Following the definition of United Nations, Central Africa covers 9 countries with more than 219 million people. Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon are the major economies in the region.
While in the late 1900s/early 2000s, Central Africa was suffering many ethnic and military conflicts, the region stabilized over the last 10-15 years and is catching up quickly.
Huge investments in infrastructure were made – over the last years, the number of internet users grew leading to almost 50% of the adult population having access to the internet and more than 81% are having access to mobile phones. The E-commerce market revenues are expected to grow by a stunning 22.5% (CAGR) year over year reaching 20.9 billion USD by 2029 from 9.2 billion today.
With regards to payments, the number of bank account holders is very low in the region (~17%) and cards are not very accessible to do online payments. Mobile Payment solution and wallets are predominant and the preferred way to pay online.
-
Population 219.5 M -
Land size 6,496 M KM² -
GDP 293 Bn USD -
Median age 16.4 Yr
-
E-commerce market revenue 9.3 Bn USD -
E-commerce growth 22.5%
-
People with mobile phone (% age 15+)81.7%
-
People with internet access (% age 15+)49.5%
-
People with bank account (% age 15+)16.7%
-
People with credit card (% age 15+)2%
- Mobile Money users (45.4 M)
- Total population >15 years
With the rapid high-speed internet and mobile phone adoption, E-commerce markets are growing throughout the region – with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cameroon being two among the highest E-commerce markets in the region. Here are a few opportunities to expand the E-commerce business in Central Africa:
● Africa’s e-marketing index report by the UN ranked Cameroon as the 14th largest E-commerce country in Africa. Cameroon’s e-commerce market is estimated to more than 1.7 billion USD today growing by 23.7% year over year. More than 70% of Cameroonians older than 15 years are regularly using Mobile Money accounts in their daily life and access to high-speed internet is growing fast. Discover more about Cameroon.
● In DRC, governmental ambitions and incentives for digitalization can already be seen: almost 25 million people are already using Mobile Money. DRC’s E-commerce market is estimated to be over 2.2 billion USD today and is rapidly growing by 22.7% year over year. Read more about opportunities in DRC.
