The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has launched a groundbreaking digital trade initiative that could double intra-African commerce by 2035 and generate $23.6 billion in annual economic gains.
The Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) initiative, unveiled on Monday in Johannesburg, establishes an open-source digital platform designed to modernize how goods, payments and data move across the continent. The program partners the AfCFTA with the IOTA Foundation, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and World Economic Forum.
AfCFTA Secretary General H.E. Wamkele Mene described the initiative as Africa’s blueprint for trade modernization. “This initiative is the cornerstone of our vision to create an inclusive and integrated continental market,” he stated. “It is a system that replaces fragmentation with integration, friction with trust, and inefficiency with scale.”
The platform addresses longstanding barriers that have constrained African commerce. Despite the continent’s vast potential, intra-African trade accounts for only 17 percent of total African trade, compared to more than 60 percent in Asia and Europe. Traders currently incur roughly $25 billion annually in payment transaction fees, while document fraud adds billions more in losses.
ADAPT will replace paper-based processes with distributed ledger technology provided by IOTA’s blockchain platform. A single shipment currently requires 30 different entities to exchange as many as 240 paper documents before clearing every checkpoint. The digital infrastructure will enable instant cross-border payments through stablecoins, verifiable trade documents and interoperable digital identities.
Pilot deployments in Kenya and Rwanda have already produced measurable results. Kenyan exporters report saving approximately $400 monthly on printing and documentation costs alone. Freight forwarders have reduced manual paperwork by up to 60 percent, while border clearance times have dropped from six hours to roughly 30 minutes per shipment. Kenya now records around 100,000 transactions daily on IOTA’s network in connection with these trade flows.
In Kenya’s previous system, border officials needed to log into 13 separate platforms to verify a single consignment. The streamlined approach eliminates 60 to 70 percent of manual validation steps and transforms document retrieval from a six to seven-hour ordeal into a 30-minute process.
Tony Blair, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, emphasized the initiative’s continental scope. “My Institute is proud to have worked with the AfCFTA Secretariat, IOTA Foundation and many public and private sector partners to co-design and implement this new ADAPT platform,” he said. His organization will provide practical support from teams in more than 17 African countries.
The technological infrastructure will leverage several advanced features. Cross-border digital identity systems will enable authorities and supply chain participants to trace the full origin and chain of custody for goods. Every trade document will be represented as a verifiable credential anchored on distributed ledger technology, making records tamper-proof and fully auditable. Artificial intelligence tools will scan data elements from supply chain documents to verify consistency and compliance, reducing delays at ports.
The platform also introduces practical tokenization, allowing individual items, consignments or containers to be represented digitally. This capability opens access to trade finance solutions that have traditionally excluded small and medium enterprises. Digital currencies, including stablecoins like USDT, will enable instant and low-cost money transfers, providing alternatives to expensive correspondent banking systems.
Chido Munyati, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, highlighted the initiative’s potential to position Africa as a global leader. “Trade inefficiencies remain one of the key barriers to business growth, yet the digitalization of trade processes has the power to transform how African economies connect and collaborate,” she noted. The World Economic Forum previously launched TradeTech, an initiative focused on building interoperable digital systems for more efficient global trading.
Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chair of the IOTA Foundation, pointed to the successful pilot projects as evidence of readiness. “The success of using distributed ledger technology in pilot projects in Kenya and Rwanda has made it clear that Africa is ready to embrace these changes,” he stated. He added that the continent is setting a standard for the rest of the world by unlocking economic potential and creating more equitable access to trade finance.
ADAPT will roll out in phases. Initial implementation focuses on Kenya, Ghana and a third country expected to be selected in North Africa. Starting in 2026, the program aims to expand to other AfCFTA economies in waves, targeting integration of all 55 member states by 2035.
The initiative addresses inefficiencies that cost African economies substantial sums annually. Beyond the $25 billion in payment fees, the paper-based logistics backbone creates delays and opportunities for fraud. Document retrieval, customs verification and compliance checks consume time that translates directly into higher costs for businesses and consumers.
The World Economic Forum estimates that digital trade facilitation could reduce global trade costs by up to 25 percent. For Africa, where intra-continental trade remained at just 15 percent of total exports in 2024 according to the Africa Trade Report, digital infrastructure represents a transformative opportunity. By reducing paperwork, streamlining customs processes and increasing transparency, ADAPT can help realize the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The platform’s open-source architecture ensures no single entity controls the infrastructure. Each participant maintains sovereignty over their data, deciding what to share and with whom. This design addresses concerns about neutrality and data governance that have hindered previous commercial platforms.
ADAPT also supports broader sustainability objectives. Paperless trade reduces the environmental footprint of commerce while cutting costs and improving speed. The initiative creates opportunities for businesses of all sizes, particularly small enterprises in developing economies, to participate in global trade on more equal footing.
The rollout will require sustained coordination between public agencies and private innovators. Harmonized regulatory frameworks across member states will prove essential to achieving the ambitious 2035 target. However, early pilot results demonstrate both technical feasibility and concrete economic benefits, providing momentum for continental expansion.
