E-commerce in Africa is well underway, but it has potential to grow, creating new jobs and driving sustainable development. E-commerce stakeholders from within and beyond the continent have put together an action agenda to overcome the challenges to future e-commerce growth in the region. Goals and recommended next steps are identified in eight areas:

1. Refresh policies

2. Expand connectivity

3. Upgrade logistics

4. Enable e-payments

5. Manage data

6. Grow tech

7. Coach small business

8. Join forces

The agenda recognizes that for any individual e-commerce business to prosper, a wide ecosystem of digital technology and supporting companies must flourish, with a mix of local and global action needed to leverage cross-border opportunities. The agenda also notes that e-commerce sits within a broader digital economy context, including infrastructure-related, and technology questions, such as 5G. Policy cooperation on related digital issues – taxation, competition, labour and consumer protection, intellectual property – is critical too. These areas will be the guard-rails of e-commerce and the digital economy. The publication is led by the World Economic Forum and the International Trade Centre, with contributions from other partners.