The event included a keynote address by Daniel Lauchenauer (Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa), the presentation of the assessment results by Damola Owolade (FinMark Trust), and an engaging panel discussion featuring Nshuti Mbabazi (BTCA), Gertrude Kadumbo (MW Switch) and Augustine Tawanda (ZCBTA).
On 20 November 2025, FinMark Trust hosted a stakeholder webinar to explore e-commerce solutions that can make low-value cross-border trade easier, safer and more profitable for MSMEs across the SADC region, particularly women and youth who make up the majority of traders. The discussion drew on a study conducted between the South Africa–Zimbabwe and South Africa–Malawi corridors and highlighted practical steps to enable inclusive, interoperable digital payments.
The study was commissioned through the Inclusive Payments Digitalisation Programme, a collaboration between FinMark Trust, the South African Reserve Bank and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). It outlines the opportunities and challenges in informal cross-border trade, and explores how e-commerce solutions can improve trader profitability, facilitate the movement of goods and people, and strengthen regional integration.
Keynote address: Digital payments as a driver of inclusive regional trade
Delivering the keynote, Daniel Lauchenauer emphasised the vital role small-scale traders play in regional integration, noting that informal cross-border trade accounts for up to 40% of intra-African trade. He highlighted the daily barriers traders face – from delays and high fees to safety risks and complex KYC requirements – and explained how affordable, reliable digital payments can ease these pressures. Daniel also reflected on SECO’s long-standing support for financial inclusion in South Africa and the importance of the Inclusive Payments Digitalisation Programme in improving cross-border payment options for MSMEs.
Research highlights: E-commerce readiness and the enabling environment
Presenting the research insights, Damola Owolade outlined the variations in digital and e-commerce readiness across SADC. While South Africa’s e-commerce ecosystem is well developed, countries like Malawi and Zimbabwe face ongoing constraints in infrastructure, logistics and digital skills. He pointed to key opportunities, including building traders’ digital capabilities, improving last-mile delivery, using mobile-first platforms, and advancing regulatory reforms that allow more non-banks to offer merchant payment platforms, expand digital wallet access and support interoperable payment systems across the region.
Panel discussion: Practical pathways to regional interoperability
The panel brought the findings into practical focus. Speakers noted that Covid-19 accelerated digital adoption among traders, but skills and trust gaps remain – especially for the women who make up 70–80% of small-scale traders. Malawi’s national payments switch was highlighted as a strong example of progress towards interoperability, although challenges around liquidity and settlement risk still need attention.
Panellists also emphasised the need for the South African regulator to allow widely used digital solutions to function across borders, noting that the AfCFTA framework already provides the legal foundation for more inclusive regional payments. They called for closer collaboration and proposed forming a “coalition of the willing” – a small group of countries prepared to pilot practical cross-border payment solutions – as a way to accelerate progress.
Conclusion
This study provides timely evidence on the realities of low-value cross-border trade and the potential of digital payments and e-commerce to strengthen MSME profitability and support regional integration. The message from the webinar was clear: the region has the readiness, the evidence and the technology. The next step is coordinated action to advance inclusive, interoperable payment systems across the SADC region.