In Togo, the National Fund for Inclusive Finance (FNFI) is putting in place mechanisms to support its partnering microfinance institutions amidst the Covid-19 crisis. 

Among others, the Fund will exceptionally add bonuses on the financing it provides to the institutions, in addition to partly covering interests on loans they have taken, cutting down these interest rates by 1 percentage point, and increasing by 1 percentage point the cost to manage the various FNFI products. 

The incentives mainly aim to give some breathing space to partnering institutions, especially given the present pandemic context. Financial institutions operating in the country, the FNFI declared, “were able to adapt to the difficult environment; by putting in place appropriate mechanisms enabling them to keep lending to their customers.” 

Since it was launched, at the end of May 2020, the FNFI helped lend more than XOF91 billion to its beneficiaries. The amount corresponds to over 1.74 million loans.

Cinetpay, an Ivorian startup specialized in the development of e-payment solutions, announced it has officially set an office in Lomé, Togo. The move falls under the firm’s current expansion strategy. 

The startup’s founders Idriss Marcial Monthe and Daniel Dindji said “Cinetpay is an all-in-one solution that gives business owners a rapid, and safe, access to the mobile money ecosystem.” Indeed, the startup, in addition to operating on this segment, is also active on the digital money transfer and e-currency issuance segments. 

Cinetpay has created an eponymous platform which enables users in Togo to receive or make payments via Flooz, Tmoney. At the international level, the platform integrates services such as Orange money, Mobicash, Visa card, and Mastercard. 

Séna Akoda

A few days after it was stopped following the easing of anti-covid restrictive measures, the Novissi cash transfer scheme is back even if it will no more be the same. 

Indeed, the government revealed that the program has been amended for better adaptation to the national response strategy to the pandemic. The revised Novissi will focus on specific parts of the country, based on expressed needs, just like restrictive measures which are now applied at the district level (with a focus on districts recording a high contagion rate). 

The government thus urges populations to keep registering with the scheme (using the code *855#), in the event their district, unfortunately, has to be subjected to a curfew. 

Over the period it was active, around XOF11 billion were distributed to around 500,000 people in Togo (a great majority in Grand Lomé and Tchaoudjo) in the framework of the Novissi cash transfer scheme. The money was given to retailers (40.29%), tailors and seamstresses (16.28%) and housewives (12.44%). Out of the beneficiaries, 65% were women. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The government of Togo plans on recruiting 15 local, regional, and international expert cabinets to support bearers of projects that were approved to be bankable during the Togo-EU economic forum (FETUE) that took place last year. 

The move, announced yesterday, aligns with the authorities’ commitment to helping young and female entrepreneurs in their business endeavours, especially those having trouble getting financing.

The recruitment will be done with the collaboration of the EU and selected firms will help the bankable entrepreneurs structure their respective business ideas and finalize their business plans. The local enterprises will also be introduced to how to get financing from banks, in addition to learning how to network with intermediaries such as leasing companies and investment funds. 

Séna Akoda

Togo’s National Committee for Transport Facilitation (CNF) will soon have its website. The platform’s development is steered by the ministry for development planning and cooperation. 

Funds to carry out the project are part of a facility allocated to a programme that aims to make trade logistics services more competitive. 

In detail, the project involves the creation of the web, referencing it, and the development of a system to maintain and monitor the digital platform. Before that, however, the firm in charge of the project would have to gather and process data-related needs of CNF, based on its activity.  

Séna Akoda

Pan-African banking group Ecobank and the development agency of the African Union (AUDA-NEPAD) plans to support, post-covid-19, 100,000 African micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

The two parties highlighted that by 2021, they will provide resources to guarantee existing jobs and create new ones across the continent. They will also make MSMEs more resilient and improve their access to the international market. 

The decision was reached during a recent virtual workshop hosted by McKinsey. On this occasion, Ecobank and AUDA-NEPAD stressed how important it is to preserve access to the market and boost the capacities of African MSMEs. 

The support includes five major projects, knowingly: AUDA MSME Academy, MSME Financing Support Programme, MSME Marketplace, MSME Micro-health Insurance Scheme, and the MSME digital platform.

Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of the Ecobank group, for his part, reiterated the engagement of the pan-African lender in the initiative. He specifically confirmed its support in building the MSME digital platform, creating content for the MSME Academy, and lending funds to African MSMEs. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

In Togo, the poultry industry could create around 150,000 new jobs by 2025. The estimate released by the ministry of animal production is ten times more than the jobs the sector currently accounts for. 

Nonetheless, the projection is likely to become a reality only if “local poultry is sold more” across the country. Also, importers should purchase more local products. 

Indeed, while the sector has recorded some improvements in recent years (output soared from 8 million to 25 million heads between 2011 and 2017), there is more room for progress, both in terms of output and job creation. 

In this framework, the ministry of animal production banned last month, imports of poultry to the country.

From now till September, businesses can get a postal address for 60% less than the usual cost. 

The promotion, which is run by the Togolese Post Company (SPT), targets mainly one-man businesses, limited liability companies (LLCs), SMEs, and SMIs, as well as liberal professions. They can thus get a mailing address for XOF24,000, valid for a year. 

Through the move, the SPT also hopes to turn individual accounts into corporate accounts as holders of the former are given the possibility to switch to the latter throughout the promotion. 

Séna Akoda