In dreaming big, Togo's 'Bread King' rises up

Lome

CLAD in the apron of his trade, Bonaventure Boma chides employees while they take steaming baguettes out of the hot ovens that have helped make him "the king of bread" in Togo.

From a modest background, Mr Boma has spent 30 years kneading dough and now has two large modern bakeries in Lome, capital of the west African country. "I'm curious, I travel a lot," Mr Boma, 57, said reflecting on his success. "When I stayed in Senegal 30 years ago, I saw that people already ate a lot of bread and thought, 'Why not in Togo?'."