Togo is one of the top 20 countries that produce bamboo the most in the world. The country is the 18th biggest bamboo producer to be exact. 

According to recent data published in the sector, the top three African producers are Ethiopia, Benin, and Burundi. 

After Benin, which is first in West Africa, Ghana and Nigeria come next (respectively 7th and 13th worldwide). 

In 2014, the bamboo market was valued at around $60 billion. This market while expanding is said to be largely underexploited in Africa, according to the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR). In this regard, actors of the public and private sectors across the continent are taking measures to produce and export more of these trees. 

To date, only 18 African nations (including Togo) are part of the INBAR. This is out of around 30 where bamboo grows naturally on the continent. 

Worldwide, China is the largest bamboo producer, thus the name Chinese bamboo.

The information was disclosed last week by Togo’s interprofessional cashew council (CIFAT). The latter also noted that a kilogram of cashew will be sold at XOF325 during the 2020 campaign. 

According to the president of CIFAT, Komla Mawuko Gozan, compared to last year where the country produced 22,000t of raw cashew, this year’s output is up by about 14%. Further comparing to 2017 where the output was 15,000t, Gozan added that the sector is performing well. 

Out of the output expected for the ongoing campaign, 7,000t are to be processed, before export. 

Regarding processing, authorities set the tax on processed cashew to XOF5/kg, as against XOF40/kg for the raw nuts. In addition to this measure which is aimed at fostering local processing, the CIFAT’s head said it has been decided that no cashew will leave production basins for Lomé during a specific period, to make sure that processing units get enough volumes before export. 

Séna Akoda

Those starting a business in Togo no longer need to pay for legal notices issued on the website of the business formalities center (CFE).

The announcement was disclosed in a statement signed by Kodjo Adedze, minister of trade, industry, and private sector development. “As part of reforms to improve the business environment in Togo, we inform entrepreneurs that the fees paid for issuing legal notices on the website of the centre for business formalities are suppressed, effective on March 2, 2020,” the document reads. 

Let’s recall that initially, public authorities had reduced the concerned fees (relative to the creation, amendment, or termination of a business), from XOF62,000 to XOF1000. 

Séna Akoda

The XOF100 million fund is called the “Competitive Fund for the financing of scientific research and technological innovations.” 

It aligns with the government’s efforts to exploit intellectual resources to solve real challenges faced by the Togolese people. “It is important for the University to do research that contributes to development,” said the university’s president, Dodzi Kokoroko. 

The budget allocated to the facility is only for the ongoing academic year. The research fund will benefit local, national and international communities.

In detail, major research projects will capture up to XOF10 million each, while smaller projects will be XOF2.5 million each. 

Domains of interest include agricultural and environmental research, fundamental, human and social sciences, applied sciences and technologies, health, information and communication, law, politics, economy, and management.

Togo’s revenue office (OTR), in partnership with the national association of businesswomen (AFCET), launched yesterday the “one woman, one identity” campaign. 

The latter aims at providing ID cards to more than 300 women across the country, hence contributing to their social inclusion and participation in the emergence of Togo. 

According to Philippe Kokou Tchodié, general commissioner of the OTR, this campaign aligns with the institution’s actions for civil engagement. In this same framework, the revenue office is organizing today a blood donation camp. 

Séna Akoda

Last Wednesday, the ministries of health, transports, and various partners of Togo, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), met to discuss ways to fight coronavirus. This was in a context where the disease recently spread to the West African region, to Nigeria and Senegal precisely. 

During the meeting, participants reviewed measures taken at the Airport of Lomé against potential contamination, in addition to assessing available tools aligning with the same purpose.

“Lomé has become a hub today. There are many flights to the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Therefore, we must reinforce measures against the disease at the airport,” said Latta Dokissime Gnama, MD of the National Agency for Civil Aviation (ANAC). 

“We have put in place many measures, including staff training so they know how to handle people; we have set up thermo-scanners, provided forms for passengers to fill when boarding a plane, to track them for 14 days (...) In addition to that, we have a monitoring unit, which is a crisis cell that keeps watch on every movement.” 

Besides these, the meeting’s participants also looked at measures to prevent the virus from entering the country through the port of Lomé whose staff was reinforced as well. On the same occasion, Dr. Fatoumata Binta Diallo, resident representative of WHO, lauded efforts made by Togo to have no case of coronavirus. “The country is very advanced in terms of preparation, and surveillance especially,” she said. 

In Togo, Banque Populaire pour l’Epargne et du Crédit (BPEC) is now Sunu Bank. 

In 2018, SUNU Group acquired a majority stake (65.7%) in BPEC at a time where the lender was at the bottom of the pitfall. For its first year of activity, BPEC had recorded a loss of XOF197 million and ran on losses from 2012 to 2016. 

However, since SUNU joined its shareholding, the bank’s prudential indicators have improved, but the lender is not yet out of trouble. For example, its intermediation margin rose from 1.5 billion (before SUNU arrived) to 2.3 billion at the end of 2018, while its assets’ value increased by XOF5 billion, in the same period, to reach XOF66 billion. 

To consolidate these results, Sunu Bank bets on digital services like WhatsApp banking. 

SUNU Group is an insurance holding based in Dakar, Senegal, and headed by Pathé Dione. The insurer’s investment in Togo marks its first step in the banking market.

Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, has extended his congratulations to Faure Gnassingbé, for winning the recent elections in Togo. 

The leader of the rainbow nation thus follows the footsteps of Morocco’s Mohamed VI, Gabon’s Ali Bongo, and Cameroon’s Paul Biya, who also congratulated the Togolese leader for being reelected (with 70.78% of votes). 

Ramaphosa also praised the Togolese people for organizing peaceful elections, saying it is a “positive step towards deepening democracy across the African continent.” He then reiterated his “commitment to reinforcing bilateral cooperation between South Africa and Togo.” 

Let it be recalled that in December, last year, the South African president was in Lomé, for a visit aimed at boosting economic cooperation between these two States. Togo is well-positioned to become the main point of entry of South African products and investments in West Africa, due to its port notably.