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.
