The future of African trade is digital, and it’s unfolding. From Dakar to Durban, a quiet but steady transformation is taking shape. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global trade hit a record $33 trillion in 2024, with developing economies, including Africa, playing a growing role in that expansion.
The African Free Continental Trade Area offers the largest free market, including 55 countries, a population of 1.3 billion and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. The opportunities are vast, yet the strategies required for industrial players to source, move and manage raw materials and finished goods remain a challenge.
“The continent’s digital economy is projected to reach $180 billion by 2025, up from $115 billion in 2020, thus contributing significantly to Africa’s GDP, creating new job opportunities, and expanding regional trade. Digital trade is transforming the continent’s economic landscape, creating new opportunities for real economic growth, productive job creation, and poverty reduction.” H.E. Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Minister, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment
“Building on this rapid expansion, our focus must shift from isolated digital initiatives to a fully integrated ecosystem that streamlines every step of trade—sourcing, supplying, logistics and payments. By integrating these functionalities on a single platform, Matta enables manufacturers to navigate sourcing headaches and suppliers to manage cross-border complexities with confidence and unlocks new markets in Africa in real time. This holistic approach is what will transform digital trade’s potential into tangible, inclusive economic growth across Africa.” Mudiaga Mowoe, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Matta.
Launched to enable sustainable African economies, Matta’s integrated ecosystem—today powered by the Matta digital marketplace (www.Matta.Trade) and the Flux logistics management tool, with Oxide Finance (Matta’s upcoming trade-financing and cross-border payments platform) arriving soon—empowers manufacturers and suppliers across food & beverage, home & personal care, paints & coatings, agro-processing, automotive assembly, textiles, construction, and beyond with truly end-to-end sourcing, movement, and settlement. Rather than supplanting traditional trade networks, this unified platform amplifies human partnerships through real-time visibility, traceability, and seamless transactions.
This evolution in digital trade and industrial growth is one of the key conversations that will take centre stage at the West Africa Industrialisation, Manufacturing & Trade (West Africa IMT) Summit and Exhibition, set to take place from October 21-23, 2025. West Africa IMT is a high-level platform for government leaders, investors, manufacturers, and technology innovators to align practical solutions and policy frameworks for accelerating Africa’s industrial transformation.
Matta, Africa’s integrated ecosystem for industrial trade, will join other industry stakeholders across the continent at West Africa IMT 2025 to discuss the potential opportunities for industrial growth in the West African sub-region. As manufacturers increasingly seek more innovative, more efficient ways to power production beyond physical infrastructure and policy support, there’s an urgent need for systems that simplify sourcing, enhance transparency, and ensure supply chain reliability. Matta addresses these challenges by connecting African manufacturers directly to verified suppliers of raw materials and commodities, ensuring business continuity in an environment where procurement bottlenecks often slow production timelines.
Digital platforms address multiple challenges simultaneously: procurement complexities, logistics coordination, payment processing, and data-based planning. By integrating these capabilities into industrial operations, West African economies can accelerate development timelines and establish competitive manufacturing centres that participate effectively in global markets.
As African nations chart independent economic paths, digital trade platforms like Matta will significantly influence how quickly and effectively new industrial capabilities develop. The transformation in African trade is already underway, with effects that will continue to reshape economic relationships for years to come.
Unlocking Africa’s $180 billion Digital Trade Economy
Currency Devaluation, Inflation and Civil Servants
Currency devaluation and inflation are two economic phenomena that significantly influence the well-being of individuals and nations alike. For civil servants, who often rely on fixed salaries determined by government wage structures, these economic shifts can have profound consequences. Unlike workers in the private sector, civil servants typically have less flexibility to negotiate for higher wages in response to rising costs, making them particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of currency devaluation and inflation.
This article delves into the intricate ways currency devaluation and inflation impact civil servants, examining both immediate and long-term effects on their purchasing power, living standards, morale, and overall economic security.
Currency devaluation refers to a deliberate downward adjustment of a country’s currency value relative to other currencies. This is often done by governments or central banks to make exports cheaper and reduce trade deficits. However, devaluation has side effects, notably increasing the cost of imported goods and services, which directly feeds into domestic inflation.
Inflation, the general rise in prices of goods and services over time, erodes the purchasing power of money. When inflation accelerates, the same amount of money buys fewer goods and services, effectively reducing people’s real income.
For civil servants, the interplay between these two forces can be particularly damaging because their salaries are typically determined through rigid bureaucratic processes that do not always keep pace with the rapidly changing economic environment.
One of the most immediate effects of currency devaluation and inflation on civil servants is the erosion of purchasing power. As the cost of essential goods such as food, fuel, transportation, and healthcare rises, civil servants find their salaries increasingly insufficient to meet daily needs.
For instance, if a country’s currency devalues by 20% and inflation rises by a corresponding percentage, civil servants earning the same nominal salary face a sharp decline in their real income. In practical terms, what used to cover monthly expenses may now fall short, forcing civil servants to cut back on discretionary spending, dip into savings, or seek alternative income sources.
This squeeze is particularly severe in developing countries where inflation rates can be volatile and civil service wages are already modest. The resulting decline in living standards can be swift and brutal, disproportionately affecting lower- and middle-tier public sector employees.
Beyond the immediate financial strain, sustained inflation and currency devaluation breed long-term economic insecurity among civil servants. Fixed-income earners face dwindling savings as the real value of their stored wealth diminishes over time. Pensions, which are often not adequately indexed to inflation, lose their purchasing power, jeopardizing retirement security.
In countries experiencing chronic inflation, civil servants may also suffer from wage stagnation, as governments facing budgetary pressures are unable—or unwilling—to adjust salaries to match inflation rates. This creates a vicious cycle where public sector workers are trapped in a state of perpetual financial precarity.
Moreover, inflation can lead to increased indebtedness. To maintain living standards, civil servants may resort to loans and credit, which become more burdensome as interest rates rise in response to inflation. Over time, this debt accumulation can erode financial stability and reduce future economic opportunities.
The economic challenges brought by currency devaluation and inflation have a psychological dimension as well. When civil servants see their real incomes decline without corresponding wage adjustments, it fosters dissatisfaction, low morale, and a sense of neglect by the government.
This discontent can translate into decreased productivity, higher absenteeism, and a general decline in the quality of public services. In severe cases, it may also lead to increased corruption, as underpaid civil servants seek alternative means to supplement their income.
Brain drain is another serious consequence. Skilled public sector employees may seek better-paying opportunities in the private sector or even migrate abroad in search of more stable economic environments. This talent exodus weakens the effectiveness of public institutions and hampers national development.
To mitigate the adverse effects of currency devaluation and inflation on civil servants, governments need to adopt proactive policy measures. Key among these is implementing wage indexation mechanisms that automatically adjust salaries in line with inflation. This ensures that public sector workers maintain their purchasing power even in turbulent economic times.
In addition, targeted subsidies for essential goods and services can provide relief to civil servants and other vulnerable groups. However, such subsidies must be carefully designed to avoid exacerbating fiscal deficits or distorting markets.
Strengthening social safety nets, such as healthcare and pension systems, also plays a critical role in cushioning the long-term impact of inflation on civil servants. Access to affordable housing, transportation, and education further helps reduce the financial burden on public sector employees.
Moreover, transparent and efficient public financial management is essential to create fiscal space for these interventions. Governments should focus on improving tax collection, reducing wasteful expenditure, and managing public debt prudently to ensure that resources are available to support civil servants.
To sum up, currency devaluation and inflation are powerful economic forces that can severely impact civil servants, undermining their purchasing power, economic security, and overall quality of life. Given the critical role civil servants play in maintaining public services and upholding governance structures, the repercussions of neglecting their welfare extend beyond individual hardship to affect broader societal stability.
Governments must therefore prioritize policies that protect civil servants from the ravages of inflation and currency devaluation. By ensuring fair and timely wage adjustments, reinforcing social safety nets, and maintaining sound fiscal policies, it is possible to mitigate the negative effects and preserve the dignity and effectiveness of the public sector workforce. In the end, a well-supported civil service is not just an economic necessity but a cornerstone of resilient and functional governance.
In Harmony with Nature: A Dryland Perspective on Development and Biodiversity
By Dr Himanshu Pathak
Each year, the International Day for Biological Diversity invites us to reflect on the living fabric that sustains life—biodiversity. The 2025 theme, “Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development,” underscores an increasingly urgent truth: sustainable development must go hand in hand with the preservation of nature.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world’s drylands. Covering 41% of the Earth’s land surface, these regions are home to over two billion people and support 50% of the world’s livestock and 44% of its cultivated systems (UNCCD). Far from being marginal, drylands are central to global food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience.
As climate change intensifies and population growth amplifies resource demands, these critical ecosystems face escalating threats. About 20-35% of drylands are already degraded, and up to 45% of Africa’s drylands are affected by desertification—a crisis eroding biodiversity, weakening traditional agricultural systems, and undermining livelihoods. Agricultural homogenization has also taken a heavy toll: the FAO estimates that 75% of crop diversity has been lost over the last century, as traditional varieties give way to genetically uniform crops.
Biodiversity in Drylands: A Foundation for Resilience
In dryland regions, biodiversity is not an abstract concept—it is survival. These lands, among the most severely affected by climate change, host a wealth of highly nutritious, underutilized crops, indigenous livestock breeds, traditional knowledge, and ecosystems honed by millennia of adaptation. Preserving this biological wealth is essential for dryland communities, but also for global sustainability.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in India and operating across the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, has been working in close collaboration with national and international partners for over five decades to advance agricultural development in harmony with ecological stewardship. One of ICRISAT’s earliest and most enduring commitments has been to the conservation of crop diversity.
Since the 1970s, the ICRISAT Genebank in Hyderabad has served as a global sanctuary for the wild and cultivated relatives of dryland crops such as sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, and small millets. Today, as one of the 11 international Genebanks under the CGIAR, the ICRISAT Genebank is a multi-crop facility conserving six of the 25 major crops safeguarded by CGIAR Genebanks.
As a signatory to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, ICRISAT has distributed nearly 1.5 million seed samples to researchers across more than 150 countries. A critical function of the Genebank is the repatriation of lost germplasm to countries whose national collections have been compromised by natural disasters, conflict, or other disruptions. To date, ICRISAT has restored over 55,000 accessions to 12 national programs across Asia and Africa, with South Korea being the most recent recipient.
Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility
Preserving seeds in cold storage is only part of the picture, however.
True biodiversity conservation is dynamic—it lives in the hands of farmers and on the plates of consumers. It thrives when local communities in fragile environments are empowered to adapt to climate change. It flourishes with revived soils, and it nurtures life when sustainable water management ensures year-round availability to support both livelihoods and ecosystems.
This is why, at ICRISAT—with over five decades of experience in fragile ecosystems—our focus continues to be on smallholder farmers in the drylands. We champion resilient agriculture by reviving traditional crop varieties, reintroducing neglected and underutilized crops like small millets, and restoring degraded landscapes through sustainable practices in water conservation and soil management.
Reviving Traditional Crop Varieties
Dryland cereals such as sorghum and millets, once overlooked, are now gaining global attention. The Government of India’s declaration of 2021 as the National Year of Millets and the United Nations’ observance of 2023 as the International Year of Millets have helped spotlight their benefits. Recognized as Smart Food—food that is good for the consumer, the cultivator (farmer), and the climate (planet)—these cereals are not only rich in nutrients but also highly resilient to drought and heat.
Their resurgence is timely. According to the FAO, more than three billion people globally cannot afford a healthy diet, and micronutrient deficiencies remain widespread. Promoting these hardy crops through our Smart Food Initiative supports dietary diversity while building food systems that are more resilient to climate variability—a triple win for nutrition, climate adaptation, and biodiversity.
Reviving Degraded Landscapes
Restoring degraded landscapes is essential for ecosystem regeneration and biodiversity conservation. ICRISAT has demonstrated success across dryland regions of Asia and Africa by integrating landscape-level restoration with water conservation, sustainable soil management, and agroecosystem regeneration. Notable examples include our work in Bundelkhand and Latur, India; and the Yewol Watershed, Ethiopia—serving as compelling models of transformation.
These initiatives show that protecting biodiversity does not mean halting development—it means guiding it in a way that is regenerative, inclusive, and enduring. It means recognizing that healthy ecosystems underpin not only agriculture, but also human well-being and economic opportunity. These are not competing priorities—they are interdependent outcomes.
Looking Ahead: A Biodiverse Future
As the global community looks toward the future, the threats to biodiversity—climate change, habitat loss, soil degradation, and agricultural uniformity—continue to grow. But there is also cause for hope. The tools to halt biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems already exist—in science, in partnerships, and in the lived knowledge of communities that have long cultivated harmony with nature.
Conservation is not without challenges. It requires sustained investment, enabling policies, and often tough trade-offs. As we accelerate efforts to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the moment for decisive action is now—by investing in nature-based solutions, supporting community-led conservation, and championing policies that place biodiversity at the heart of sustainable development.
On this International Day for Biological Diversity, let us remember that the path to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable future begins with the choices we make every day—about what we cultivate, what we consume, and what we choose to conserve.
At ICRISAT, through our continued commitment to crop diversity, resilient food systems, and landscape restoration, we remain proud to walk alongside our partners in making choices that honor both people and the planet—especially the 2.1 billion who call the drylands home.
Harmony with nature is more than a theme. It is a responsibility we must embrace with urgency, purpose, and deep respect for the natural systems that sustain us all.
Dr Himanshu Pathak is Director General of ICRISAT
The Ugandan mud wrestlers who became a global sensation
In a quiet town on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital, a group of young men and women are redefining professional wrestling and have become an unlikely global sensation.
They do not perform in a grand arena or have flashing lights, a jumbo screen or even canvas laid over wood in their ring.
Instead, bamboo sticks and two faded yellow lines mark out a square of thick, sticky mud which forms the stage for Soft Ground Wrestling, popularly known as SGW.
“We didn’t have the money to buy a real wrestling ring,” Daniel Bumba, the man behind the homegrown spectacle, explained to BBC Sport Africa.
“So we improvised using bamboo from the forest nearby. And instead of canvas, we use the natural clay and the mud to soften the impact.
“That’s what makes us unique.”
From its modest beginnings, SGW has racked up over 500 million views across TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube and draws passionate fans to its regular events in Mukono.
“They are our people. We love what they do,” said one female supporter.
Providing hope in the ring
Despite the hype on social media, SGW is not all glamour and adulation.
The wrestlers, predominantly either orphans or raised by single parents, receive no salary and rely on donations to get by.
They train under rain and blazing sun, cook basic meals of porridge outdoors, and sleep in rented dormitories.
Aged 23, Jordan Loverine has emerged as one of SGW’s brightest stars and is a symbol of what the sport can mean to those with nowhere else to turn.
“Wrestling has given me hope after dropping out of school,” he told BBC Sport Africa.
“I was almost giving up in life.
“But SGW has given me a new family and new dreams too – to become a great wrestler, to gain fame and success and to help others.”
More than 100 young Ugandans, all aged 25 and under, now make up the SGW roster.
Among the standout talents is Lamono Evelyn from Northern Uganda, whose stage name is Zampi.
Raised by her mother after losing her father as a baby, she never completed high school because of financial hardship.
But, through wrestling, the 20-year-old has found discipline, purpose and renewed hope.
“Before SGW, I had anger issues. I was arrogant,” she told BBC Sport Africa.
“Wrestling helped me control my anger. Now it’s my entire life. It has changed me mentally and physically.”
From WWE commentator to SGW founder
Bumba, nicknamed Bumbash, is a lifelong wrestling enthusiast who grew up mimicking WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) commentators.
“My mum used to beat me for loving professional wrestling,” Bumbash, 37, said.
“But I was so passionate about it I started imitating the commentators, and eventually I was translating WWE matches into Luganda for local TV.”
By 2023, Bumbash realised there was a hungry audience for the sport but no local infrastructure. So he took a bold step, training youngsters and building his own version from scratch.
When he shared their first muddy matches online, the response was immediate. Professionals from WWE and AEW (All Elite Wrestling) even reached out to offer their support.
Social media continues to play a crucial role, with some fighters even recruited through TikTok.
Despite the popularity of SGW online, Bumbash only recently started monetising their videos and brings in less than $1000 per month.
That covers just a small part of their operational costs, and Bumbash dips into his modest earnings as a local TV host to fund accommodation, meals and other expenses.
“Most of my salary goes to these young fighters. I don’t even save anything,” he said.
“They call me Papa. I’m always there for them. I feed them, house them and keep them close.”
Battling on all fronts
Safety remains a pressing concern for SGW.
Although bouts are scripted and choreographed, injuries from broken bones to neck strains still occur.
“We’re trying so hard to get first aid kits, medicine and protective gear,” Bumbash said. “But money is always the issue.”
It is not unusual to see a career-ending injury at least once a month.
“Sometimes it’s a backache or a neck injury,” Bumbash added. “Sometimes a young fighter breaks a bone.
“We try to respond quickly, but it’s tough without proper equipment.”
Despite the risks, passion remains undimmed among the wrestlers.
“It takes sacrifice,” said Loverine.
“You have to leave many things behind – friends who discourage you, work opportunities – and focus on wrestling.”
Zampi added: “Fighting in the mud is very hard. But if you really want something, you can do it.”
SGW eventually caught the eye of WWE star Cody Rhodes, who donated a game-changing professional ring to the group earlier this year.
“We can now compete at an international level,” said Bumbash.
“But we will still maintain our mud fights. That’s our identity.”
Even with the professional ring, SGW’s fighters remain fiercely proud of their roots.
“I like the ring, but I prefer the mud,” Zampi said with a smile.
“It defines the African way.”
With fame growing, Bumbash hopes to build an even bigger future for SGW, starting with securing their home.
The field used for training is rented, and SGW risks losing its base unless it can raise $40,000 to buy it.
“If we can buy this land we can build dormitories, a gym, a proper medical facility,” said Bumbash.
“We want to create Africa’s first world-class wrestling promotion, exporting talent to the global stage.”
As they continue to wrestle in the mud, train in the rain and dream of the world stage, Uganda’s soft ground wrestlers are proving that sometimes, greatness really does rise from the dirt.
