Gabon, a country in central Africa with a population of 2.1 million people, is making huge progress. The country is now the leader in ecommerce in the Economic Community of Central African States — CEEAC zone — (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea), according to a report recently published by the GSMA (the body that brings together telecom operators around the world) and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (Unctad).

Read also:‘Big Business and Small Business Need Each Other Now More Than Ever’

“In terms of readiness to engage in and benefit from online shopping, CEEAC member states trail behind many of their regional peers. Kenya (88), Nigeria (79), South Africa (76), and Mauritius (76) are the top four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (58). The 11 CEEAC member states, however, are not in the top 100, with Gabon ranking first (106). In terms of index value, four CEEAC countries (Gabon, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Angola) outperform the average for Sub-Saharan Africa (29), although not by much,” the report noted.

Here Is What You Need To Know

• Gabon is the top-ranked country in CEEAC, with 38.3 percent of the population prepared to shop online. The following is in chronological order: Cameroon (32%), Rwanda (30.9%), Angola (30.4%), and Congo (30.4%). (14 percent ).

• The Unctad Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Electronic Commerce Index evaluates 152 countries’ readiness for online shopping based on four indicators: the number of adults with a financial or mobile money account, the number of people using the Internet, the reliability of postal services, and the number of secure servers per million people.

• Several problems, according to the UN body, are affecting the state of e-commerce services in ECCAS, which may hinder their ability to flourish. These include the lack of access to and cost of mobile internet services for large segments of the population (especially low-income segments); limited use of digital payment services, payment systems, etc.; inadequate addressing in some urban and most rural areas; bottlenecks in customs clearance and international trade in general; and a difficult business and macroeconomic environment for young businesses (startups) to trade electronic.

To read the report, click here.

Central Africa ecommerce Gabon Central Africa ecommerce Gabon

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer