Africa’s digital economy needs fewer borders, stronger trust systems and better digital infrastructure if the continent is to unlock the full promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area, speakers said at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Forum in Lagos.

The event brought together policymakers, trade leaders and private-sector operators to discuss how Africa can turn the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade into a practical framework for cross-border commerce, digital services, payments, data infrastructure and youth-led enterprise growth.

Speaking at the event, His Excellency, Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, said Lagos was a fitting host city because of its position as one of Africa’s leading centres of innovation, fintech and digital commerce. He noted that Nigeria has taken a leading role as the first AfCFTA member state to ratify the Protocol on Digital Trade.

Mene said the protocol was designed to address long-standing barriers that have made intra-African trade more difficult than trade with markets outside the continent. He noted that in the past, a trader in Lomé could often reach markets in Paris more easily than markets in Lagos, while African businesses still frequently rely on foreign currencies to complete regional transactions.

According to him, those are the kinds of structural frictions the digital trade protocol is meant to overcome. In partnership with Afreximbank, the AfCFTA Secretariat has started implementing the protocol, with the goal of building more interoperable trade systems and creating a more efficient continental market.

Mene said Africa’s trade could reach $700 billion by 2050, supported by digital platforms, mobile money, cloud infrastructure, data systems and cross-border digital services. He added that millions of previously unbanked Africans are now participating in the digital economy, with Africa accounting for about 70% of global mobile money activity.

But he warned that the opportunity will not be fully realised without tackling regulatory fragmentation, rural digital illiteracy, cybersecurity risks and weak digital access.

Mene also framed Africa’s digital trade opportunity within the continent’s broader economic and demographic strengths. He pointed to Africa’s critical minerals, renewable energy potential, high returns on investment, fast-growing economies, large youth population and projected 900 million smartphone users by 2030 as advantages that could position the continent more strongly in the global digital economy.

He said Africa must build more data centers to store, manage and commercialise African data, while creating digital opportunities for millions of young people. He also highlighted AfCFTA programmes focused on digital literacy and youth-led enterprise development, including a partnership with Google to train 7,500 youth-led SMEs across 19 countries with the skills required to access the continental market.

Private-sector speakers also stressed that the success of AfCFTA will depend on whether businesses can actually sell and scale across Africa with less friction.

Yele Oyekola, Chief Executive Officer, Duplo, who represented the private sector, described Nigeria’s role in the digital trade agenda as a signal of trust in the country’s technology ecosystem. He said AfCFTA will ultimately be judged not by policy announcements, but by whether African businesses can operate across borders in markets that are stable, connected and trusted.

He noted that intra-African trade remains around 15%, far below the levels seen in other regions, and said closing that gap will require better physical connectivity, digital infrastructure, payment systems and regulatory alignment. He added that government does not need to build every rail line or platform itself, but must set the standards that allow systems to connect, while private capital moves faster to build and scale.

Jumoke Oduwole, Federal Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria and Chair, AfCFTA Council of Ministers said trade is changing, with businesses in markets such as Kigali now able to collaborate across Africa without needing a physical presence in every country. The task, she said, is to create the conditions that allow that kind of trade to scale.

She noted that AfCFTA represents a combined GDP of about $3 trillion, creating a major opportunity for African firms to expand beyond national borders. Nigeria, she said, is well positioned, accounting for about 28% of Africa’s fintech companies and benefiting from a large pool of digital talent.

Oduwole said ongoing reforms are aimed at making it easier to build digital services companies in Nigeria and helping them expand across the continent. She added that only about 5% of services are currently traded across Africa, showing the scale of the untapped opportunity.

She also referenced Nigeria’s first directory of digital services firms, designed to improve visibility, support market access and help Nigerian digital service providers compete across African markets.

The Trade Forum emphasized that Africa’s digital trade agenda will depend on execution over policy ratification. The continent will need interoperable systems, trusted digital payments, stronger data infrastructure, regulatory coordination, cloud and data centre capacity, cybersecurity safeguards and private-sector participation.

For Nigeria, the opportunity is significant. As Africa’s largest digital economy and an early mover on the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol, the country has a chance to shape the rules, platforms and infrastructure that will define the next phase of African digital commerce.