The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

42 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL might seem to have little to offer partners, but we crafted a unique approach to attract them. When Togo was selected for a Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold program, a team of American and Togolese economists set out to identify the binding constraints in its economy. The embassy seized the opportunity of that MCC research project to significantly ramp up our contacts within the business community. We launched a series of dialogues with businesspeople to learn about their challenges and listen to their ideas for improving Togo’s investment climate. I stressed the need to improve the business environment in nearly every speech I gave, and we strongly promoted entrepreneurship programs. We initiated a public-private working group to promote Eng- lish-language teaching, stressing the economic opportunities for young people and the benefits to a business community in search of talent. Our team established a “U.S.-Togo Business Forum” of American-associated businesses and promoted the services of regional resources like the USAID West Africa Trade and Investment Hub and the Foreign Commercial Service. We also supported the government of Togo in hosting the 2017 African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum, which brought together 39 AGOA-eligible African nations and the United States for this annual dialogue to foster increased U.S.-Africa trade and investment. Using MCC and other activities like the AGOA Forum, we branded the embassy as the most prominent advocate for improving Togo’s business climate. The private sector saw value in our activities and perceived us as an ally, and our enhanced convening authority brought numerous partners to the table. With that support, we collaborated on projects that offered businesses the opportunity to demonstrate good corporate citizenship, while enriching Togo’s human capital. To support educational advancement, local companies joined us to spon- sor a national English-language competition in which more than 10,000 Togolese high school students from more than 600 schools participated. Students gained valuable skills, and businesses could recruit talented scholars when they gradu- ated. The embassy collaborated with U.S. company Contour Global to outfit a donated bus with computer equipment and scientific gear, creating a mobile learning lab that visited Ambassador David Gilmour visits the Olympia, Washington, headquarters of Alaffia, guided by CEO Olowo-n’djo Tchala and company staff. COURTESYOFALAFFIA