The AfCFTA’s ambition is bold and timely: a single market for 2 billion people. Grand visions, however, require pragmatic steps. During a recent site visit to the Atlantis Special Economic Zone in Cape Town organised as part of the 2025 Africa Green Economy Summit (AGES) Experience Days, Matthew Cullinan, CEO Atlantis SEZ speaking to a delegation of DFI, public and private sector delegates from over 13 African countries articulated a compelling idea: What if we leveraged the existing infrastructure of SEZs as pilot projects for the AfCFTA’s full implementation?

The concept is simple yet profound: Enabling free and unrestricted trade between SEZs across the continent, essentially creating a network of AfCFTA-compliant trade zones. 

This would allow us to test and refine trade policies in a controlled environment, addressing implementation challenges before they impact the broader continental economy – precisely what SEZ’s are built for.

So here’s the big idea: Think of SEZs as the AfCFTA’s testing labs. They’re already hubs of industrial activity, and by strategically aligning them with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, we can side-step some of the reluctance to wide-scale adoption across the continent, identify and resolve implementation challenges before they impact the broader host-country economies within the region.

North Africa’s Blueprint: A Glimpse of What’s Possible

North Africa provides a compelling example. The Tanger Med Zones in Morocco, for instance, have become a vital link in the Europe-Africa trade network. These zones demonstrate how SEZs can drive export-oriented growth in sectors like automotive, textiles, and agro-processing.

• Automotive: Renault and other major manufacturers have established production facilities in Tanger Med, leveraging proximity to Europe and a skilled workforce. This shows the potential for SEZs to become hubs for regional automotive value chains, with Morocco providing assembly and component manufacturing and potentially linking with component suppliers in South Africa for a pan-African value chain, not just for North African markets but for export.
  
  

• Textiles: Morocco’s textile industry, concentrated in SEZs, has successfully tapped into European fashion markets, showcasing the potential for African apparel to compete globally. This links to cotton production in countries like Egypt and Ethiopia, potentially forming a regional textile value chain.

• Agro-Processing: The region’s agricultural SEZs facilitate the export of fresh and processed foods to Europe, highlighting the viability of linking African agriculture with global markets. This could be strengthened by linking with fruit and vegetable producers in countries like Kenya and South Africa.

These successes aren’t isolated. They demonstrate the potential for SEZs to drive export-led growth and integrate African economies into regional and global value chains.

Beyond North Africa: Emerging SEZ Opportunities

Across the continent, emerging SEZs are poised to play a pivotal role in AfCFTA implementation:

•  Ethiopia’s Industrial Parks: The Hawassa Industrial Park, focused on textiles and apparel, is a prime example of how SEZs can attract foreign investment and create jobs. Its success demonstrates the potential for East Africa to become a major player in the global garment industry. Ethiopia’s cotton production and labour force provide the raw materials and workforce that can serve not only production within Ethiopia but also the feedstock requirements in Morocco and South Africa, thereby forming the basis for a regional textile value chain.
  
  
• South Africa’s Special Economic Zones: South Africa has a network of SEZs focused on various sectors, including automotive, minerals beneficiation, and agro-processing. The Coega SEZ, for example, is a hub for automotive manufacturing and logistics. These zones can serve as platforms for developing regional value chains in Southern Africa. South Africa’s mineral resources, such as manganese and platinum, can contribute to the growing battery and EV industry, and link with the mineral processing happening in the DRC.
  
  
• Nigeria’s Lekki Free Zone: This zone, which has received a massive boost with the operationalisation of the Dangote Oil Refinery is designed to attract investments in manufacturing, logistics, and energy. It holds promise for boosting Nigeria’s industrial capacity and facilitating trade with West African neighbors. The potential is vast; for instance, agricultural output from across Nigeria and the broader West Africa region can be processed into import-substituting value-added products within the zone that can then be distributed throughout the ECOWAS region and beyond.
  
  
• Rwanda’s Kigali Special Economic Zone: This zone is designed to attract investments in light manufacturing, agro-processing, and logistics, and serve as an industrial hub processing import-substituting value-added products from inputs sources from across the East African Community and beyond. Rwanda’s focus on technology and innovation can be used to improve the efficiency of regional logistics and supply chains. By partnering with global tech companies, Rwanda can develop its own IP and software within the zone, instead of just being a site for call centers.
  
  
• DRC Special Economic Zones: Given the DRC’s vast mineral wealth, SEZs that focus on the beneficiation of those minerals would allow the DRC to move up the value chain. By processing the minerals within the zone, and then exporting semi-finished goods, the DRC will be able to partner with global and regional firms to add value to their raw materials. There’s also the opportunity to link up with SEZs in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe to deepen regional cooperation by establishing regional value chains that build on the comparative advantage of constituent member countries.

The AfCFTA Advantage: Scaling Up Success

By aligning these SEZs with AfCFTA provisions, we can:

• Streamline customs procedures: Implementing simplified customs procedures within SEZs can pave the way for continent-wide harmonization.
  
  
• Harmonize standards: SEZs can serve as testing grounds for common product standards and regulations.
  
  
• Develop regional value chains: By attracting investments in priority sectors, SEZs can foster backward and forward linkages across African countries.
  
  
• Promote Local Content: Build local capacity by investing in training programmes, access to finance, and quality trade-enabling infrastructure to encourage foreign investment. Encourage and incentivise foreign firms to cultivate joint ventures and incorporate local firms in their supply chain, share knowledge and expertise through policy and trade incentives.
  
  
• Leverage digital technologies: Use SEZs to pilot digital trade facilitation tools, such as electronic customs systems and digital platforms to increase market access by connecting African suppliers with global buyers.
  
  

A Call to Action

The AfCFTA’s success depends on forging partnerships that benefit both Africa and its global partners. Given the legitimate concerns harboured by some about the potential to create winners and losers, it is, however, clear that it requires a pragmatic approach to phased implementation that isolates and addresses these concerns while scaling up successes and best practice approaches. Bottomline, SEZs, as designed, offer a vital testing ground.

Let’s leverage these existing and emerging platforms to pilot AfCFTA provisions, build regional value chains, and propel Africa’s emergence as an industrial powerhouse.

This is not a theoretical exercise. It’s about building on existing successes and creating new opportunities for African businesses and workers. Over the course of the following year as we work towards the 2026 Africa Green Economy Summit, I am looking forward to working with Michael, the AU, UNDP, AfDB, AFREXIM, other members of AGES Advisory board, and other key stakeholders on how we can make SEZs the engines that drive the AfCFTA’s success.