Togo just signed with the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, in Abu Dhabi, a $15 million (CFA8.7 billion) financing agreement. The facility will be used to support micro, small and medium enterprises in the country.

The agreement was signed, in the United Arab Emirates, by the chairman of Khalifa Fund, Hussain Jasim Al Nowais, and Togo’s minister of economy and finance, Sani Yaya; in the presence of Abu Dhabi’s Crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Togo’s president, Faure Gnassingbé.

The Togolese leader, let’s emphasize, is currently in the UAE for a work visit. During his stay, President Gnassigbé will meet various political figures and visit facilities such Abu Dhabi Global Financial and the Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD).

Next Wednesday, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) will hold a regional meeting on the uniform act on factoring across State members of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU).

Factoring is a form of financing that helps companies with cash flow problems due to slow-paying clients. It allows a company sell its debt or invoices to a specialized entity or factor at a discount. The factor hence handles client payments, follow-up, debt collection, and eventually supports non-payment risks.

The upcoming meeting falls in line with actions taken by the WAMU to develop various tools to finance economic activities, and SMEs in particular, the BCEAO said.

Participants are expected to assess the uniform act’s pertinence and coherence as well as think of a way to extend factoring to lending institutions. Representatives of ministries of finance, WAMU’s lending institutions, BCEAO’s partners and representatives of BOAD and OHADA are expected at the event.

Séna Akoda

President Faure Gnassingbé is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This visit aims at reinforcing the Abu Dhabi-Lomé partnership and attracting investments for Togo’s 2018-2022 national development plan.

During his trip, the Togolese leader will meet with Abu Dhabi’s Crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nayan, and Mohammed bin Rachid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, as well as ruler of the Emirate of Dubai.

Gnassingbé will also visit Abu Dhabi Global Financial, the Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD), as well as some warehouses and factories. This visit should end with “the signing of multiple contracts to implement the 2018-2022 PND.”

Last September, the Togolese President was in China, also to showcase the PND and attract foreign investments. In effect, the strategy will require more than $8 billon, 65% of which is to come from the private sector, and aims at making Togo a regional logistics hub and first-class business centre.

A Gabonese delegation was in Togo for the first intra-African Conference for Social Security (CIPRES). This delegation came to learn more about Togo’s model in terms of financial inclusion, about its national fund for inclusive finance (FNFI) to be exact.

“We have been told that Togo’s model is better than ours and thus deemed it useful to meet Togolese authorities during this conference to tell us more about this model,” declared Ndoutoume Ngome Jonathan, Gabon’s deputy minister of health.

On the Togolese side, the country’s state secretary in charge of financial inclusion, Mazamaesso Assih, who was leading the Togolese delegation at the forum, lauded the meeting which helps “take note of progress made by Togo in terms of investment support.”  

The two countries plan to further their cooperation in relation to financial inclusion with Gabonese technicians and experts coming to Togo for training programs.

The FNFI was launched in 2014 to improve rural people’s access to small loans. The Fund is headed by Mazamaesso Assih

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Soon, a mobile-based service will allow Togo’s population to a have continuous access to drinking water. This solution was developed under SOFIE, a program aimed at enabling populations to rapidly signal any failure of water wells. This would in turn ensure a better management of the wells.

In this regard, the government has put in place with its development partners, a large program for the installation of wells and boreholes. In effect, more than seven thousand pump boreholes and 305 supply systems were installed under the program.

However, failures at the installations were not rapidly reported, as a result they would stay months non-operational, thus explaining the need for SOFIE.  

Séna Akoda

Last year, in April, Sète’s customs, in south eastern France, ceased 24.6 tons of automotive waste headed to the Port of Lomé. This is revealed in the latest report of France’s customs.

While conducting a routine inspection of two semi-trailers headed for Africa, custom officers noticed that the “vehicles’ refuse skips were not empty as declared but instead full of automotive waste that had not been depolluted.”

The inspection led to the discovery of “24.6 tons of automotive waste, knowingly, three road tractors’ engine blocks, forty used truck tires, eight lorry axles, bumpers with licence plates, reservoirs and batteries.”   

Since it is forbidden in the European Union to export waste to countries that do not have the adequate capacity to process this waste, “the firm accused paid depollution charges as well as fees to dispose of the goods, and a fine.”

According to data from French customs, in 2017 this office recorded 471 cases related to transborder transfer of waste (up 82% compared to 2016).

After introducing many young entrepreneurs, all over the country, to opportunities provided by the new tax code, the national agency for funding promotion and guarantee (ANPGF) now wants to give them solutions that may help their businesses thrive.

At the upcoming “Mercredi de l’Entrepreneur” that will be held March 13, a training session on the best “strategies and techniques to revive a business in difficulty” will be organized.

This is a context characterized by a lack of official data on businesses that last after five or ten years of existence.

Séna Akoda

Last year, Air France KLM’s performances in Africa slumped.

Flight tickets across the continent decreased to €1.12 billion in 2018, from €1.17 billion the year before. Similarly, the airline’s revenues from flights to sub-Saharan African countries was down €120 million compared to 2017.

While the carrier failed to provide more details about its poor performances in Africa, it still disclosed a 1.6% reduction of its available seat kilometers (passenger carrying capacity). Number of passengers carried per kilometer also decreased, according to Ecofin Agency. 

Let it be recalled that market shares of Air France KLM, which holds shares in many African airlines in Africa is contracting amid a growing competition with emerging regional and international airlines. These airlines indeed provide an easier connectivity and more competitive fares, according to more and more African travelers.

Since 2017 for example, Air France’s shares in Kenya Airways have been reduced to 7.76% from 26.73%, after the East African airline restructured its debt and equity.