Refugee-hosting settlements can become agricultural growth nodes when private firms do three things at once: lock in predictable demand and share early losses, capture revenue beyond the farm gate (inputs, aggregation, processing, logistics), and run delivery through trusted local networks that keep quality and supply consistent.

Across Africa, fashion and design entrepreneurs are repeatedly told that scale lies beyond their borders. Regional markets are viewed as the natural next step: sell to the next country, tap into AfCFTA, grow volumes, and build brands. On paper, the opportunity appears to be real. In practice, cross-border trade functions less like a pathway to growth and more like a silent tax - one that disproportionately penalises small fashion and design-led MSMEs.

Botho, in partnership with African Business magazine, the AfCFTA Secretariat, Afreximbank, AUDA-NEPAD, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, and the International Trade Centre, is pleased to announce the launch of the fifth edition of the annual PAFTRAC Africa CEO Trade Survey Report for 2025.

This year’s report highlights where the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is gaining traction, and where bottlenecks still block scale.

African countries produce roughly 6% of the world’s cotton, yet local apparel producers source more than 90% of their yarn and fabric from outside the continent. This reliance on imports and lack of local value chains, combined with infrastructural barriers, drives up production costs and limits the scaling of African fashion. With the expiration of AGOA, the need to strengthen local and regional value chains has become even more urgent. Read this piece to explore the key value chain gaps limiting Africa’s fashion industry.

It’s not just the fashion industry that needs localized investment—sports do too, including Africa’s most popular game, football. East Africa is gearing up for AFCON 2027, with Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania investing in major stadium projects. The real impact, however, will come when these venues are paired with year-round grassroots programs. Read more on how youth leagues, coach education, and scouting can turn “concrete” into talent and packed stands.

Africa shoulders the world's largest displacement burden, hosting 45.7 million forcibly displaced persons amid surging conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia. Yet, competitive funding models, conflicting development mandates and fragmented data sharing inflate program costs by 20-30%, duplicate efforts, and lock communities into dependency, stifling self-reliant economic pathways.