East African Community pushes for a single digital market

The East African Community (EAC) has taken a significant step toward establishing a single digital market, a move aimed at making it easier for businesses and technology firms to operate across the bloc's eight member states.

The initiative seeks to harmonize digital trade rules, improve cross-border data sharing and create a more integrated regional digital economy. However, innovators say more work is needed to address regulatory and infrastructure challenges.

For Prosperity Paul, co-founder of ADB Technology, East Africa's growing digital economy offers vast opportunities. The company develops artificial intelligence solutions for governments and businesses and operates in Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

"If you're a payment service provider in Tanzania and you want to expand into Kenya, you may still need infrastructure such as servers in Kenya. But if we're building one East African digital market under a common framework, we shouldn't necessarily have to do that," said Paul.

He further noted that even as ADB Technology looks to expand into Kenya, "differing regulations and infrastructure gaps remain key obstacles for businesses seeking to scale across borders."

According to the EAC, newly approved regional rules will allow member states to share data securely across borders while safeguarding personal information.

The bloc says the framework is another milestone toward a single digital market, making it easier for businesses to provide digital services, receive payments and sell products online under a more harmonized regulatory environment.

Business owners believe the reforms could unlock new opportunities for companies operating across the region.

Economists such as Eliya Lushiku says the technology already exists to support greater digital integration. The bigger challenge, they argue, is ensuring governments implement the agreed reforms consistently across all eight partner states.

"Letting go of some of the political powers is normally not easy and so I do understand that this is not an easy decision to make. That's why the debates have been there for a very long time. The papers have been there for a very long time  but the implementation has not been there."

The initiative builds on previous regional efforts, including reduced mobile roaming charges among participating countries and the adoption of a regional e-commerce strategy in 2022.

The EAC's eight member states have a combined population of more than 300 million people and a combined economy valued at over $340 billion.

The proposed rules on cross-border data flows and personal data protection will now be submitted to the EAC's decision-making organs before they can be adopted by partner states.