Digital solutions to boost intra-African trade – Pitch and partner with AfCFTA and ITC

08.12.2026

online

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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the International Trade Centre (ITC) are looking for Finnish digital solutions to address practical barriers faced by women, youth and SMEs trading across African markets. The organisations, together with Finnpartnership, are inviting Finnish companies to pitch their solutions at a webinar on 8 December at 12:00-14:00 (Finnish time).

The African Continental Free Trade Area is the largest free trade area in the world, bringing together 55 countries of the African Union and eight Regional Economic Communities. The AfCFTA supports the free flow of goods and services across the continent and boosts the trading position of Africa in the global market. The collaboration aims to connect concrete AfCFTA implementation challenges with Finnish private-sector expertise. The Secretariat is interested in practical and scalable solutions that can be co-developed and potentially piloted with relevant partners in Africa.

Priority solution areas

AfCFTA Secretariat and ITC have identified seven initial challenge areas in which there is a need for Finnish digital solutions.

Limited market access and product visibility – solutions to showcase and connect women and youth traders with buyers through, for example, a digital marketplace.
Lack of digital identification and registration of cross-border traders – solutions for digital identification and registration system.
Insufficient trade data disaggregated by gender and age – solutions for data gathering and management system.
Low access to trade finance information – solutions for an easily accessible portal that provides comprehensive trade finance information.
Language barriers – AI-powered online and offline solutions for translation in national and local languages.
People’s safety at border crossings and limited reporting mechanisms – solutions for digital reporting and rapid-response to report incidents, provide victim support, and strengthen inter-agency coordination.
Limited traceability and compliance in agricultural value chains – solutions for platform enabling, for example, offline field data collection, GPS mapping, document management, and quality tracking.

The areas are intended to guide rather than prescribe solutions, providing space for Finnish companies and organisations to bring forward innovative approaches based on their technologies, expertise and experience.

Participation

The webinar is intended for Finnish companies, organisations and consortia offering solutions or services that respond to the identified priority areas.

During the webinar, each Finnish company and organisation will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions directly to AfCFTA Secretariat and ITC. Based on the presentations, the organisations will identify suitable partners to further develop pilot projects and cooperation models.

To support collaboration, Finnish companies can apply for up to EUR 400,000 of Finnpartnership’s Business Partnership Support grant to pilot solutions with AfCFTA and ITC and/or to co‑develop solutions together with local partners.

Registration

Register

Each Finnish company and organisation are requested to send a 2-slide presentation (see an example) to Finnpartnership and prepare to hold a max 2-minute presentation during the event.