initiative engaged in sustainable development and ecosystem protection.

Senisha Moonsamy, representative of TIA discussed with the president investment opportunities for her firm in Togo and also a potential economic cooperation between South Africa and Togo. Dr Gilles Assouline, MD of Wave International, for his part discussed the firm’s desire to expand to Togo and help the West African nation in the framework of its national development plan.

The meetings, it should be emphasized come after president Gnassigbé’s official trip to South Africa, for the recent institution of reelected South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on May 25, 2019.  

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Signed about a year ago, the partnership between French energy firm EDF and Lomé-based pan-African company Energy Generation has yielded its first results.

Concretely, EDF taught, under a program named “Women and Solar Entrepreneurship,” about a hundred women from Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, techniques related to the installation and maintenance of off-grid solar systems. “The program aimed for these women to become key contributors of energy transition in their respective countries,” said Astria Fataki, President of Energy Generation as the partnership was being signed.  

Founded in 2016, Energy Generation is involved in projects to boost electrification in rural areas across sub-Saharan Africa. Besides the Women and Solar Entrepreneurship program, it benefits from EDF’s support for the EDF Pulse Africa Awards which rewards African startups that really play a role in energy development across the continent.

Séna Akoda

For the new cotton campaign launched last Thursday in Kara, Togo eyes an output of 150,000 tons after it barely missed its forecast for the recently ended season (140,000 tons).

In 2018/19, the country produced 137,255 tons of cotton for a yield of 764 kg/ha, up 17% compared to the season before.

Over the past season, nearly XOF24 billion were paid to farmers based on prices set at the beginning of the campaign. Moreover, an additional XOF35 will be paid to farmers per kg sold, thus bringing sales price during the period to XOF285, against XOF250 set initially.

However, first-choice yield will be purchased at a fixed price of XOF265 a kg.

To produce the forecasted 150,000 tons of cotton, 180,000 ha should be cultivated.

To encourage farmers, prices of fertilizers will be further decreased, on State subsidy.

Let’s recall that by 2022, Togo intends to produce 200,000 tons of cotton.

Fourteen young Togolese public officers are now at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, for the 3-day New Economy Workshop. 

The workshop was opened yesterday, by Togo’s minister of mines, Marc Ably-Bidamon, and Brian Wong, Vice President of Alibaba. It is part of the Chinese tech giant’s e-commerce promotion and incubation program.

The Togolese participants will learn about digital economy, e-commerce, supply chains, Big Data-related opportunities, online payments and financial inclusion.

The event, it should be noted was announced last September by Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, during a trip of Togolese leader, Faure Gnassingbé, in Hangzhou.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Kara agro-hub will have poultry slaughterhouses with a processing capacity of 1,000t-1,500t per hour, at peak production levels.

The agro-hub which is yet to be operational will also be equipped with poultry transformation and conditioning facilities. The hub’s hatcheries are forecast to produce nearly three million broiler chicks per year.

At its cruise phase, yearly processing capacities at Kara’s agropole are projected at 90,000 tons, 15,000 tons and 10,000 tons, for rice, maize feed and soybeans, said Essowè Batana, acting director general of the Agency for the Promotion and Development of Agropoles in Togo – APRODAT.   Sesame and cashew will also be processed at a later period. For the first, 10,000t/y is expected to be processed while for cashew, 20,000t should be processed on a yearly basis. The forecasts’ effective implementation depend on investors’ decision.

The Kara agropole which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022 is the pilot of a larger project aimed at structurally transforming Togolese agriculture, with a focus on exporting locally-processed products.

Séna Akoda

In 2017, Togo’s goods exports amounted to $982 million, a recent commodity and base products report by UNCTAD revealed.

This amount is lower than the average recorded by the country over the 2013-2017 period, knowingly $1,175 million.

In details, the share of base products in goods exports two years ago was 72%, corresponding to $706 million. Average from 2013 to 2017 is 69%.

The UNCTAD further indicates that agricultural output represented 23% of Togolese exports over the year under review. Gross fertilizer exports represented about 4% of total exports.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Five weeks. That is how much time tech entrepreneurs from Togo and other African countries have left to apply for the 2019 Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, launched last March by the Jack Ma foundation.

Deadline of application is June 30 and the event will reward the continent’s ten best tech entrepreneurs of the year. Winners will share a $1 million grant funding equally.

Launched in 2018, the initiative has a budget of $10 million to be distributed over a 10-year period. Through the contest, Ma aims to support African tech entrepreneurs in their efforts to build a more sustainable and inclusive Africa for the future.

“What I can do, personally, through the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, is to commit to give out $10 million over 10 years to help young entrepreneurs,” says Jack Ma, founder of giant tech company Alibaba.

Interested entrepreneurs must be from any of the 54 African countries and having founded a registered business in the African country in which they operate. Also, they must have been operational for at least three years and show earnings for these years. Their products or services must also be adapted to the continent’s needs.

Applications can be filled on the Netpreneur Africa website.   

Ayi Renaud Dossavi