MAKKET — The AfCFTA Multiplier

Enabling the production-wholesale-retail value chain for 1.3 billion people

By Alex Nwoko · March 22, 2026 · 9 min read

In February 2024, the African Union adopted the most ambitious digital trade agreement in the continent's history. The African Continental Free Trade Area — connecting 54 countries, 1.3 billion people, and $3.4 trillion in combined GDP ^[1] — now has a Digital Trade Protocol that creates the legal framework for cross-border electronic invoicing, digital signatures, and paperless trade ^[2].

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) connects 19 countries and over 150 commercial banks, enabling instant cross-border payments in local currencies ^[3].

The tariff framework is in place. The payment rails are being built. The legal architecture is done.

And yet.

A leather bag manufacturer in Aba, Nigeria — producing goods of export quality in Ariaria International Market — still cannot sell to a retailer in Accra. A textile trader in Kano cannot reach a buyer in Nairobi. A yam wholesaler in Benue cannot supply a restaurant chain in Kinshasa. Not because of tariffs. Not because of payment constraints. But because there is no digital discovery and trust layer connecting the production floor to the market stall across Africa's borders.

The AfCFTA is a highway. PAPSS is the toll system. But there are no on-ramps for the 85% of African workers who operate in informal markets ^[4].

MAKKET is building those on-ramps.

1. The intra-African trade problem

Africa trades with itself less than any other continent on Earth.

14.4%

of Africa's exports go to other African countries ^[5]

58–67%

of Europe's exports are intra-continental ^[5]

48%

of Asia's exports stay within the region ^[5]

$20B

lost annually to non-tariff trade barriers ^[6]

The numbers tell a story of structural disconnection. Africa accounts for just 2.4% of global trade despite having 17% of the world's population ^[7]. If intra-African trade reached Asian levels, it would represent an additional $200–250 billion annually ^[8].

The raw materials trap

The pattern is well-documented: Africa exports raw materials and imports finished goods. The continent exports $61 billion in raw materials to the rest of the world annually while importing over $560 billion in manufactured goods ^[9]. Africa processes only 3.4% of its cocoa, less than 1% of its battery minerals, and under 10% of its cotton into finished products domestically ^[10].

Yet within Africa, the picture is different. 41% of intra-African trade is already in manufactured goods, compared to just 15% of Africa's exports to the rest of the world ^[5]. When Africans trade with each other, they trade finished products. The manufacturing capability exists. The demand exists. What does not exist is the infrastructure to connect them at scale.

The paradox: A leather craftsman in Ariaria International Market, Aba, produces bags and shoes that compete with imported products on quality. But his raw hides are more likely to be shipped to Italy for processing and re-imported as finished luxury goods than sold as finished products to a retailer in Kumasi or Dar es Salaam. The AfCFTA was designed to reverse this. MAKKET is designed to make that reversal operationally possible.

2. The missing middle: production to retail

Between the production floor and the retail market stall, there is a vast operational void. The AfCFTA can eliminate tariffs. PAPSS can settle payments. But neither can solve the three fundamental problems that prevent a manufacturer in Nigeria from selling to a retailer in Ghana:

Discovery. How does a retailer in Kejetia Market, Kumasi, find a specific leather goods manufacturer in Aba? There is no directory. No search engine. No product catalogue. The only discovery mechanism is personal networks, word of mouth, or physically travelling to the source market.
Trust. Even if the retailer finds the manufacturer, how does she verify quality? Check reputation? Confirm that the goods match the description? There are no ratings, no reviews, no verification of any kind. Every cross-border transaction is a leap of faith.
Transaction security. If the retailer sends payment across borders, what recourse does she have if the goods arrive damaged, late, or not at all? Cash-in-advance or cash-on-delivery — someone always bears the risk.

These are not tariff problems. They are not payment problems. They are information and trust problems — and they account for the majority of trade friction. UNCTAD estimates that non-tariff barriers represent approximately 75% of trade costs in Africa, far exceeding the impact of tariffs ^[11]. The World Bank found that trade facilitation measures — reducing red tape, simplifying customs, building trust — would drive $292 billion of the $450 billion in potential AfCFTA income gains ^[1].

This is precisely the space MAKKET occupies.

3. How MAKKET completes the AfCFTA circuit

MAKKET is the digital discovery and trust platform for Africa's physical markets. We map markets, verify sellers, and secure every transaction through escrow-backed payments via licensed partners. Starting with 300+ markets in Nigeria, designed from day one to scale across the continent.

Here is what that means for AfCFTA trade flows:

Producer / Wholesaler → MAKKET (discovery + trust) → PAPSS (payment) → Retailer / Buyer

Consider a concrete transaction that the AfCFTA was designed to enable but currently cannot:

Consider a retailer in Kumasi who wants leather handbags from Nigerian manufacturers. On MAKKET, she can search verified manufacturers, view their products and trust scores, and place an order — paying in cedis through PAPSS while the manufacturer receives naira. Escrow protects both parties. On delivery confirmation, payment releases and both sides rate the transaction. Today, this requires physical travel and cash advances. With MAKKET + PAPSS + AfCFTA, it takes minutes.

4. The Digital Trade Protocol and MAKKET

The AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol (DTP), adopted in February 2024, is the first digital trade agreement on the African continent ^[2]. It creates the legal framework for cross-border digital signatures, electronic invoicing, paperless trade documentation, and digital identity — all specifically designed to bring MSMEs into the formal trade architecture.

The projected economic impact is enormous:

16.9%

Potential GDP growth for Nigeria under the DTP ^[13]

$74B

Increase in digitally delivered service exports by 2040 ^[13]

$450B

Regional income gains from full AfCFTA implementation ^[1]

81%

Projected increase in intra-African exports by 2035 ^[1]

But here is what the DTP does not do: it does not digitize the traders. It creates the legal rails for digital trade, but it does not create the digital identities, the product catalogues, the trust scores, or the transaction histories that traders need to actually participate.

MAKKET makes traders DTP-ready without them needing to understand the protocol. When a seller lists products on MAKKET, completes verified transactions, and builds a Trust Score, they are generating exactly the kind of digital trade documentation — electronic invoices, verified identities, traceable transactions — that the DTP was designed to enable. The protocol provides the legal framework. MAKKET provides the practical infrastructure.

5. PAPSS + MAKKET: the complete circuit

Before PAPSS, approximately 80% of African cross-border payments were routed through correspondent banks in the United States or Europe ^[14]. A payment from Lagos to Accra would travel through New York or London, accumulating fees and delays at every hop. PAPSS was designed to save Africa $5 billion annually in these transaction costs ^[3].

PAPSS now processes payments in 42 African currencies across 19 connected countries ^[15]. In 2025, it launched PAPSSCARD — Africa's first continental card scheme — and the PAPSS African Currency Marketplace (PACM) for peer-to-peer exchange of African currencies ^[3].

But payment infrastructure without merchant infrastructure is incomplete. PAPSS can move money between Nigeria and Ghana in seconds. But it cannot help a Ghanaian retailer find a Nigerian supplier. It cannot verify quality. It cannot protect either party if something goes wrong.

PAPSS is the payment layer. MAKKET is the merchant layer. Together, they complete the circuit: MAKKET provides discovery (search across markets), trust (verification + Trust Score), and transaction security (escrow through licensed partners). PAPSS provides instant, local-currency settlement. The buyer in Accra discovers a verified seller in Lagos on MAKKET, pays in cedis, the seller receives naira — all settled in minutes, with escrow protection on both sides.

6. The $450 billion multiplier

The World Bank's landmark 2020 study projected that full AfCFTA implementation could boost regional income by $450 billion by 2035, increase intra-African exports by 81%, and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty ^[1]. The AfCFTA could more than double intra-African manufacturing trade ^[24] and attract $8–12 billion in additional FDI into African manufacturing annually ^[25].

But these projections assume that traders can actually find each other, trust each other, and transact securely. They assume a digital layer that does not yet exist for the vast majority of African commerce.

That is why we call MAKKET the AfCFTA multiplier. Not because MAKKET replaces the AfCFTA — it does not. Not because MAKKET replaces PAPSS — it does not. But because MAKKET provides the demand-side infrastructure that makes the supply-side reforms of AfCFTA actually work for the people they were designed to serve: the millions of traders, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers who operate in Africa's physical markets.

Three layers, one system. The AfCFTA provides the trade policy. PAPSS provides the payment infrastructure. MAKKET provides the marketplace layer — the discovery, trust, and transaction security that connects a buyer in any African market to a seller in any other. Without all three layers, the gains remain theoretical. With all three, the $450 billion projection becomes operationally achievable.

The road from here

MAKKET launches in 2026 across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt. Over 300 markets have been mapped across Nigeria. The verification model, the escrow-backed payment infrastructure through licensed partners, the trust scoring system — all of it is built.

Nigeria is the starting point for a reason. With the largest economy in Africa ($450 billion GDP), the largest manufacturing sector by output, and over 300 major physical markets spanning textiles, leather, electronics, agriculture, and auto parts — Nigeria is the most complex and commercially diverse proving ground on the continent ^[26]. If MAKKET works here, it works anywhere.

As MAKKET expands across the continent, each market adds nodes to the network. Each node makes the next one more valuable. The compounding effect is not linear — it is exponential.

The AfCFTA gave Africa the policy framework. PAPSS gave it the payment rails. MAKKET is building the marketplace that makes them both work at the street level — one market, one seller, one verified transaction at a time.

If you are a manufacturer who wants buyers across borders, a retailer who wants access to African-made products, or a trader who believes that the continent's oldest form of commerce deserves infrastructure that matches its ambition — join us at makket.io.

Sources & References

World Bank, The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects (2020). AfCFTA: 1.3 billion people, $3.4 trillion GDP. Full implementation: $450 billion income boost, 81% increase in intra-African exports.
African Union (February 2024). AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol adopted — the first digital trade agreement on the African continent, covering 54 countries.
PAPSS / Afreximbank (2025). PAPSS connects 19 countries with 150+ commercial banks. Designed to save Africa $5 billion annually in transaction costs.
International Labour Organization (ILO), ILOSTAT (2024). 85.8% of employment in Africa is informal.
UNCTAD, Economic Development in Africa Report (2023). Intra-African trade at 14.4% of total exports. 41% of intra-African trade is in manufactured goods.
ODI, Nigeria's digital trade revolution: leading the way under the AfCFTA (2024). Nigeria's GDP could grow by 15–16.9% under the DTP.
African Development Bank (2023). Africa exports $61 billion in raw materials, imports $560+ billion in manufactured goods annually.
UNCTAD (2022). Non-tariff barriers account for approximately 75% of trade costs in Africa.