Your Nigerian or Ghanaian company can't sign in francophone West Africa. A Togo entity can.

The situation

You run a real business in Lagos or Accra. Then a francophone opportunity appears — a distributor in Abidjan, a public tender in Dakar or Ouagadougou, a supplier in Lomé who wants a formal contract — and the paperwork stops you.

The reason is structural. Nigeria and Ghana are common-law, English-speaking, and outside the OHADA business-law zone that governs the 17 francophone and lusophone states of West and Central Africa. In practice that means three recurring walls:

• Tenders you can't bid. Many francophone public and institutional tenders require an entity registered in an OHADA country. A Nigerian or Ghanaian registration does not qualify.
• Contracts distributors won't sign. A local partner in Côte d'Ivoire or Senegal often will not contract with a foreign, non-OHADA company — they want a counterparty under the same law, enforceable in the same courts.
• Banking you can't open. You cannot hold a CFA-franc account or receive XOF payments cleanly without a company registered inside the zone.

Why a Togo SARL solves it

A Togolese company is the smallest, fastest key to the whole francophone West African market — and Togo is a deliberate choice, not just a convenient one.

• OHADA standing across 17 states. A Togo SARL is governed by the OHADA Uniform Act, the same corporate law used in Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso and beyond. Your contracts are recognized and enforceable region-wide, with a common court of arbitration in Abidjan.
• ECOWAS market access. Togo is an ECOWAS member; your entity qualifies for francophone tenders and procurement your home company cannot touch.
• A CFA-zone bank account. The company opens an Ecobank or Orabank corporate account and can invoice in XOF or USD.
• No naira or cedi currency risk. The CFA franc is pegged to the euro at a fixed rate, so your West African revenue and working capital hold their value instead of eroding with the naira or cedi.
• Lomé is the natural base. It is the deepest port on the Gulf of Guinea and the trade gateway for the interior, and Ecobank and the regional development banks are headquartered there.

Your Nigerian or Ghanaian business stays exactly as it is. The Togo SARL is not a replacement — it is the francophone and CFA-zone arm that handles the contracts, banking and tenders your home entity structurally cannot.

What Volta delivers

We form the company and, crucially, open the bank account with you in person — the step every remote provider is vague about. Our team is physically in Lomé; we walk your dossier into the registry, the tax office and the bank.

• SARL formation: statuts, commercial registry (RCCM), tax ID (NIF), social security (CNSS).
• Corporate bank account opened in person at Ecobank or Orabank.
• Registered office in Lomé and first-year compliance.

This is our Complete engagement, $1,490, all-in. No nationality or residency requirement applies to your shareholders or manager.

Moving money across the corridor

Once the company banks in the CFA zone, transfers between your Lagos or Accra accounts and the Togo account run over ordinary correspondent banking — Ecobank and Orabank operate across the Nigeria–Ghana–Togo corridor. Rules and documentation vary by bank and amount, so we confirm the current position for your situation rather than promising a one-size answer.

For the full mechanics, see how to register a company in Togo; if you also run subsidiaries across several WAEMU countries, the WAEMU holding company may be the better structure.

General information as at July 2026, not legal or tax advice. OHADA membership and ECOWAS procurement rules are set by those bodies; bank requirements vary and change. We confirm the current position for your case before you commit.