For traders importing or exporting livestock and fish products in Tanzania, issuance of regulatory documents that once took two weeks now takes an hour. In Mombasa, trucks that lingered for a day now clear in half that time. At select African ports, new infrastructure has slashed clearance times by more than 50%. These are real, measurable shifts in the efficiency of trade, driven by trade facilitation initiatives as reported in TradeMark Africa’s (TMA) newly released 2023/2024 Annual Report.
In the Report, TMA lays out how targeted investments in digital trade solutions, infrastructure and strategic partnerships are dismantling bottlenecks and driving economic efficiency in the regions where it operates. The donor funded African organisation, which supports trade facilitation in East, Southern, the Horn and parts of West Africa, has for over 14 years partnered with governments to reduce the cost and complexity of cross-border trade.
One notable success comes from Tanzania, where a partnership with the Government delivered the Mifugo system, subsequently transforming the livestock and fish trade. What was once a bureaucratic process requiring 14 days to secure permits now takes just one hour, with all applications done online. The results, according to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, is faster trade, lower costs and a doubling of government revenue in the sector. In Djibouti, completion of the development of the Fleet Management System is expected to cut trade costs by 10%, clearance times by 30% and boost targeted exports by 15%.
Infrastructure improvements in key trade corridors continue to complement digital initiatives that streamline trade processes therefore accelerating movement of goods. During the year, upgrades at ports along Lakes Tanganyika and Kivu have eased congestion, while the completion of Mbaraki-Nyerere Road in Mombasa has significantly reduced transit delays. According to the TMA Endline Survey Report for the Mombasa West Roads Improvement Programme (November 2023), truck turnaround times at the Port of Mombasa have dropped from 26 to 15 hours due to soft and hard infrastructure developments, improving overall logistics efficiency.
Partnerships are also expanding economic opportunities. In Rwanda, five women-led businesses under the Value-Added Initiative to Boost Employment (VIBE) programme secured export deals during the year worth a total of $600,000, while the iSOKO e-commerce platform, designed to support small-scale traders, has registered over 78,000 users—90% of whom are women.
Still on partnerships, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ECOWAS was signed, marking TMA’s focus on expansion to West Africa, while Finland and the Netherlands committed over $75 million to sustainable trade initiatives, reinforcing international cooperation. Meanwhile, TMA maintained a strong presence in global trade discussions, contributing to over 80 high-profile forums, including the WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi.
H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe, TMA Board Chair and former Ethiopian Prime Minister, commended the progress in the year noting that it marked the start of TMA’s Strategy 3 (2023-2030), an ambitious plan to embed resilience and sustainability in Africa’s trade networks. “An integrated African market will attract investment and drive economic expansion,” he said.
TMA Council Chairman Leo Svahnback credited the organisation’s success to its ability to build trust across governments, private sector stakeholders and regional economic communities. “TMA’s impact lies in its ability to connect the right actors at national, regional and continental levels to deliver effective trade policies,” he said.
TMA CEO David Beer underscored the organisation’s next priorities: scaling up digital trade, reinforcing trade corridors and embedding sustainability into trade policies. “Unlocking Africa’s full trade potential requires collaboration, innovation, and decisive action at every trade and transport corridor,” he said.
As TMA looks ahead, its focus remains on building partnerships to break down trade barriers, expanding intra-African trade and strengthening Africa’s position in global markets.
For more details, access the full TradeMark Africa Annual Report 2023-2024 at https://www.trademarkafrica.com/annual-reports/
