The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has signed with Canada-based investment firm Cordiant capital an agreement under which the latter will manage two new funds created by the regional bank. 

The first fund, an infrastructure fund, will get a capital of €400 million, and the second, a seed capital fund, will receive €40 million. The money will be spent to advance infrastructures across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), with a particular focus on energy, transport, and communication. 

“This is the the largest commitment ever made by the institution since it was established,” said Christian Adovelande, president of the BOAD.   

In detail, the regional bank, which is the benchmark investor in the two funds, will invest €58 million or XOF38.2 billion, in both - respectively XOF12 billion and XOF26.2 billion in the seed fund and the infrastructure fund. 

Cordiant Capital, let’s note, already runs seven infrastructure funds ($4 billion) in emerging markets. However, its partnership with the BOAD should lead it to open an office in a WAEMU State.

In line with the government’s efforts to boost agribusiness, the University of Kara will launch two new degrees: A bachelor’s in control, quality and sanitary security of food, and a Master’s in dietetics and food security.

The two courses will produce experts able to advise people on the food they consume, hence helping them improve their health. 

Commenting on the initiative, the FAO, which supports it, said: “We can no longer afford to ignore the quality of the food consumed by people. We need qualified personnel, first to introduce quality food on the market, and secondly, we need qualified personnel and equipment to attest to this quality.” 

Top figures of the university, representatives of the FAO, and other development actors recently met to discuss the profile of students likely to enroll in the courses concerned, required conditions to enroll, and potential jobs they can secure. 

Séna Akoda

Pan-African lender Ecobank has signed a partnership agreement with Alibaba’s payment  platform, Alipay. 

The partnership will ease instant transfers between the users of the two groups’ payment platforms, Rapidtransfer and Alipay. In addition, the move should diversify Ecobank’s offers, reduce transaction costs, and boost the quality of the group’s services.  

“Through our partnership with Alipay we are further leveraging the scale and capacity of our unified payments ecosystem on the global stage,” said Nana Abban, head of Ecobank’s consumer banking. Lauding performances of the group’s Rapidtransfer service, he indicated that “it has over the years been delivering transparent, convenient, and affordable services to the African diaspora and their African-based dependants.” 

The new solution, Ecobank informs, will be deployed across all 33 African countries where it operates, provided required local approvals are obtained. 

Alipay is the world’s leading online payment platform. It has more than 1.2 billion users.

During a meeting held in the past weekend in Elavagnon (230km from Lomé), President Faure Gnassingbé announced a battery of reforms relative to civil status. 

“I would like to tell parents that henceforth, they can get birth certificates for their children freely. To tackle the issue of identification, we will, starting this year, initiate a program that will make sure every Togolese gets an ID number that will play the same role as ID cards,” the leader said while referring to the coming e-ID Togo project. 

The latter was announced in 2018 and should be launched this year. In its framework, every person living in Togo will be given a unique biometric ID number, in the next six years. This number can be used to access public, social and private services, according to the team coordinating the project. 

The e-ID Togo project was conceived in a context where only 25% of the Togolese population has an ID card. According to estimates, it should cost more than XOF20 billion. The project is backed by the World Bank.

The University of Lomé and the University of Kara have been equipped with an Expresso Book Machine (EBM) - It is a print on demand machine that can print, collate, cover and bind an 800-page book in no more than 12 minutes. The machine was commissioned last Tuesday by the ministers of technological innovation and higher education.

“This equipment was commissioned as part of the government’s efforts to reinforce our educational and university system, and to ensure that the Togolese youth is better equipped to face challenges brought by the digital revolution and meet international standards,” declared Cina Lawson, the minister in charge of the digital sector.   

Produced in the US, the EBM delivered to the two campuses are for the sole use of students and lecturers. With it, these groups can buy any of the seven million books available on the EBM platform, for a third of its original price. 

Through this acquisition, Togo becomes the third country in Africa and the first in West Africa, to have an EBM. The other two are South Africa and Egypt. 

Octave A. Bruce

In Togo, judicial investigations are now compulsory for commercial cases brought to court from now. The procedure, which used to only concern criminal cases, was extended to commercial disputes as well, after a law was adopted in this framework last January 7. 

The preliminary investigation will, according to a magistrate assigned to the commercial court, allow judges and other parties concerned to define an appropriate framework for the court procedures. In effect, it will ensure that issues related to competence and evidence are settled, in addition to making a clear plan with the various stages of the trial scheduled beforehand, depending on how complex the case may be. 

Based on the investigation, the judge must, as stated by the 2018 law, “attempt conciliation of the parties and if that fails, he or she must recommend alternative settlement paths, such as mediation and arbitrage.”

The decision to subject commercial disputes to investigation aims at ensuring they are rapidly resolved. The measure aligns with the authorities’ efforts to improve the Togolese business climate. 

Séna Akoda

The Ecowas commission, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has started since yesterday an awareness campaign relative to the Ecowas biometric card and the free movement of people and goods at the Togo-Ghana border. 

This is because the free movement of people and goods is still not effective at this border, despite having been approved years ago. Worse even, many cases of abuse of rights of Ecowas citizens in this area have been reported to the commission.  

During the two-day campaign, the people will be informed of their rights and also told why having a biometric ID card is important. “The Ecowas biometric national ID card helps track travelers across the community and thus helps fight insecurity,” said a representative of the commission. It also reduces formalities, hence easing traveling for Ecowas citizens.