We use the word "informal" as though it were a defect. The informal market, the informal economy, informal employment. As if not being registered, structured and taxed made an activity less legitimate. And yet this is where the majority of Togolese — and of Africans — live, work, and create value.
Informal is a strategy, not an accident
People who work in the informal market do not always do so by choice. But those who stay and prosper there often do so by strategy. The absence of administrative structure is an advantage: no fixed costs, no paperwork, no delays. Agility is what the system produces, not its flaw.
A trader in Lomé can change product in a week. A tailoring workshop can pivot to a new style according to demand. That capacity to adapt is an asset many formal companies would envy.
What is missing to move up a gear
The informal market does not lack ambition. It lacks tools. Not sophisticated tools — simple ones, reachable, designed here. An accounting system suited to a trader. A way to document transactions in order to build a credit history. A distribution channel beyond the physical market.
Mobile money was the first step. The next is digital equipment that fits — not Silicon Valley tools, but solutions designed with and for the traders of Lomé's market.
The opportunity of chosen formalisation
Formalisation is not the enemy of the informal. It can be a strategic choice. Not an obligation imposed from outside, but a tool in service of growth. Formalising to access credit. To sign a larger contract. To protect your employees. To be visible in the formal economic circuit.
The key is that formalisation should come from a real demand, not from administrative pressure. And that the benefits should be immediate, not theoretical.
What I see in my work
Working with traders and craftspeople, I often see the same pattern. A simple tool — a form, a dashboard, a reminder system — changes productivity considerably. There is no need to rebuild the business model. Just to add a light digital layer that makes visible what already existed.
The informal market does not need reinventing. It needs backing. And that backing can come from a new generation of technicians and creatives who understand both worlds — the world of code and the world of the market.
The real change
The real change will not be a large government programme or a startup worth several million. It will be the sum of small moves: a trader adopting a management tool, a craftsperson selling online, a technician training their neighbourhood. The change is already under way. It is simply quiet.