Through its Africa Tour 2025, Casablanca Finance City (CFC) asserts a clear ambition: to make Casablanca a financial and strategic pivot for African economic integration. From Cotonou to Lomé, then Accra, this West African tour highlights rapidly changing economies, emerging logistics hubs, and a new geography of capital on the continent.
In an African context marked by accelerated reconfiguration of value chains, increased quest for capital sovereignty, and reinforced competition between regional financial hubs, Casablanca Finance City aims to consolidate its role as a platform for continental interconnection. The CFC Africa Tour 2025, which took the Moroccan delegation to Benin, Togo, and Ghana, is part of this dynamic: engaging with local ecosystems, deciphering growth trajectories, and transforming economic complementarities into concrete investment opportunities.
The Benin-Togo-Ghana axis is not insignificant. It focuses on dynamic economies, ports becoming essential for regional trade, and states investing in this economic policy. In an interview with Financial Afrik, Hicham Chaoudri, Director of Institutional Affairs and African Cooperation at Casablanca Finance City Authority, discusses the challenges of this latest CFC mission in 2025.
In Lomé, institutional and private actors operate in a market undergoing significant changes. What local catalysts identified by CFC make Lomé strategic today for deploying its sub-Saharan integration narrative?
Indeed, Togo positions itself as a key player in strengthening economic integration in Africa. The first factor is the deep economic transformation the country has embarked on. In a few years, the country has become the top reformer in West Africa according to the World Bank’s B-READY 2024 report. This progress illustrates a strong political will: modernizing the regulatory framework, simplifying procedures, and boosting private sector competitiveness. For CFC, this ensures a solid and reliable institutional environment to support the expansion of our members. The Port Autonome de Lomé, now in the Top 100 globally, is also a major logistical asset for Togo. Handling over 30 million tons in 2024 and showing significant transshipment growth, it has become an essential logistics hub in West Africa. Its connectivity with coastal countries as well as landlocked markets like Burkina Faso, Niger, or Mali, makes it a crucial lever for African commercial integration. Added to this is the country’s increasing attractiveness on the international stage. In 2025, American, European, and Asian investors have strengthened their presence in logistics, tech, infrastructure, and renewable energies, driven by the Togo 2025 Roadmap. All these elements make Togo a strong partner for our member companies to rely on as a solid growth platform in West Africa.
The CFC Africa Tour also aims to stimulate the establishment of regional headquarters. What specific commitments or incentives does CFC highlight to convince African and international groups to choose Casablanca as a continental or sub-regional base?
Our first strength is our geographical position. Morocco, located at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, serves as a natural gateway to the African continent. Beyond this, to attract the establishment of regional headquarters, we offer a structured package around concrete commitments. Firstly, we propose a regulatory and fiscal framework aligned with international best practices. For example, entities acquiring CFC status benefit from full exemption from corporate tax for the first five years of activity, preferential rates on income tax, and freedom of currency transfer. These conditions create a secure and competitive environment to manage operations in Africa. Additionally, we provide support mechanisms for our community members to facilitate a ‘turnkey’ establishment through streamlined administrative procedures, whether for company creation or the installation of foreign employees, through a one-stop-shop system. Today, over 30 nationalities are represented among the employees of the CFC community. Once established, CFC member companies benefit from our unique network, bringing together economic actors and institutions to boost their activities and expand across the continent. Through initiatives like the CFC Africa Tour, we materialize our goal by helping our members grow further, faster, and more effectively by connecting them with the right partners and markets.
At the end of the Benin-Togo-Ghana stages, what tangible signals (access to capital, projects, funds, listings, implementation decisions…) do you consider most promising in the short term for the CFC Africa Tour 2025, and on what realistic timeline can markets expect the outcomes? We strive to create concrete bridges and open new growth opportunities between the continent’s economic centers. In Benin, the visit to the Glo-Djigbé Special Economic Zone highlighted the rapid development of industrialization, especially in textiles, agri-food, and pharmaceuticals. Companies were able to project themselves concretely on local prospects and better understand the strategic links of their sectors. In Togo, the potential is enormous, and we hope that the partnerships forged during the roadshow will generate lasting positive outcomes for our economies. The visit to the Port of Lomé helped to better understand the infrastructure and value chains, reinforcing Togo’s position as a driver of trade and regional integration. In Ghana, government initiatives like those already mentioned show a willingness to improve the business climate and stimulate private investment. These exchanges have highlighted sectors with high potential for investors: fintech, infrastructure, tourism, water, construction, agro-industry, and renewable energies, while emphasizing the strength and dynamism of the Ghanaian economy. Overall, the CFC Africa Tour has shown that West Africa is a dynamic region, where working hand in hand with public and private actors is essential to develop solid and sustainable projects. At CFC, our mission remains clear: to simplify doing business, connect ecosystems, and provide a clear vision of growth opportunities, so that each company can move at its own pace and choose the ideal time to deploy its projects.
