Challenge index · Evidence reviewed 6 September 2026
Evidence overview
US$220.3 billion
Estimated intra-African merchandise trade in 2024, representing 14.4% of total African trade.
Afreximbank · African Trade Report 2025, chapter 6 ↗Data scope: Afreximbank African Trade Report 2025, chapter 6. Merchandise trade measures do not fully capture informal cross-border activity or services.
What the evidence tells us
Afreximbank reports that intra-African trade value increased in 2024 even as its share of total African trade fell slightly. Its analysis also shows substantial regional differences. A continental total is therefore a starting point for selecting a corridor, not evidence that every border faces the same constraint.
Read the underlying source ↗Axum’s research agenda
Axum proposes research into requirements discovery and the movement of useful technology across jurisdictions. A product should reduce a documented cost or delay for a specific workflow. Licensing tools need jurisdiction-specific information; discovery of a technology does not automatically confer the right to use it.
These are proposed research directions. Where research leads to an invention, patentability and commercial viability remain to be established.
Research directions
Cross-border requirements discovery →
A selected corridor, with attention to women and small-scale traders
Can small-scale traders identify the rules and documentation that apply to their shipment?
AfCFTA Secretariat · institutional starting point ↗Technology licensing across borders →
African research teams seeking commercial partners
What prevents a specific invention from reaching a suitable licensee?
WIPO patent and business guidance ↗Informal trade measurement →
A defined border corridor with small-scale traders
How can informal trade flows be measured without exposing individual traders to avoidable risk?
Informal Cross-Border Trade in Africa · IFPRI research ↗Selected literature
A starting library of published studies and institutional evidence. Source types and dates are identified below; inclusion does not imply endorsement of an Axum product.