Last Monday, a meeting regrouping economic operators, representatives of the Togolese chamber of trade and industry (CCIT), the national employers’ council (CNP), various finance institutions and the ministry of agriculture took place in Lomé.

The roundtable aimed at introducing to entrepreneurs business opportunities existing in Togo’s agricultural sector.

Multiple opportunities are available in this sector, for example in regards to preparation of arable lands, extensions, crop and animal production, fish ponds, rice factories, logistics, packaging, storage, processing, fertilizer production, mechanization, maintenance, etc.

During the workshop, key projects were developed by the ministry of agriculture. These include a project to develop the Djablé rural plain and PARTAM, another project to develop the Mô plain.

In the long run, “the government wants economic operators to get more interested in agriculture.” This sector contributed 40% of Togo’s GDP in 2018.

Séna Akoda

The University of Lomé is hosting today, May 14, the pan-African Poultry Conference. Three hundred researchers from fifteen countries, from Africa and elsewhere, are attending the event.

The three-day forum is organized by the regional excellence center for poultry sciences (CERSA) and Togolese branch of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA). The latter wanted to gather the sector’s various actors to discuss achievements and innovations happening in the poultry industry.

Five major topics will be discussed during the event: product quality, processing and health safety, and poultry economics. 

The CERSA it should be recalled was created in 2014. It received an $8 million financing from World Bank to boost food security through poultry, by training professionals, technicians and experts.

Besides Togo, other countries expected at the conference are: South Africa, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ghana, France, Lesotho, Nigeria, Netherlands, Senegal, and Turkey.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo is now a member of the development center of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The country joined the center May 13, 2019.

President Gnassingbé lauded the achievement saying it would reinforce his country’s relations with the Paris-based institution and also facilitate experience-sharing related to development.

Founded 71 years ago, the OECD works with emerging and developing economies, helping them build a stronger, healthier and fairer world. With Togo, it now has 55 member-countries, 10 in Africa. 

Let’s mention next month, Mario Pezzini, head of the OECD development center will be in Togo for the Togo-EU economic forum.

Ready Study Go International (RSG), French firm specialized in helping African students travel to study abroad, in France especially, started operations in Lomé at the end of last week.

Co-founded by French-Togolese, Komi Adandzi, the firm assesses applicants’ skills and assets, toward better guiding them. It is about enabling them “easily accomplish their goals and know how to get support related to accommodation and visa guarantee,” among others.

With Togo, the company now operates in five African countries. The four others are Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Besides services mentioned earlier, RSG also finances student’s enterprises and provides pedagogic and administrative monitoring. It collaborates with various French agencies and institutions, such as the consulate and embassy of France in Togo.

Announced and presented in Lomé last April 1st by the ministry of foreign affairs, the Togolese diaspora roadmap will be presented next Saturday to the Togolese diaspora in France.

In a recent release, the Togolese embassy in France said a Togolese delegation from the ministry of diaspora will be in Paris to meet the Togolese diaspora in France and neighboring countries.

The roadmap aligns with Togo’s national development plan which relies on private sector (at a rate of 65%). It aims to ease the inclusion of the Togolese diaspora to Togo’s ambitions.

Those interested in attending the meeting have until May 23 to register.

From XOF11.3 billion in 2016 and 2017, Togo’s budget support soared to XOF34.9 billion last year, data from the BCEAO shows. Quite a leap especially considering that the amount was almost null in 2014 and 2015.

The feat is due to the effective implementation of many governance reforms, paired with a growing commitment of Togolese authorities to pursue talks with partners such as the World Bank, related to reform policies.

The Bretton Woods institution in the second half of 2018 provided a budget support of $40 million, saying “it is satisfied with its cooperation” with Togo. A disbursement conditioned by some economic reforms and announced in May that year.

This year, World Bank could provide another budgetary facility to the West African country.

In line with the Emergency Community Development Program (PUDC), the national agency supporting grassroot development (Anadeb) upgraded multiple markets in the Golf prefecture (Southern Togo). Some of the markets include that of Attiegou, Adidogomé, Baguida and Kpota Colas.

The socio-collective infrastructures have been equipped with stalls, PV-powered boreholes, toilets, and storage rooms. They cost more than XOF299 million and were inaugurated last Friday by Victoire Tomegah, minister of grassroot development, in the presence of Aliou Dia and Mazalo Katanga, respectively PNUD’s resident representative in Togo and Anadeb’s director general.

Anadeb it should be emphasized, contributed XOF2.1 billion to the PUDC. Out of this amount, about 455.2 million was invested in the maritime region (Golf and Agoè prefectures).

From August 22 to September 8, 2019, the eighth edition of the Adjafi trade fair organized by Maxcom will take place.

The theme this year is “Social security of young African entrepreneurs for inclusive growth.”

The organized indicates that advertising campaign for the fair will begin May 15 at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIT).

The event which promotes young entrepreneurs and their products is backed by the government and the WAEMU Commission, as well as various institutional mechanisms focused on youth-led entrepreneurship in Togo.

Among the latter, there is the FAIEJ which is a fund supporting economic initiatives of  youths, the MIFA, a risk-sharing mechanism promoting agricultural financing, and the National Youth Council (CNJ).

Séna Akoda