Mark Mwaniki | Why 2026 Could Be a Breakout Year for Digital Trade in East Africa

For more than a decade, East Africa has been viewed as a region of unrealised potential, a future hub for digital trade, innovation and intra-regional commerce. In 2026, that future is reaching a critical point. Either digital trade scales across the region, or East Africa risks wasting the progress it has spent years building.

As several forces are now converging, digital payments, e-commerce, infrastructure investment and regulatory reform are advancing in parallel. The question is no longer whether East Africa can support digital trade, but whether policymakers and market players will move fast and coherently enough to unlock its full value.

Kenya, in particular, has demonstrated a leadership in mobile money and established digital payments that drive financial inclusion and economic activity. The next phase to hone the industry requires moving beyond domestic success to interoperable, cross-border systems that support regional trade. Today, many African businesses serve digitally savvy consumers but struggle once transactions cross borders, where costs rise and systems fragment.

However, this has started to change with regional initiatives such as COMESA’s Digital Retail Payments Platform (DRPP) which points to a gradual shift away from dollar dependency and high transaction costs by enabling settlement in local currencies. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) this is not a minor technical improvement. It determines whether they can participate meaningfully in regional commerce.

Governments’ efforts to link instant payment systems across borders reflect growing recognition that national financial silos are no longer compatible with modern trade. In a digital economy, payments must move as seamlessly as information and regions that act on this reality will gain a competitive edge.

From the private sector, the demand is clear: businesses operating in multiple markets want faster settlement, fewer intermediaries and transparent foreign exchange pricing. At Verto, we see this first-hand and solve for our businesses. Through our Atlas treasury and payments platform, companies manage multi-currency flows, foreign exchange and cross-border payments from a single system. This uptake reflects that African businesses are ready for regional digital trade.

The advancement of e-commerce trading has reinforced this momentum while rising internet access, widespread smartphone adoption and a young, entrepreneurial population have pushed online trade beyond its early stages. Across East Africa, digital merchants are recording sustained growth. Their biggest challenge is no longer demand, but the friction experienced through failed cross-border payments, settlement delays and regulatory uncertainty.

Strategic partnerships seem to be the key in reducing the operational barriers in the market. Verto’s partnership with Triply, for example, enables merchants to accept and move payments across markets more efficiently, lowering the cost and unpredictability of regional expansion. These solutions exist because there’s demand in the market and its public policy to keep pace with them.

The biggest risk to East Africa’s digital trade ambitions are the regulations that trigger fragmented e-transaction laws, inconsistent licensing regimes and overlapping compliance requirements. While the East African Community’s e-Commerce Strategy is a positive development, implementation must accelerate and prioritise interoperability over protectionism that has led the way so far.

In 2026, regulators should focus on three key actions. First, harmonise digital payments and foreign exchange regulations across the region. Businesses should not be forced to redesign their operations for each market. Consistent rules lower costs, improve compliance and attract investment.

Governments must also recognise and standardise digital contracts, e-signatures and Know Your Customer (KYC) frameworks across borders. Legal certainty builds trust, which is essential for digital trade to scale. Lastly, policymakers must engage the private sector more closely as innovation is moving faster than regulation. Collaborative approaches involving fintechs, banks and merchants are more likely to produce practical and future-ready frameworks than reactive regulation.

The surge of capital flowing into data centres, cloud services and digital hubs across East Africa, brings the infrastructure investment requirements to the region. It is essential to improve resilience, reduce latency and strengthen cybersecurity. The technical foundations for scale are increasingly in place.

As Infrastructure is improving, consumers are digital-first, and payment systems are modernising, what is most critical is alignment. This, coupled with the remaining challenges: policy speed and coordination.

If regulators choose coordination over fragmentation, 2026 could mark a turning point. Digital trade will scale, regional supply chains will deepen and SMEs will gain access to new markets. East Africa will then move from being a promising digital frontier to a competitive regional trading block.

Mark Mwaniki is the Sales Director for Kenya, Verto.

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