Why Digital Skills Must Reach Artisans and Traders
Digital skills for artisans and traders in Africa represent an enormous untapped opportunity—and an equally significant gap in most government digital inclusion strategies. The informal economy accounts for an estimated 80–90% of employment in sub-Saharan Africa. The artisans, traders, tailors, mechanics, farmers, and market vendors who constitute this economy are not marginal economic actors—they are the economic engine that keeps African cities and rural communities functioning.
Yet most digital skills programmes are designed for formally educated young people seeking employment in the formal sector. The informal economy worker—who may have limited formal education, who works irregular hours, who cannot attend scheduled classroom training, and whose digital needs are immediate and practical—is typically left out.
Why Artisans and Traders Need Digital Skills
Digital Payments Are Already Transforming Their Markets
Mobile money and digital payment platforms—POS terminals, bank transfer apps, payment QR codes—have penetrated even informal markets across Nigeria. Artisans and traders who cannot accept digital payments, who do not know how to reconcile digital transaction records, or who cannot protect their digital accounts from fraud are at a competitive disadvantage in markets that are rapidly going cashless.
E-Commerce Opens New Markets
A tailor in Minna who learns to sell through Instagram or a marketplace platform can access customers across Nigeria and beyond. A mechanic who lists services on a digital directory can attract customers who would not otherwise know they exist. These are not hypothetical—they are the experiences of informal workers across Africa who have made the digital transition. The difference between those who have and those who have not is often simply access to the right knowledge.
Record-Keeping and Business Management
Artisans and traders who learn to use simple digital tools for financial record-keeping, inventory management, and customer tracking build more sustainable businesses—and create the documented transaction history that enables access to formal financial services including credit.
Designing Programmes That Actually Reach Informal Workers
Effective digital skills programmes for artisans and traders share common design features: they are delivered in community settings (markets, association meeting points, community centres) rather than requiring attendance at distant training facilities; they use local languages and vernacular instruction; they focus on immediately practical skills (how to use a POS terminal, how to create a WhatsApp Business profile) rather than theoretical frameworks; and they are short and modular—accessible to people who cannot commit to extended training programmes.
Key Takeaways
- Artisans and traders are the backbone of Africa’s informal economy and must be active targets of digital skills programmes, not afterthoughts.
- Digital payments, e-commerce access, and business management tools are the most immediately practical and high-value skills for informal economy workers.
- Community-based, vernacular-language, practically focused training is required—not adaptations of formal sector programmes.
- Partnerships with trade associations, market institutions, and community leaders are essential for reaching populations that existing government training channels do not serve.
- Digital skills for informal workers unlock access to e-commerce markets, formal financial services, and competitive advantage in digitalising local economies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can NSITDEA reach market traders and artisans with digital skills?
Through partnerships with the Niger State market traders’ associations, craft guilds, and chambers of commerce. Mobile training units that come to where workers are—markets, motor parks, artisan clusters—rather than expecting workers to come to training centres. Short, intensive bootcamp formats rather than extended programmes.
What is the most practical first digital skill for a market trader in Nigeria?
Mobile money and digital payment acceptance—understanding how to receive payments digitally, how to protect their accounts, and how to reconcile digital transactions with physical stock. This single skill area has immediate economic value and creates the foundation for more advanced digital engagement.
About the Author
Suleiman Isah is the Director General of NSITDEA and a champion of inclusive digital economy development in Niger State. Read more.
Related: Digital Inclusion Pillar Page | Business Enumeration and Inclusive Growth
