Beam, an investment platform created by private equity firm Bamboo, has partnered with French energy giant EDF to inject funds in Bboxx Togo, subsidiary of the eponymous British firm specialized in solar systems. 

Though the transaction’s amount is yet to be disclosed, it will allow EDF to acquire 50% of Bboxx Togo, as agreed last month, and help Bboxx to expand its footprint in the West African nation. In effect, Bboxx will use the investment to provide more than 300,000 households, which is nearly two million Togolese, with solar power by 2022, under the CIZO project.  

The French firm will assist the British technically towards improving installation of solar systems that the latter plans to deploy. This is a major step for BEAM, said for his part Jean-Philippe de Scherevel, founder and associate of Bamboo.

“Beam was created with a clear vision which is attracting major investments to off-grid power projects in developing countries, which Togo is part of,”  added the head of the equity firm. 

Meanwhile, for Mansoor Hamayun, CEO of Bboxx, “Beam’s investment in Bboxx Togo will be key to produce expected impact”.

Bboxx has been operating in Togo since 2017 and has already provided access to power to 26,000 Togolese residents, through the CIZO program which it partners with. It has opened about 20 stores in the country and employs around hundred people. Its domestic solar systems include solar panels with batteries. These can be paid for with mobile money. 

Fiacre E. Kakpo

In four months, Togo’s agricultural financing incentive mechanism (MIFA) has provided technical support to nearly 4,500 farmers. This was disclosed by Noel Bataka, coordinator of the mechanism’s value chains, during an interview with local news website, Actu Togo.

According to the former strategic coordinator of PNIASA, since it was launched on June 25, 2018, MIFA helped provide around CFA500 million as financing support to farmers, and more monies should soon be disbursed for agricultural projects valued at about two billion CFA.

“Projects valued at about CFA2 billion are being put in place for these farmers and financial partners are working to provide needed funds. So far, half a billion has been provided to producers, out of targeted two billion,”  the official told the local website.

Regarding concerns about producers not reimbursing the loans they are given, Bataka said the mechanism is based on a risk-sharing system that tackles the issue. “Farmers’ insolvency is often due to many causes and MIFA has solutions tackling all these issues. The first cause is failure to sell goods produced,  he said. With MIFA however, producers and aggregators sign contracts and production is structured only based on these contracts,”  he added.

“Deploying operating advisors near producers to tackle low productivity, reducing cost of loans which used to reach up to 20% (but now stands around 5%-7% with MIFA), and the assessment of projects by MIFA’s financial experts  to produce viable business plans are some of MIFA’s solutions to make sure loans provided to producers are recovered,”  Bataka declared.

Over the next three years he adds, “a million producers and players of agricultural value chains will be backed by the mechanism”.

Ten years from now, MIFA aims to get banks to invest, using their own funds, up to a billion euros, that is CFA650 billion, in agricultural value chains. Also, starting next year, the mechanism should expand to the coffee, cocoa, cotton, soybeans and cashew sectors.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Lomé is currently hosting until November 9 a regional seminar on ways to counter tax fraud. Organized by the International Monetary Fund's Regional Technical Assistance for West Africa (AFRITAC WEST - AFW), the seminar’s theme is “Fighting tax fraud efficiently”.

The general commissioner of Togo’s Revenue Office (OTR), Kodzo Adedze, who expressed himself at the seminar’s opening put emphasis on working in synergy. He believes “synergy between tax administrations is a major lever to efficiently fight tax fraud”.

Indeed, he adds that, still in line with the same objective, “information sharing (Between tax administrations – ed. note) can help clear suspicions in the case of tax fraud”. This, according to the official will improve control of declared goods from a point A to point B, and fight tax fraud more efficiently.

Also, “our tax offices must have a control mechanism that relies on data collection and risk assessment”, he concluded.

Séna Akoda

By 2022, Togo wants to become West Africa’s leading “blue” touristic destination.

Aiming for the country to turn into a perfect location for seaside, cultural, sport, business, ecologic and agricultural tourism, the government plans to develop structuring project and provide Togo a new touristic identity.

Hence, emulating Rwanda's ‘Visit Rwanda’ program, Togo’s authorities plan to adopt the “Go to Togo” slogan to become a tourism hub in the sub-region.

To achieve this goal, Lomé intends to diversify, boost, valorize its touristic and hospitality offer (focusing on culture, craftsmanship, economic and social sectors) via systematic labelling and rating ; facilitate investment in tourism and hospitality, in addition to improving both the legal and structural frameworks of the sector.

Presently, Togo is refining its strategy to unlock the potential of its tourism industry given that it is one of its economic drivers.

Clearly stated, the nation aims to “increase tourism's contribution to GDP to 6.2% in 2022, from 4% in 2015”. In the same framework, it expects “number of visitors per 100 people to reach 5 by 2022, from 3.2 in 2015, and revenue per visitor to reach $700 in 2022, from $520 in 2015”.

This dynamism should result in the creation of at least 10,000 decent jobs by 2022.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

In line with its new national development strategy (PND 2018-2022), Togo plans to build four hydropower dams, a coal-fired thermal plant, two solar plants and six transmission lines. The document combines both traditional and clean energy sources to provide power to 50% of the Togolese population by 2020.

The document plans various energy infrastructures which according to authorities will enable access to reliable, modern and low-cost power services.

The “ambitious program will help tap into hydropower potential through the construction of four dams, namely Tétéou (50MW), Danyi-Konda (10MW, Baghan (6MW), Landa-Pozanda (4MW). It will also leverage thermal potential with a project involving construction of  a coal-fired thermal power plant. Finally, two transmission lines of 330KV and four lines of 161KV will be built in addition to a 10MW solar plant in Mango and another of 5MW in Kara”, authorities indicated.

If effectively carried out, these projects would be clear evidence that Togo is doing everything to become one of the region’s top energy producers.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Togo’s government plans to open in Lomé an agricultural product certification lab, according to Germain Mèba, Chairman of Togo’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIT).  The official revealed that the project is driven by authorities’ desire to make Made in Togo products more competitive in the region, the continent and even worldwide.

Indeed, Togo counts on a significant boom of its agriculture to drive its growth. So far, the sector contributes 40% of the country’s GDP. 

While the country currently implements various innovative initiatives, such as its agropoles project and the agricultural financing incentive mechanism, it is the competitiveness of made in Togo products that will enable the country to expand worldwide. However, these products must first meet global standards.

This thus explains the need for the projected certification lab. According to credible sources, works are ongoing for its installation.

Actually, the minister of trade and private sector promotion, Bernadette Legzim-Balouki, and CCIT’s chairman, were recently in Turkey to request collaboration of Turkish experts to successfully develop the project.

Séna Akoda

It is much easier to create a firm in Togo than it is in Ghana, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, or even Seychelles.

In the 2019 Doing Business, Togo is the 11th African nation where launching a business is easy. The country made remarkable achievements, coming before most member States of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with a greater revenue. Indeed, in terms of procedures and delays needed to formalize a business, Togo is far above average recorded in sub-Saharan Africa and OECD’s 36 member States.

While according to the Doing Business, four procedures and 5.5 days are needed in Togo to make a business formal, the report states that it takes about 7.3 procedures and more than 23 days in sub-Saharan Africa to do so, and 4.9 procedures and 9.3 days in OECD.  

In WAEMU, Togo which is the third country under the Doing Business, behind Côte d’Ivoire and Benin, is also the nation in the region to have implemented the most reforms over the period reviewed.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Togo’s debt level should fall below 70% of GDP next year, in line with WAEMU’s macroeconomic convergence criteria. This was forecasted by the IMF's mission that stayed in the country from October 18 to 31, 2018.

Similarly, the mission said Lomé’s budget deficit should stand below 3% of GDP. “We believe that in 2019, Togo’s budget should meet WAEMU’s macroeconomic convergence standards, that is budget deficit below 3% of GDP and debt level below 70% of GDP,”  said the head of the IMF's mission. 

Considering the country’s debt/GDP ratio which is still high, even if it has improved over the past years, Togo will only achieve the forecast if it keeps reforms it recently implemented and effectively implement the ones planned for the next six months, the mission indicates.

“Structural reforms advance as planned. For example, OTR’s reforms to improve revenue mobilization and those to reinforce treasury’s single account (directing all commercial banks’ accounts to the treasury’s). These reforms should ensure a better management of treasury and decrease loan rates. There also, everything is going well,” the mission declared.

Regarding public investment management, the mission commented saying: “Reforms are being implemented to make sure that under the 2019 budget, projects are selected based on some criteria that, for example, require that only new or ongoing projects, and also projects for which feasibility studies have been conducted, are developed.”

Togo, leveraging reforms, aims to contain its debt level at 52.8% of GDP by 2021.

“Togo did almost six times better than Mauritius”. This was declared by Sandra Ablamba Johnson, Head of Business Climate Cell (CCA) and Advisor to the President, commenting on Togo’s score in the latest Doing Business report.

Indeed, Togo’s score rose by 6.32 points to 55.20 points while the score of Mauritius, first African nation on the 2019 Doing Business, increased by 1.29 points compared to the previous year.

After highlighting Togo’s performances regarding business facilitation in Africa –the country is ranked second most reformist nation across the continent and number one in WAEMU- CCA’s coordination emphasized major indicators on which the nation focused its reforms. “Taking business creation for example, we suppressed registration fees and stamps. Let it be recalled that the fees in question amounted to 2% and 4% in cash and kind respectively. Today, let’s say you want to create a company with a capital of one billion CFA…You do not need to pay anything. Also, minimum capital which was set at CFA1 million two to three years ago has been reduced to CFA100,000 and liberalized,”  Johnson said.    

As for property transfer right, the official indicated: “A single desk for property transfer has been opened while process related to the issuance of a construction permit has been dematerialized. In the past, one needed to come to the town hall to apply for this permit. Now, regardless of the applicant’s geographic position, be it in France or Burkina, he or she can apply for the permit and get it once in Lomé”.

Commenting on bribes paid to intermediates while seeking land titles or similar documents, Sandra Johnson declared : “Today, not only are bribes not paid, issuance fees to get the documents, between CFA400,000 and CFA500,000, have been suppressed as well. Application is done online now”.  

Last, “there is e-declaration,”  she says. “Before, people had to go queue at the tax office to pay their taxes. Now, they can be paid online, from your office or anywhere else”.

Séna Akoda