Togo First
Financial controllers are being trained on result-oriented management in Kpalimé
On Monday, a four-day workshop on result-oriented management was started in Kpalimé by the ministry of economy and finances. This session trains the staff of the national directorate of financial control.
It falls under the Project to support and mobilize resources and boost institutional capacities (PAMOCI).
In detail, the financial controllers will be taught about new public management tools, relative to projects and annual performance reports.
This will help them better appreciate budget sustainability and results of implemented projects. Subsequently, it would ensure a better budget control, and effective assessment of legality, regularity and conformity of financial operations and transactions.
This workshop will be followed by another planned on January 21 to 25.
Launched in 2014, and financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the PAMOCI aims among others to streamline public spending and boost technical and human capacities of tax and customs administrations, in order to achieve a sustainable increase in national revenues. It should be completed in June 2019.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
From one year, exemption period for TPU payment has been increased to two years, for newly created businesses
In Togo, firms paying the Single Professional Tax (TPU in French) are exempted from paying this tax in their first two years of activity. This was revealed last Monday by the tax commissioner himself, Ahmed Esso-Wavana Adoyi.
Exemption period in 2018 was only a year but it has been extended in line with incentives initiated by Lomé to cut charges paid by young entrepreneurs when starting their business. Last year, the initial exemption pushed the number of new businesses created by persons in Togo to 7,512 which represented 71% of all firms created that year.
The TPU is a tax paid by craftsmen and microenterprises operating in the informal sector and backed by public entities like the DOSI. It is paid to the government or local communities (for businesses whose turnover are equal to or less than CFA30 million). It concerns only individuals whose annual turnover is equal or lower than 60 million CFA, regardless of their business. It should be highlighted that under the previous tax code, the turnover set for firms paying this tax was set at CFA30 million.
Also, by paying the TPU, firms concerned no more have to pay income tax, annual minimum tax (IMF), business tax now a patent, 3% tax on wages and value added tax (VAT).
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Gozem and Total Togo team up to teach drivers how to be eco-responsible
Lomé’s first moto-taxi reservation service, Gozem, just partnered with Total’s subsidiary in Togo to teach drivers in the Togolese capital (taxis and bike drivers) about eco-responsibility and how to better utilize their vehicles.
“Through this partnership, Total and Gozem want to inform drivers about the importance of adopting simple, yet effective, habits, thus improving the efficiency of their vehicles while preserving the environment,” reads a statement secured by Togo First.
Throughout January, Gozem workers will be at various Total stations across Lomé to teach drivers about eco-responsible habits.
“The project’s goal is to boost urban transport’s dynamism and make transport in Lomé more ecological,” according to the statement.
“Gozem is proud to support professionals of this sector and provide them with the necessary tools to improve their working conditions,” said Farouk Tchabana, Chief of Operations at Gozem.
For his part, Frédéric Rivière, MD Total Togo, declared : “This partnership with Gozem is a great opportunity for Total to strengthen its bonds with its customers in Lomé”
Séna Akoda
Dapaong solar plant to provide energy to 700,000 households and small companies
Once completed, the $15 million Dapaong solar power plant will provide clean energy to about 700,000 households and small companies in Togo.
Financed by the Abu Dhabi fund for development, the project is aimed at "reducing poverty, increasing income generating activities and suppling energy to health and education service providers"
According to Adnan Z. Amin (photo), outgoing Director-general International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), this project will "create jobs, empower women and boost local communities".
The 30 MW plant is part of three projects worth $31 million. The project will be steered by Togo’s agency for rural electrification and renewable energy.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo : 10,545 firms were created in 2018
In Togo, the number of companies created jumped by 27.5% in 2018 to reach 10,545, a bit below the record reached in 2015.
About 82% (8,625) of the companies created in 2018 are owned by nationals and 1,920 by foreigners. Nigeria (375), Benin (280) Niger (211), China (155) and India (121) were the top five foreign countries whose nationals created companies in Togo in 2018.
That year, 71% (7,512) of the companies created were established by private persons and 29% (3033) by established companies.
6,661 of the new companies operate in the trade sector, 44 in the industrial sector and 3,840 in the services sector according to figures from the businesses formalization centre.
Out of the 2,587 limited liability companies created, there was a marked preference for private registration. Indeed, 85% (2,200) of those LLCs were established without the aids of a lawyer.
54 public limited corporations were created, six of which had only one partner.
According to the business affairs centre, this rise is due to the reforms initiated in 2018 and reinforced in 2019, to simplify life for entrepreneurs.
The suppression of registration and stamp duties, the possibility to initiate the creation of a firm online, the reduction of the deadline for the issuance of a firm owner’s card, the waiver of the business tax for the first operation year are reforms that led to this improvement.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
IRENA 9th Session: Togo secures $15mln for a 30 MW solar plant project
Upon the 9th session of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) held last week in Abu Dhabi, the Togolese government secured $15 million to implement a 30-MW solar plant. This is the largest project approved by this body in terms of capacity, sources said.
This move by Togo is a significant step torwards achieving universal energy by 2030. It is also expected to back efforts in promoting clean energy.
The project presented by Togo is part of a set of projects approved for $31 million by IRENA. This new disbursement brings the total funding approved by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development/IRENA Project Facility to $245 million.
Séna Akoda
Togo: Government to renovate Lomé and Kara’s Congress Centers
Togolese government, via the ministry of infrastructure and transports, plans rehabilitation works at the congress centers in Lomé and Kara, a document consulted by Togo First indicates.
Under this project, the ministry launched a tender following which the selected bidder will first have to undertake technical studies covering the maintenance, rehabilitation or repair of the building and equipment, as well as any additional equipment. These should follow the development of the service order for the commencement of study services, the drafting of the preliminary study report, the Preliminary (APS) and Detailed (APD) project designs.
Secondly, the consultant will prepare the bidding documents. The cost works are included in the 2019 State budget.
Séna Akoda
Soya sector : with a yield of 3 tons per hectare, Togo’s expertise in this sector is attracting producers of the sub-region to learn from them
With a production that increased from 24,000 tons to 35,000 tons within three years and an average yield of 3 tons per hectare, the Soya sector has good results in Togo so much that producers from neighbouring countries come to learn from the local experience.
This is the case of the delegation of Benin’s Soya producers’ union (Union Nationale des Producteurs de Soja du Bénin-UNPS) that visited Lomé on January 9, 2019. They met Togolese agronomists to learn from Togo’s expertise in terms of equipment and Soya seeds management.
"We have come to see how our Togolese brothers produce soya, about the management mechanisms of equipment, the inputs and machines that is. We have learnt that Togo is already more advanced as far as those equipment are concerned”, one of the members of the visiting delegation explained.
For instance, for a yield of 3 tons per hectare in Togo, Benin produces a bit above 800 kg.
This seems to explain why producers in the sub-region have an interest in Togo’s production technics. Before Benin, there were Guinean and Ivorian producers who came to learn from the country’s know-how in terms of soya production.
BRVM and IFC sign a cooperation agreement on corporate governance code
The Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) signed January 10, 2019, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank’s private sector arm, a cooperation agreement on the corporate governance code.
The goal is to “enable BRVM-listed companies to be more efficient, competitive and productive to ensure a climate of trust vis-à-vis investors,” Dr Edoh Kossi Amenounve, BRVM’s Managing Director, said during the signing ceremony.
While Charlotte N'daw, Senior Operations Manager at IFC Africa, said “this cooperation agreement between the BRVM and the IFC is part of the promotion of the governance code's practices within companies”, Edoh Kossi Amenounve added that “the corporate governance code aims to prevent and manage conflicts that may arise among company managers”.
IFC, let’s note, is the world's largest development assistance institution whose activities focus exclusively on the private sector in developing countries.
Séna Akoda
Djanta TechHub is calling for Togolese startups!
Are you a startup or holder of an IT or digital project? Do you seek an adequate environment to develop and materialize your ideas, stimulate your creativity, boost your productivity and exchange daily with actors in your sector? Do you seek competitiveness? Djanta TechHub is calling for you. Make yourself known and express your support and financial needs by registering via this online form.
But, what is Djanta TechHub?
Djanta TechHub is a 3,000 m2 campus built for the valorization and promotion of entrepreneurship, creativity and economic development via the digital, innovation and research.
It also hosts a co-working space, an incubator, a business accelerator as well as conference and meeting rooms. It will also host a coding school, and a FabLab to initiate the use of computer-controlled machine tools.
It also dedicates space to the promotion of women in the digital sector with its dedicated space Nana Tech.
Join Togolese innovators in this new adventure!
Link of the registration form: http://k6.re/hWyil