Togo First
African Guarantee Fund to establish reference incubator in Togo
Adidjatou Zanouvi, Managing Director African Guarantee Fund West Africa, revealed that the institution will soon build a reference incubator in Lomé.
The project is in line with African Guarantee Fund’s vision to make Lomé a reference in terms of private sector across West Africa.
With the new incubator, the fund also plans to support local SMEs as well as financial institutions, to help them grow.
Besides technical support, African Guarantee Fund will be granting guarantees to about 2000 SMEs a year, in West Africa, as against 1000 at the moment.
AGF West Africa has “contributed at least 40% of guarantees provided in the region over the past few years”. Now, it wants to “increase this volume five-fold in the next three years”, Zanouvi declared.
The institution’s greatest challenge however is to enable “SMEs, in the various countries it operates, to create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs in the five coming years”.
Séna Akoda
Keras Resources gets Togo’s approval to conduct testwork programme at Nayega manganese project
AIM-listed Keras Resources announced last Monday that it got approval to undertake a bulk sampling metallurgical testwork programme at its Nageya manganese project, Northern Togo.
For the firm, obtaining permission on the project which it controls (85%) via its subsidiary Société Générale des Mines SARL (SGM).
The testwork programme is estimated at $1.5 million and includes the processing of 10,000 t of beneficiated manganese ore by a major producer of manganese-based alloys, to assess how suitable the ore is in its smelting facilities.
Keras also revealed that it is targeting a beneficiated +10mm to 75mm manganese product through a simplified washing, scrubbing and screening operation.
Costs related to the programme, such as equipment, operating, logistics and management costs are fully funded by an end-user which the British says it reached an agreement with. Actually, an initial financing was provided to cover long-term fixed assets and management costs. “We have secured a funding agreement with a third-party end-user that potentially may share significant synergies with a West African manganese producer,” said Keras CEO, Russell Lamming.
“We believe this is a huge endorsement for both the project and our team’s ability to identify quality assets and we look forward to working closely with the end-user through the metallurgical testwork process,” he added.
Keras has completed the tender process with local mining contractors and logistics companies that are able to start the operation immediately. Contracts will be awarded by late July.
The company, which wishes to expand its manganese assets in Togo, said it is discussing with Togolese authorities to boost the profitability of its operations in the country. “Over the past several months we have been engaged in constructive discussions with the Ministry of Mines and other regulatory bodies in Togo on how to progress the Nayega project into a profitable mine,” Russell Lamming said.
Keras’ shares soared by 15% in value after the nod announcement.
Open-pit low-capex Nayega project covers an area of 92,390 ha. It is situated on a deposit that covers 2.2km by 500m and averages 3.3 thick.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
“Africa Energy Generation Prize” awards the laureate of its second edition in Lomé
On July 20, 2018, the French Institute in Lomé hosted the prize award ceremony to the three project holders with the best idea for the second edition of African Energy Generation Prize, a pan African competition to reward unconventional energy sources inventions.
This initiative is aimed at promoting and supporting technical innovation as well as social entrepreneurship locally to identify, develop and propagate Made in Africa energy solutions on a larger scale.
After a coaching for about a year to transform their idea into concrete projects via the creation of functional prototypes, five candidates from five countries alternatively presented their projects in front of a jury of energy experts constituted for that purpose.
The Nigerian Abiola Ajala was awarded the first prize (€5,000 in value) for his project Sunbox which ambitions to set kiosks with solar panels which will allow traders to charge their phones and LED lights as well as protect themselves from mosquito bites while at the same time avoiding sunlight.
The second laureate was the Beninese Annette Adanmenou (prize: €3,000) with her project Energy Bio Foods, an integrated solution for the production of biogas. This will help cook while at the same time providing organic fertilizers to farmers.
The last laureate is the Zambian Victor Masumba (price: €2000) thanks to his project M.D. Hybrib Wind Turbine, a wind power generating system for remote farms in Zambia.
At the end of the ceremony, Astria Fataki, president of Energy Generation, declared that she was “very proud of the various laureate and for the project ideas they presented”. She also added that her institution will support them for two years in the development of their project. “We are also setting an investment fund, which will allow us to invest in those projects once they are sufficiently mature to receive an investment, so as to be present for all the value chain for those projects from ideation to the creation of a viable business”, she added.
Let’s remind that the Africa Energy Generation Prize has been organized with the support of its partners such as the ministry of post and digital economy, Schneider Electric, EDF, ENGIE Akon Lighting Africa.
Togo is doing very well on the regional financial market
Following a strong performance at the end of June this year, when it succeeded in raising CFA21 billion, Togo concluded July 20 a simultaneous issue by targeted auction of OATs fungible treasury bonds. The operation has seen CFA57.49 billion mobilized against CFA50 billion initially required. A bid to cover ratio of 114.98%, which reflects the interest of investors in a market which was still tepid at the beginning of the year. Togo will capture CFA55 billion, thus 95.67% of the total amount.In detail, the first 3-year bond with a fixed coupon of 6.25%, mobilized CFA51.04 billion including CFA48.55 billion retained. The second, maturing in 5 years (July 23, 2023) and offering a fixed interest rate of 6.5%, raised CFA6.45 billion. The average price of the 3-year OAT was CFA9, 655 with an average return of 7.57%. The 5-year OAT, whose average price is estimated at CFA9, 650, offers a return of 7.36%. Most of the sales were carried out by Togo’s primary dealers (SVTs) (Boa Togo, Coris Bank, Ecobank, Orabank and UTB), which provided CFA45.34 billion, including CFA43.86 billion retained on the 3-year bond and the integration of the 5-year bond.
Let’s note that Burkinabe primary dealers also invested CFA5.7 billion in 3-year OATs. In Q3 2018, Togo plans to raise CFA130 billion, of which CFA110 billion as OATs and CFA20 billion in treasury bills (BATs). Next issue worth CFA40 billion is scheduled for August in Lomé.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo: Access rate to electricity rose by 13% between 2008 and 2016
From 2008 to 2016, access rate to electricity increased from 22.5% to 35.6% in Togo. This was revealed by the Prime Minister while presenting Togo’s performances in regards to sustainable development goals (SDGs) during a United Nations Forum.
Access to electricity falls under SDG7 which consists in ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Over the 2008-2016 period access, access rate to electricity in rural areas grew from 3% to 6.3%.
This was achieved as a result of various actions undertaken by Togolese authorities. Amongst these, a major project to electrify around 271 rural communities. The latter was launched in 2017 and should end this year.
Other projects such as the CI-ZO should also help achieve SDG7, by 2030. Regarding CI-ZO, it will result in the installation of mini solar plants totaling a capacity of 600 KWc as well as that of 10,000 light poles across all Togo’s regions.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Construction works at the new fishing port are 65% complete
Building and civil engineering works at the new fishing port are respectively 80% and 20% completed. This represents an overall execution rate of 64.7%, according to Ryu Ishii, who heads the firm in charge of works.
Indeed, the executive revealed this to a ministerial delegation including the ministers of fishery and public works, Oura-Koura Agadazi and Ninsao Gnofam, during a visit to the project’s site on July 20, 2018.
Compared to time passed under set schedule, the works are going at a satisfying pace, the minister of infrastructure and transports said. “We trust that the project will be completed on time and would be one of the coast’s most modern fishing ports,” he declared.
This project, let’s recall, is co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the government, providing respectively CFA14.4 billion and CFA2.1 billon. Area dedicated to the port is seven hectares.
In Togo, more than 22,000 people live off fishing and the activity contributes more than 4.5% of Togo’s agricultural GDP, with an annual average production of 20,000 tons, which is 80% of national output (25,000 tons).
Séna Akoda
Soon, 300 Togolese communities will have access to power, under phase I of 2030 strategy for universal power access
In the weeks to come, Togo’s government will initiate the first stage of its 2030 strategy to achieve universal power access. This stage which covers the 2018-2020 period should enable the country to achieve a 50% power coverage rate.
It targets 300 communities that have no access to electricity, the minister of energy, Marc Ably-Bidamon said in an interview with newspaper « Flambeau des démocrates » on July 19, 2018. The communities targeted are yet to be known however.
Still, the minister, based on commitments of investors and lenders, declared that “achieving universal power coverage by 2030 may seem too ambitious but it is doable”.
African Guarantee Fund West Africa to inject $75M in local SMEs over the next five years
Over the next five years, the African Guarantee Fund West Africa will disburse $75 million (CFA41 billion) to support Togolese SMEs.
The funds will allow “financial institutions and banks to disburse about $150 million to support business operators, in addition to technical assistance provided to the private sector,” said Adidjatou Zanouvi, Managing Director African Guarantee Fund West Africa on July 20, 2018.
The guarantee fund during a meeting with Togo’s Prime Minister, Komi Sélom Klassou, told the official they considered SMEs to be a priority. Its executives explained their choice saying they believe these enterprises to be the weak link in the economic chain and also because SMEs lack adequate financing to support their growth.
Séna Akoda
Number of containers handled at PAL soared by 283% between 2013 and 2017
Between 2013 and 2017, the number of twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers handled at Lomé’s port (PAL) almost tripled, from 311,470 to 1,193,841 (+283%). This was revealed by the 2017 report on official development assistance (RAPD2017), released last week in Lomé.
The report partly attributes this performance to the modernization of port structures and the purchase of new handling equipment, as well to the various measures implemented over the past years to boost maritime security.
Other factors that contributed to the improvement include the simplification of processes and formalities, which made the port, the only deep-water port of the region, more attractive. It also helped make PAL the only port in West Africa to serve many capitals in a day.
In regards to airport traffic, the Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport (AIGE) recorded 810,494 passengers in 2017, as against 589,416 in 2013. The surge is attributed to the modernization of infrastructures, in line with the government’s objective to make Lomé a logistics hub.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Electricity: Nigeria threatens to cut supply to Togo
Togo’s minister of power, Marc Ably-Bidamon has recently called a meeting to assess and settle its debt to Nigeria, in the framework of their power supply contract.
This, just a few days after Nigeria threatened to cut power supply to its international buyers which are Togo, Benin and Niger.
The threat from Nigeria should motivate Togolese authorities to speed up and increase investments towards the implementation of the 2030 global electrification strategy which the government recently adopted. Under this strategy, let us recall, 50% of Togo should be electrified by 2020, 75% by 2025 and 100% by 2030, via the installation of thermal and solar plants.
Togo so far still gets 50% of the power it uses from countries like Nigeria and Ghana.
Fiacre E. Kakpo