At the third Ananse Africa Virtual Roundtable, experts from across the creative and financial sectors warned that Africa risks missing out on its booming e-commerce potential unless governments and the private sector urgently align policies and strengthen digital trust systems, according to African business.
Africa’s fashion entrepreneurs are riding a wave of rising global demand, yet most remain unable to trade confidently across borders. This was the central message from the Ananse Africa Virtual Roundtable, where industry and finance leaders gathered to examine the barriers holding back MSMEs in the continent’s creative economy.
The discussion, themed Building Trust and Infrastructure for MSME Cross-Border Trade in Africa, brought together Samuel Mensah, Founder and CEO of Ananse, Roberta Annan, Founder of the African Fashion Foundation, Otsetswe Koboyankwe, Acting CEO of the National Arts Council of Botswana, and Miguel Seun Cardoso, Consultant for Export Development within Afreximbank’s SME Development Programme.
Although Africa’s e-commerce market is projected to reach 75 billion dollars, more than 70 percent of MSMEs are still hesitant to engage in cross-border trade. Participants highlighted the crippling cost of payments as a primary obstacle. Entrepreneurs must navigate a fragmented financial landscape of more than 277 mobile wallets and over 500 banks, with transaction fees that can erode margins by up to 30%.
Logistics are equally restrictive. Customs delays average 12 working days, while transport costs can consume as much as 60% of a product’s value. Above all, a deep lack of trust in both payments and delivery assurances continues to suppress intra-African commerce, which stands at just 16 percent of total merchandise trade.
These challenges reflect a wider structural weakness in Africa’s trade architecture. Without reliable digital systems, streamlined regulations and integrated payments, MSMEs will continue to operate at the margins of the continent’s expanding online marketplace.
Building the infrastructure for growth Panellists pointed to several initiatives already helping to remove some of these barriers. Afreximbank’s Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) is reducing friction by enabling settlement in local currencies, while the bank’s ACDIRT tool is strengthening trust through real-time business verification.
Mensah explained how Ananse has lowered shipping costs and improved reliability by aggregating demand and partnering with global logistics providers such as DHL. The goal, he said, is to free entrepreneurs to focus on their craft rather than on navigating dozens of currencies and complex customs regimes.
