The Abidjan–Lagos and Abidjan–Ouagadougou corridors are among West Africa’s most strategic trade and transport corridors, linking major economic centers, ports, production zones, and consumer markets across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. Together, the corridors play a critical role in advancing ECOWAS' vision of increased intra-regional trade and economic development. Significant progress has been made in enhancing cross-border trade along these corridors, though some challenges persists, including recurrent non-tariff barriers, cumbersome border procedures, inconsistent implementation of regional trade instruments, limited access to trade information, financial information and financial services. These challenges disproportionately affect small-scale cross-border traders, particularly women, who constitute a significant share of informal and small-scale trade in the region.

Through its Global Gateway Support Project (GGSP), the European Union is supporting the implementation of a suite of trade facilitation interventions to address these challenges. Through TradeMark Africa (TMA), GGSP aims to improve coordination among various trade regulatory agencies and promote the economic inclusion of small-scale traders through integrating them to formal trade structures. While these interventions address regulatory and institutional bottlenecks, many small-scale traders continue to face structural constraints that limit their ability to grow and participate effectively in regional markets. Among the most significant of these are limited linkages to reliable markets and inadequate access to appropriate financial and digital services necessary for scaling their enterprises. The programme seeks to strengthen the financial and digital inclusion of small-scale cross-border traders. Limited access to affordable financial services, inadequate information on available financing options, low uptake of digital trade and business tools, and weak linkages with formal financial institutions continue to constrain traders' ability to expand their enterprises, participate effectively in regional value chains, and benefit from the opportunities presented by regional integration. The programme will therefore support interventions that improve awareness and uptake of existing financial products and digital solutions, strengthen linkages between traders and financial service providers, including fintech institutions, and assess opportunities to optimize and scale proven digital solutions that respond to the needs of small-scale traders, with particular emphasis on women.