The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is looking to digital commerce to increase intra-regional trade from its historically low level of below 15 per cent to between 30 and 35 per cent, while expanding market access for women, young people, persons with disabilities and small businesses.
The Director, Directorate of Trade, Kolawole Sofola made this revelation on Tuesday, during the meeting of the E-Commerce Community Forum organized by ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, said e-commerce could dismantle longstanding barriers to trade by enabling entrepreneurs to sell goods across borders without the cost of renting physical shops or maintaining conventional business premises.
He said the meeting was called for the implementation of the region’s e-commerce strategy and identifying additional interventions to make digital trade more inclusive.
The meeting brought together economic stakeholders to assess progress in implementing the strategy and develop recommendations to expand participation in the digital economy, particularly among groups that face barriers to accessing markets.
“We believe e-commerce will open up many doors. It will certainly bring the barriers to trade down,” Sofola said.
According to the official, digital platforms could enable entrepreneurs to operate from their homes, reach customers beyond their immediate communities and access markets across the region without incurring the substantial costs associated with conventional retail businesses.
The approach is expected to create opportunities for micro and small enterprises, which often struggle to compete with larger businesses because of limited capital, inadequate infrastructure and restricted access to customers.
By connecting buyers and sellers through digital platforms, e-commerce could also improve access to information about products, facilitate business connections and enable traders to identify commercial opportunities beyond their national borders.
Sofola, however, acknowledged that the benefits of digital commerce would remain limited unless governments and regional institutions addressed the infrastructure and affordability challenges preventing many people from participating.
Access to reliable internet services and the cost of digital facilities remain significant obstacles, particularly for entrepreneurs and communities in rural areas.
He said regional programmes aimed at improving broadband connectivity and extending internet access would be important to ensuring that e-commerce reached ordinary citizens rather than remaining the preserve of businesses and individuals with better digital resources.
The emphasis on inclusivity is also intended to ensure that women, young people and persons with disabilities can benefit from the opportunities offered by digital trade.
For these groups, online platforms could provide alternative routes into business by reducing the need for expensive commercial premises and making it easier to connect with customers and suppliers.
He noted that the stakeholders’ meeting would examine the progress made under the existing e-commerce strategy, identify gaps in implementation and generate further recommendations for improving participation.
Beyond expanding individual businesses, ECOWAS sees digital commerce as a potential instrument for strengthening regional economic integration by enabling traders to connect more easily across national boundaries.
He also noted that intra-regional trade had historically remained below 15 per cent, although the figure did not fully reflect informal cross-border transactions, which account for a significant share of commercial activity in West Africa.
He expressed optimism that e-commerce could help improve the situation by connecting traders with buyers across the region, making product information more readily available and opening up new channels for commercial transactions.
The region’s longer-term ambition, the official said, was to increase intra-regional trade to between 30 and 35 per cent in the coming years, with targets for 2035 and 2050 expected to guide its broader development objectives.
Sofola also stressed the need to assess the progress made over the past 50 years of regional development while identifying additional measures needed to deepen economic cooperation.
However, achieving the proposed trade expansion will require more than the adoption of digital platforms. Reliable internet connectivity, affordable access, effective implementation of regional policies and the capacity of small businesses to use digital tools will be critical to translating the strategy into measurable economic gains.
The ongoing review is therefore expected to help determine how regional interventions can make e-commerce more accessible, strengthen commercial links among member states and enable a broader section of West African society to participate in the regional economy.
