About GAPI

The Global Africa Prosperity Initiative (GAPI) is a pan-African, private limited company registered under Kenya's Companies Act, 2015, with its headquarters in Nairobi on Mombasa Road, Plaza 2000. We use evidence-based research to give policymakers and public and private organisations the intelligence they need on trade — and, through our network of experts, we work to remove the trade barriers that hold back marginalised communities in Africa and beyond.

GAPI is on a mission to streamline global trade with expert guidance. Our professionals span trade law, trade and gender, trade facilitation, political economy, research and policy analysis, circular economy, renewable energy, and monitoring and evaluation. They have been at the forefront of promoting intra-regional trade under the AfCFTA, have led trade-facilitation projects with development bodies, and have influenced policy at national and regional levels.

Africa's trade is one of the world's great underestimated stories. The continent's annual trade revenues already exceed foreign aid, remittances, and investment flows combined — yet intra-African trade accounts for just 18% of the continent's total, and roughly 80% of Africa's external trade is still raw commodities.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) — a flagship of the African Union's Agenda 2063 — brings together 55 countries and 8 Regional Economic Communities into a single market for goods and services. UNECA estimates it could raise intra-African trade by 52.3% by prioritising value-added, “Made in Africa” goods and services.

But the opportunity is not automatic. Since the AfCFTA became operational, most African businesses remain neither informed nor equipped to access it — lacking information, skills, credit, and market access.That gap is where GAPI works: producing the evidence, building the capacity, and convening the dialogue that turn the promise of African trade into real prosperity.