Everything ODIA builds serves one aim: turning Africa's resources and markets into industries that Africans own and benefit from directly. Below are the seven programmes carrying that mandate forward in 2026, and where each one currently stands.
Local SMEs and industries have no continental platform for visibility today. We're setting up a pilot TV/web channel in 2026 to broadcast African products, SMEs, and local innovations to a pan-African audience, with digital extensions planned to extend that reach beyond broadcast.
Africa still exports mostly raw, unprocessed commodities — the value, and the jobs that come with it, are created elsewhere. Industrial zones give SMEs shared infrastructure to process locally instead. We're running feasibility studies in three priority sectors this year — agri-food, textiles and energy — as groundwork for organised zones over the next one to three years.
African businesses need technical solutions built for African conditions, not adapted from elsewhere. We're establishing one to two private research and development centres in strategic hubs including Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, to start that work close to the SMEs it's meant to serve.
Visibility and market access don't happen without a room to make the connection. We're holding at least two major pan-African fairs in 2026 — one anglophone, one francophone — to connect SMEs and startups directly to markets and investors.
We're holding major pan-African trade fairs across key regional hubs to unite entrepreneurs, SMEs, startups, and investors from all 54 African countries. Designed to bridge linguistic and regional divides, these forums connect operators across the entire continent directly to continental markets and global investors.
Industrialisation, digital marketing and intra-African trade all require skills most entrepreneurs haven't had access to yet. Our fast-track training programme is rolling out in 2026, drawing on a curriculum of over twenty modules — from pricing and packaging to AfCFTA compliance and digital sales tools — built specifically for African SMEs and managers.
Legitimacy and funding for continental work require continental and international backing. We're actively building alliances with the African Union, ECOWAS and SADC, and pursuing recognition and cooperation with the AfCFTA, the African Development Bank, UNIDO, UNDP and the World Bank Group — the institutional foundation the rest of this work is built on.
Together, these seven programmes are how ODIA's long-term goal — an integrated pan-African market of two billion consumers — gets built one pilot at a time. As each moves from pilot to results, we'll update this page with what we've achieved.
ODIA provides strategic products, operational services, and professional training designed to give African SMEs, institutions, and investors the tools required to compete across continental value chains.
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