At the ports of Mombasa and Tema, a generational change is underway. The traders moving goods across African borders are younger, digital-first and strikingly indifferent to the old excuse that “intra-African trade is complicated”. Armed with certificates of origin issued digitally and payment rails that clear in minutes, they are building cross-border businesses at speeds their parents’ generation could not.
The numbers remain modest against the continent’s potential — but the direction is unmistakable. Regional value chains in agro-processing, textiles and building materials are thickening. What the AfCFTA generation still lacks is information: where the demand sits, which corridors clear fastest, what the rules actually say. That is precisely the gap a business platform should fill, and it is why trade corridors are a permanent beat in our newsroom.