AfCFTA and ADAPT: Building a Connected Digital Single Market for Africa

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of Africa’s most ambitious efforts to create a more integrated and connected continental economy. The agreement is designed to reduce barriers to trade, encourage the movement of goods and services across African borders, and create greater opportunities for businesses, entrepreneurs and consumers.

A major part of achieving this vision is digitalisation. As African economies become increasingly dependent on digital platforms, electronic payments, digital identity and data-driven services, Africa needs the digital infrastructure that allows businesses and people to participate in cross-border trade more easily.

This is where Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) comes in.

What Is the African Continental Free Trade Area?

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a flagship project of the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. Its central ambition is to create a more integrated African market by reducing barriers that make it difficult and expensive to trade across national borders.

The agreement covers a broad range of economic activities, including:

• Trade in goods
• Trade in services
• Digital trade
• Investment
• Trade facilitation
• Economic integration
• Cross-border business activity

Rather than African countries operating primarily as separate national markets, AfCFTA seeks to make it easier for businesses to reach customers and partners across the continent.

The long-term objective is to increase intra-African trade, particularly trade involving value-added goods and services produced within Africa.

Why Creating One African Market Matters

Africa has a large and diverse consumer and business market, but trade between African countries can still be complicated by differences in regulations, customs procedures, payment systems, identification systems, logistics and access to information.

These barriers can make cross-border business more expensive and time-consuming, particularly for smaller businesses.

AfCFTA aims to address these challenges by creating a framework for greater economic integration.

The figures provided by the AfCFTA Secretariat illustrate the scale of the project:

• 54 AU member states had signed the AfCFTA Agreement as of January 2025.
• 50 State Parties were reported as of February 2026.
• The initiative has the potential to help lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty.
• Estimates indicate a potential $450 billion increase in income in Africa by 2035, representing approximately a 7% gain.

These figures demonstrate why AfCFTA is much more than a conventional trade agreement. It represents an attempt to reshape how African economies interact with one another.

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What Is ADAPT?

Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) is designed to provide the digital infrastructure needed to help make the AfCFTA vision practical.

The basic idea is straightforward: you cannot build an effective single African market without the digital systems that allow people and businesses to interact across borders.

ADAPT focuses on connecting critical digital components, particularly:

1. Digital identity
2. Data infrastructure
3. Digital payments
4. Access to digital services
5. Infrastructure supporting cross-border trade

By bringing these systems together, ADAPT can help reduce some of the practical barriers that businesses face when attempting to operate across African markets.

The Role of Digital Identity

Digital identity can play an important role in cross-border commerce.

Businesses and individuals frequently need to prove who they are when accessing financial services, registering businesses, completing transactions or interacting with government systems.

Interoperable digital identity infrastructure can potentially make these processes more efficient by allowing trusted digital credentials to be used across different systems.

For businesses operating across borders, this could mean:

• Easier verification
• More efficient onboarding
• Reduced administrative processes
• Greater access to digital financial services
• Improved trust between businesses and customers

The Importance of Data

Data is another fundamental component of a modern digital economy.

Businesses need reliable information about markets, customers, regulations, prices and trade opportunities. Governments also need data to understand economic activity and design effective policies.

ADAPT’s focus on digital infrastructure can therefore support a more connected data environment for African trade.

Better digital data systems can help create opportunities for:

• Market intelligence
• Digital commerce
• Trade information
• Business registration
• Regulatory compliance
• Economic planning
• Cross-border services

Digital Payments and Cross-Border Trade

One of the major challenges facing African businesses is the ability to make and receive payments efficiently across borders.

Digital payment infrastructure can help address this challenge by making transactions faster, more accessible and potentially less expensive.

For an entrepreneur selling products to customers in another African country, for example, a reliable digital payment system can reduce the friction involved in completing a transaction.

This is particularly important for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which may not have the resources to navigate complicated international payment systems.

How ADAPT Can Support African Businesses

The success of a continental market ultimately depends on whether businesses can actually use it.

Digital infrastructure can help businesses participate in the African market by making it easier to:

• Discover customers in other countries
• Receive digital payments
• Verify customers and business partners
• Access market information
• Complete administrative procedures
• Provide digital services across borders
• Participate in e-commerce
• Expand into new African markets

This could be particularly valuable for entrepreneurs and MSMEs seeking to expand beyond their domestic markets.

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ADAPT and Digital Trade

Digital trade is becoming increasingly important to Africa’s economic future.

Businesses no longer need to physically establish an office in another country to serve customers there. A company can sell products through an online platform, provide professional services remotely, receive digital payments and communicate with customers across borders.

However, this requires supporting infrastructure.

ADAPT can therefore be viewed as part of the digital foundation required for AfCFTA to function effectively in an increasingly digital economy.

Who Can Benefit From a More Connected African Market?

The benefits of a digitally connected African market could extend across several groups, including:

1. Entrepreneurs and MSMEs

Small businesses could gain access to customers and suppliers in markets beyond their home countries.

2. Digital Businesses

Technology companies, e-commerce platforms and fintech businesses could benefit from a larger potential market.

3. Consumers

Consumers could potentially gain access to a wider variety of African products and services.

4. Governments

Governments can benefit from improved digital systems for trade administration, regulation and economic planning.

5. Investors

A more integrated African market can create opportunities for investment in businesses, infrastructure and digital services.

6. Professional Service Providers

Consultants, software developers, designers, financial professionals and other service providers can potentially serve clients across borders through digital platforms.

The Bigger Vision: One African Market

AfCFTA’s ultimate ambition is not simply to increase the number of products traded between African countries.

It is about creating an environment where African businesses can increasingly think of Africa as a market rather than only their individual national economies.

Digital infrastructure is an important part of making this possible.

A trader in Zambia, for example, should increasingly be able to explore opportunities in another African market, communicate with potential customers, verify business information, complete transactions and receive payment without being overwhelmed by unnecessary administrative and technological barriers.

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Conclusion

The African Continental Free Trade Area provides the framework for greater economic integration across Africa, while initiatives such as ADAPT focus on the digital infrastructure required to support that integration.

Digital identity, data and payments may appear to be separate technologies, but together they form an important foundation for modern cross-border commerce.

As Africa continues to expand its digital economy, building interoperable infrastructure will be essential to ensuring that entrepreneurs, MSMEs, consumers and governments can participate in a genuinely connected continental market.

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