Applications are now open for the 2026 African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Innovation Challenge. As Africa advances the implementation of the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade aswell as the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat is excited to launch the second edition of the AfCFTA Digital Innovation Challenge to identify, nurture, and showcase innovative digital solutions, particularly those developed by women and young entrepreneurs, that advances the implementation of the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade aswell as the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade.
The inaugural AfCFTA Digital Innovation Challenge demonstrated the role and importance of this programme in cultivating a new generation of African innovators whose solutions contribute to strengthen intra-African trade and the realization of a seamless, inclusive and integrated African Digital Market.
WORTH
- Showcase your innovative solution as a solution for the realization of a single African digital market
- Gain mentorship, skills and capacity from relevant experts to support in scaling your innovation solution
- Unlock investments and partnerships to scale your innovation and business proposal through platforms organized or cohosted by AfCFTA Secretariat with other partners
- Networking with key stakeholders in the digital trade ecosystem.
ELIGIBILITY
- Individuals, teams, startups, and enterprises of an African Union Member State.
- Applications are open to African innovators and entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 years
- Applicants must demonstrate how their proposed digital solution addresses existing barriers to cross-border trade and contributes to the implementation of the AfCFTA.
- The innovation solution should be in operational to scaling phase.
DEADLINE: September 4th, 2026
To apply and for more information, apply here