South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Standard Bank, MTN, and DHL have announced a series of strategic partnerships aimed at helping SMEs across Sub-Saharan Africa scale their businesses, access new markets and participate more effectively in regional and global trade.
Launched under the banner of DHL’s GoTrade, this series of initiatives are aimed at helping African businesses overcome some of the most common barriers to growth, including limited access to finance, export readiness challenges, digital adoption gaps and market access constraints.
Since 2021, GoTrade has launched in more than 50 countries, supporting more than 24,000 SMEs globally, including more than 8,000 women-owned businesses. Across Sub-Saharan Africa specifically, more than 8,000 SMEs have participated in GoTrade programmes and capacity-building initiatives. DHL will be investing 300 million Euro on the African continent by 2030, as part of this investment the company will continue investing programs that extend participation in trade and support sustainable growth.
“Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), SMEs represent more than 90% of businesses and provide approximately 70% of employment, making them one of the continent’s most important engines of economic opportunity and inclusive growth. Despite their significance, many of our entrepreneurs continue to face barriers related to financing, digital adoption, trade knowledge and market access, limiting their ability to participate fully in regional and global trade.
We are excited to work with our partners to create a collaborative ecosystem aimed at addressing these challenges through practical interventions that support businesses at every stage of their export journey,” said CEO DHL Express SSA, Hennie Heymans.
The partnerships announced bring together complementary expertise from government, financial services, telecommunications and international logistics to create a practical support ecosystem for businesses looking to grow through trade.
The partnership between the dtic and DHL supports the department’s broader objectives around industrialisation, export growth and emerging exporter development. The collaboration will focus on trade education, capacity-building programmes, business clinics, trade missions, corridor activation initiatives and increased awareness of key trade frameworks, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other trade agreements that create new opportunities for African businesses.
“This partnership between the dtic and DHL demonstrates the power of collaboration in advancing trade and economic development,” said Acting Deputy Director-General Willem van der Spuy. “By working together with private-sector partners, we can provide businesses with practical support that enhances competitiveness, drives export participation and enables more emerging exporters (especially SMEs) to benefit from regional and global trade opportunities. Government’s role is to convene the right partners around a common framework, and this initiative reflects exactly that: the dtic setting the direction, with DHL and its partners Standard Bank and MTN strengthening delivery on the ground.”
Through its partnership with DHL, Standard Bank will bring its pan-African footprint, trade-finance expertise and cross-border trade ecosystem to help SMEs access new markets and participate more effectively in regional and global value chains. Standard Bank’s role in the partnership is to help SMEs translate export ambition into bankable, executable trade opportunities by combining finance, advisory support and access to trusted trade networks. In addition to banking and trade-finance solutions, the bank will connect businesses to its Export Readiness Programme, which provides entrepreneurs with the knowledge, advisory support and practical tools needed to compete internationally.
GoTrade is DHL’s strategic initiative to unlock global trade opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By partnering and building an ecosystem with public and private sector stakeholders, and collaborating with international development and intergovernmental agencies, GoTrade addresses systemic barriers to SME participation in international markets and promotes sustainable trade growth worldwide.
The program leverages DHL’s unparalleled global network, logistics expertise, and market insights to connect SMEs with cross-border opportunities.
GoTrade represents DHL’s commitment to inclusive trade and sustainable economic progress.
