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 and commercialisation 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. Patentability and commercial viability remain to be established for each invention.
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.