Togo’s ministry of culture, tourism, and leisure will rehabilitate the Kara hotel in the northern part of the country. 

Rehabilitation works, which were divided into three parts will be financed by the Fund for the Promotion and Development of Tourism (FPDT). 

In line with this project, the ministry of tourism has launched a tender which closes on June 11, 2020. Bidders can apply for the three parts of the project but selected applicants will not be attributed more than a part. 

New firms that are able to provide their financial statements for the past three years, will benefit from better conditions and can present any other relevant document attesting to their financial capacities.  

The rehabilitation of the Kara hotel, let’s emphasize, is part of a larger program the government is carrying out to give a new breath to hotels across the country and subsequently boost tourism.

Séna Akoda

The UN development program’s office in Togo plans to set 6,894 solar light poles in the Maritime, Plateaux, Central, Kara, and Savanes regions. 

The project will accelerate the country’s national electrification strategy and help get it closer to its goal of making renewables 50% of its energy mix by 2030. 

In this framework, UNDP-Togo has launched a pre-qualification bid to select local consultants who are specialized in technical electricity, renewable energy, or solar technology. The hired consultant will be in charge of steering and monitoring the works. Applicants can submit their bids to the UNDP via mail.

To contain the spread of the coronavirus, Togolese authorities plan to test more people and actively monitor suspected cases. 

The information was recently given by the national coordination team for the Covid-19 response. According to the latter, Lomé’s strategy revolves around testing suspects, quarantining and treating them, and finally tracking them. 

In line with this strategy, which is recommended by the World Health Organization, mobile labs were deployed in various prefectures, such as Dapaong, Sokodé, and Atakpamé. 

Another policy announced by Lomé is to systematically test chief districts that have passed the threshold of 10 cases set by the coordinating team. This, according to the head of the team, Col. Djibril Mohaman, has already been done in Kouvon, a village located in the Tchaoudjo prefecture. As a result, no new case has been recorded there since then. 

With about 15,000 tests conducted so far, Togo is currently one of the leading countries in this regard, both across the region and the continent. To date, the nation has confirmed 386 Covid-19 cases, 161 recoveries, and 13 deaths. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Last week, the Nunya Lab incubator trained around 460 local artisans to make efficient face masks. 

The goal of the lab is to produce one million, washable and reusable masks. This output, which will be subsidized, should be made available to the Togolese population, protecting more against the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In the framework of the training, the incubator partnered with the ministry of grassroots development, the Fund supporting youth-led business initiatives (FAIEJ), UNDP-Togo, the National Health Insurance Institute (INAM), and the Union des Chambres Régionales de Métiers du Togo (UCRM). 

Let’s recall very recently also, INAM and FAIEJ teamed up to train seamstresses so they can make quality masks. 

Ecobank Group and Google are teaming up to help African SMEs keep pace in a fast-growing digital world. The partners announced they will develop a range of digital solutions that aim to make banking operations easier for customers. The packages will be available to Ecobank’s SME customers in May 2020.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Google to offer timely and relevant solutions, including Google My Business and Google Ad products. These are specifically tailored to meet the needs of our SME customers,” said Josephine Anan-Ankomah, Ecobank’s Group Executive for Commercial.

“We are focused on helping them (SMEs, ed) thrive by adopting technology, which is becoming increasingly essential for the survival of businesses today,” she added.

Ecobank says the aim is to support African businesses so that they remain relevant in the markets and realize their potential through the adoption of digital solutions, especially in the difficult context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The agricultural processing areas that the Togolese government plans to set up, mainly through the creation of agropoles, will be developed through public-private partnerships (PPP). The elaboration of this strategy, as well as the instruments and incentives for its implementation, will be entrusted to a firm, to be selected by the government.

This firm will be responsible for proposing incentive measures as well as the necessary legal and regulatory framework; and a strategy with concrete models for PPPs between existing (or to be created) institutional entities and the private sector. It will also ensure that the conditions for the success of these partnerships are in place.

Moreover, the company will draw up a document presenting different models of PPPs that could be envisaged, in the context of the development and industrialization of Togolese agriculture, in line with the ambitions of the public authorities for the sector.

Séna Akoda

In a recent memo, Togo’s minister of agriculture, Noel Bataka, has urged all actors of the local poultry industry, especially importers and suppliers, to “take all immediate measures, through clear and concise contracts, to clear poultry products in stock and to ensure a regular supply of local poultry.” 

In this framework, the ministry of agriculture issued an order giving 15 days, starting May 18, for actors concerned to comply with the instruction. 

Bataka’s initiative takes place in a context where it has been noticed that some poultry products’ importers and suppliers fail to keep the commitments they take during meetings with the minister, such as that to supply the local market. 

According to the minister’s memo, an authorization must now be obtained to import poultry products into Togo. He has instructed the customs officers to enforce this order. 

Séna Akoda

In Togo, the project supporting employment and insertion of youth in promising sectors (PAEIJ-SP) just partnered with four new microfinance institutions. These are UMECTO (which operates in all economic regions of the country), Coopec ADESEM (active in the central region), CEF MEF (central and kara regions), and Coopec SIFA (Savanes). 

The institutions were selected through a call for manifestation of interest launched through Orabank Togo. Generally, they will intervene essentially in the central and northern parts of Togo, supporting agricultural entrepreneurs, and the actors of the various value chains. However, in-depth, these four lenders will provide loans, supplied by Orabank Togo, to agricultural entrepreneurs.  

So far, the PAEIJ-SP has supported more than 250 young entrepreneurs in developing their business plans and helped nearly 450 farmers’ associations seal supply agreements with SMEs specialized in agricultural processing as well as with aggregators in the cassava, corn, and soybeans sectors. 

Séna Akoda