Togo’s government plans to invest €100 million (more than CFA65 billion) in the Togo Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (TIRSAL). This was revealed by President Faure Gnassingbé today, April 27, on the sidelines of Togo’s 58^th independence anniversary.

“With the help of TIRSAL fund whose capital is €100 million, or CFA65 billion, the issue of access to financing faced by farmers will find an inclusive response, and subsequently interest rates on loans will be reduced,” the Head of State said.

While the government will raise a significant portion of monies needed for the fund, the President counts on financial and technical partners, lenders, insurers but also private investors for the remainder.

Launched on April 25, 2018, TIRSAL aims at reducing risks associated with agriculture and provide guarantees for agricultural loans granted by financial institutions (banks, decentralized financial systems, cooperatives). Its main purpose is to boost farmers’ access to loans, at a low cost. Its creation falls under the 2018-2022 national development plan.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Between November 14, 2012 and November 26, 2017, Togo’s government has prohibited 36 ships from operating on its seas. These include among others Pioneer 168, Fat Crow, Med Way, Kun Peng, Albany and more, all operating under the Togolese banner.

Maritime affairs directorate says the ships carried out illegal activities and thus hurt Togo’s reputation.

Let it be recalled for example the case of the Togolese ship arrested in Sicilian waters for smuggling diesel loaded from Libya. This had greatly impacted the country’s image.

By deregistering the ships, the government wants to tackle the issue and ensure that ships are well registered and subsequently improve business environment in the maritime sector.

Séna Akoda

Second edition of international trade fair Elite études et formations began April 25 and will end April 29. This year, it focuses on training-employment issue to better tackle youth unemployment in the country.

The fair indeed recommends “a change of paradigm and approach in education sector”, says Prof. Dodzi Kokoroko, Chairman of University of Lomé. Its main goal is to make education more professional.

To this end, proper training of teachers and lecturers is quite important. This requires a deep knowledge of employment market in order to direct teachers to promising sectors, based on their respective skills.

An opinion shared by Prof. Octave Nicoué Broohm, minister of tertiary education and research: “We laud these initiatives which align with programmes and goals aiming to better adapt trainings offered to employment needs”.

Entrepreneurship would also be discussed as part of recommended paths to ensure professional integration following academic training.

In the long run, the fair’s objective is to drive teachers to review their teaching methodology, but also to push learners to change their mindset.

Séna Akoda

On April 25, Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbé, launched the Togo Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System (TIRSAL), to accelerate funding of agricultural projects.   

TIRSAL’s purpose is to assess risks faced by the agricultural value chain and provide guarantees on agricultural loans granted by lenders (banks, cooperatives, etc.). The fund will act as an insurer whose main objective is to increase loans provided to agriculture by banks, from 0.3% to 5%.

It also aims at mitigating risks of rising interest rates on agricultural loans. This would enable more than a million farmers to easily secure loans, by 2021. 

TIRSAL also aims at promoting agricultural processing, by backing related projects.

It is inspired by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System (NIRSAL) which helped significantly boost agricultural output and local processing.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

In line with the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding, Togolese deputies adopted on April 24, a bill that among others, forces users to get approval from customs to move out or into the country a sum of more than CFA15 million cash, by road, air or sea.

This would enable customs to have enough information on destinations of cash moved by traders or other individuals, in the case it exceeds the set reference. Besides, it could push those unwilling to go through custom formalities to opt for bank wiring which can also be traced.

Regarding the latter, the newly passed bill urges lenders to enhance their monitoring and verification processes before any fund transfer. This, also to tackle money laundering.

According to news website Republic Of Togo, the bill would more generally enhance capacities of the national cell for financial data processing (CENTIF). It aligns with WAEMU’s strategy to fight money laundering and terrorism funding.

Séna Akoda

In World Bank’s latest Global Findex released April 19, it is shown that Togo has made considerable improvements in 2014-2017.

Under the sub-Saharan Africa category, Togo indeed, over the period, recorded the financial inclusion rate, ahead of countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Chad or Mali.

While in the region, proportion of individuals with more than 15 years having a bank account almost doubled over the period reviewed (from 23% in 2011 to 43% in 2017), in Togo this figure soared from 18% to 45%. Now, almost 25% of adult population (+15 years old) have a traditional bank account. The surge was mainly driven by mobile payment.

Indeed, when this service arrived four years ago with Moov, many turned to it (actually counts about 12% of adult population integrated in the financial system) as it eased payment of various services such as power bills, or facilitated money transfers to relatives. In three years only, number of e-payment users tripled; a significant achievement for financial inclusion.

So, more than 10% of Togolese in the financial system have both a bank account and a mobile money account (T-money and Flooz).

A trend which is very likely to be more accentuated in the years to come, especially with the rise of mobile penetration rate (currently at about 80%). Truly, this is because many find mobile money as the best option to prevent corruption, even if the technology is not devoid of challenges.

Despite all progress made by Togo regarding financial inclusion, the country, just like other developing nations and even some developed ones such as France, still has to overcome the gender barrier in this framework. Indeed, this gap widened by 10% over the past few years.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

West African Office of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (BRAO) is actually training about 30 young Togolese to social and inclusive entrepreneurship.

This initiative aligns with the incubation of second promotion of the Libres Ensemble project carriers. It aims to boost skills of young women and men incubated, regarding identification and implementation of social and inclusive projects. Truth is, Africa already excels in this regard, but informally, according to Eric Adja, regional director OIF. The goal is to learn how inclusive and social entrepreneurship benefits a country like France, and find out how Africa and Togo could also benefit from it, he added.

Social and inclusive economy according to Mr. Adja refers to all services to the community and ability to create value, wealth, but also sharing-focused. It includes services to people, health, etc.

Philippe Girardet, expert of the issue and trainer, for his part, revealed some of the training’s key components, such as how to “elaborate a project, develop it and secure financing”. Inclusive and social entrepreneurship involves “any business that meets a social need, creating wealth while covering this need which is not taken care of by the State,” he added.

Séna Akoda

Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) will, in the coming days, commission in Lomé, an incubator for young entrepreneurs. This was disclosed April 24, by OIF’s manager, Adama Wane, on the sidelines of a workshop that the institution organized, for youth developing “Libres Ensemble” projects, in Togo’s capital city.

The uniqueness of this incubator is that it will focus on projects that will have an impact on social and inclusive economy. It will teach young people how to make resilient, an economic asset. “Inclusive economy is a type of resilience. To turn it into an economic asset, going beyond resilience, technical skills and rigor are needed, to make it a profitable tool,” OIF’s executive said.

“The incubator will provide youth with mentors who will help them better carry out their projects,” said for his part, Eric Adja, OIF director for West Africa.

Séna Akoda