“Digitalisation Connects Entrepreneurs to Supply Chains”

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“Digitalisation Connects Entrepreneurs to Supply Chains”

Guy Seraphin Mbarga, Research Analyst, Cameroon Economic Policy Institute

26 Aug 2026 14:43

How does bridging the digital divide for local MSMEs directly boost non-oil GDP, and what fiscal mechanisms best turn digital adoption into sustainable tax revenue? Digital inclusion, in its simplest form, ensures that a farmer, manufacturer, or fashion de signer buys, sells, and trades with urban centres. It allows them to integrate into the formal value chain, and for agro-businesses, it can help reduce post-harvest loss through real-time matchmaking. If 85% of people locked in the informal sector access digital products and services, they can market and sell their products better, earning more revenues and paying more taxes to the go vernment. But Southern Africa and Eastern Africa have shown that digitization alone is not enough. We need to simplify trade for informal sector actors by making sure they fill no more than three documents to trade nationally and inter nationally. Digitization must be accompanied by a simplified trade regime to yield fruits. The highest return on investment, will come from precision supply chain management that connects producers to real-time market data, cold-storage logistics, and smart processing centres. However, ICT hardware and software must not have any import duties imposed on them to ensure broad-based adoption. Informal MSMEs often lack traditional collateral. How are alternative digital data models changing risk as sessments for agricultural and commercial lending? Our research shows that alter native credit scoring, leverages non-traditional data mobile money cash flows, digital invoice histories, crop yield satellite imagery, and utility payment records which are useful in building various risk profiles. Our work with two banks and Microfinances has shown that such models reduce non-performing loans by up to 48% over three years. Banks must adequately leverage the...