TIKOS
Changing Lives Forever
Enterprise Esse
Esse runs a cereal retail business at the Dadjidogomé Assiyeye market in Lomé, buying beans, maize, soy, and manioc flour from widows and local farmers north of Kpalimé and selling them at her booth.
Progress: Entreprise Esse, our first female borrower, suffered a 60% revenue drop due to political instability and poor harvests.
SeedStar Specialty Coffee Ltd.
SeedStar Specialty Coffee empowers Ugandan smallholder farmers in the Mbale highlands by transforming their Arabica beans into premium, traceable specialty coffee for local markets.
Progress: SeedStar will use the loan to expand production capacity and improve product quality in the local coffee market.
Sangilila Dairy Farm
Sangilila Dairy Farm turns raw milk into affordable, nutritious products—mainly yoghurt—to meet family nutrition needs and reduce waste for local dairy farmers.
The loan will lower production costs through bulk purchasing and enable a more efficient, consistent milk collection process that increases output and revenue.
Progress:
Enterprise Justin
During its first year of operation, Entreprise Justin developed well and met all milestones agreed in the loan agreement, including making the first partial repayment of the loan to TIKOS.
Due to political instability and frequent protests and violence in the center of Lomé, Justin had to relocate his sales booth to the outskirts of the city. This resulted in a slight decrease in revenues. Nevertheless, he remains confident about the future and is planning to expand by employing two additional team members, further strengthening the business model. He has already repaid part of the loan, which has truly changed his life.
Progress:
Pressing Macha Allah
Initially, thanks to good service and proper cleaning, orders increased steadily, and many clients brought large loads of duvets. This created the need for an additional 15 kg washing machine. After eight months, Djawad finally obtained his trade license, which now allows him to also serve commercial customers.
Despite this positive step, he continues to face challenges in developing his cleaning shop successfully. While he offers two unique selling points – a tricycle with enclosed cargo compartment and, since February, two dry microfine hygienic steamers donated by the founder of Swiss market leader Laurastar – local women compete by offering similar services at much lower prices. To counter this, he plans to intensify advertising, including radio spots, and to target national and international tourists visiting Kpalimé. He has switched to monthly repayments and has already made some, though sometimes with delay.
Progress:
Estec BTP
In the first five months, Estec BTP received more than 30 orders for concrete slabs it could not have built before. Thanks to efficiency improvements achieved during this period, the company now has the capacity to complete five orders per week.
In February 2025, Mounirou, the contractor leading Estec BTP, had a serious motorcycle accident and was absent for two months. During this time, his staff continued working on two construction sites, even though clients delayed their payments. After his return, he was able to collect all or part of the agreed fees and, with this income, made his first contractual loan reimbursement. Based on this experience, he has changed his policy and now requires partial payments in advance. Since the beginning of TIKOS’ engagement, he has doubled his staff and now also employs two young women part-time for painting and logistics work on construction sites.
Progress:
Enterprise Esse
The first female borrower took over the market stall in Lomé from her sick mother in 2016. With the loan from August 2024, she purchased larger quantities of beans and corn during the harvest season, which improved her margins. However, the business model proved unsustainable: transport over 160 km and the stall’s monthly rent added about 25% to her costs, and in 2025 market prices for her products fell by another 29%. As a single mother of two boys, she is now considering converting the storage room in her yard into a small local shop to sell her products directly to neighbors.
Progress:
SeedStar Speciality Coffee Ltd.
SeedStar will use the loan to purchase an additional coffee pulper, its first roaster and grinder, and to invest in packaging and branding materials. A portion of the funds will also serve as working capital to expand local sales and strengthen its supply network.
Progress:
Sangilila Dairy Farm
The loan will be used to purchase essential equipment, starting with a milk cooler for the collection center to safely store raw milk from local farmers and increase overall production capacity, as well as a standby generator to guarantee uninterrupted processing during power outages. In addition, the loan will allow the business to hire three more young staff members to strengthen both the production unit and the marketing team.
Progress: Kpalimé Briques
Raouf Akanga’s rapid business growth began with a private loan in early 2022 that enabled the purchase of a larger, newer truck for his young company. Since then, the firm has expanded from 6 to 60 employees, tripled its production area, increased its brick-manufacturing machines from 2 to 12, and grown its fleet from one to five trucks. Older trucks remain in use, one is cannibalized for spare parts, and the newest vehicle is a more reliable Chinese model.
In addition to enlarging the main site, the company opened a small branch with a sales office and is developing a further production area to serve customers more efficiently.