AfCFTA Aligned · Kigali, Rwanda

The Operating
System for
African Trade

TradeBridge Africa connects verified buyers and suppliers across African borders — with protected payments, coordinated logistics, and access to financing. Starting on the Rwanda–Tanzania corridor.

$500M

Corridor Value

80%

Informal Trade

AfCFTA Nations

Gladness Mello

Founder & CEO

"Built by a trader, for traders — because survival mode is not a growth strategy."

Verified Trade Partners Escrow Payment Protection AfCFTA Compliant Documents Trade Credit Scoring Rwanda · Tanzania · East Africa 3% Flat Trade Financing Verified Trade Partners Escrow Payment Protection AfCFTA Compliant Documents Trade Credit Scoring Rwanda · Tanzania · East Africa 3% Flat Trade Financing

The Problem

15%

Payment Fees

Cross-border payments routed through offshore banks in USD — charging 8–15% per transaction

126h

Border Delays

Average dwell time at East African border posts due to manual paperwork

90%

Loan Rejections

Of SME loan applications rejected by formal banks — no credit history, no collateral

$120B

Finance Gap

Annual African trade finance gap leaving businesses on survival mode permanently

Why It Matters

African businesses spend 80% of their time surviving operations.

Not because of lack of ambition or skill — but because the infrastructure to trade safely, cheaply, and digitally across borders does not exist for most businesses. TradeBridge is that infrastructure.

"I built TradeBridge because I am the trader who needs it. Every month — the payments, the customs, the suppliers I cannot verify, the financing I cannot access. This platform ends that."

Gladness Mello — Founder & CEO

Who We Serve

Built for the traders
every other platform overlooks.

TradeBridge is built bottom-up — starting with the registered but overlooked SME on the Rwanda–Tanzania corridor. Not the large importer with a bank account and legal team. The real trader doing real business with no infrastructure to protect them.

👩🏾‍💼

Women-Led SMEs

70–80% of cross-border traders on the Rwanda–Tanzania corridor are women. They run real businesses, trade real volumes, and have been invisible to every formal financial platform.

🏪

Registered but Overlooked

Businesses that exist on paper but have no verified transaction history, no credit score, and no access to formal trade infrastructure. TradeBridge builds that foundation.

🌍

AfCFTA-Ready Traders

The African Continental Free Trade Area opens 54 markets. TradeBridge gives SMEs the verified identity and payment infrastructure to actually access those markets — not just in policy, but in practice.

The Solution

Six layers.
One platform. Everything clear.

Every unit solves a specific layer of the problem — and generates its own revenue stream.

🏪

B2B Trade Marketplace

Verified buyers and suppliers. Every trader is identity-checked, reference-verified, and scored before listing.

Subscription · $15–$50/month

🔒

Escrow Payments

Pay in RWF. Receive in TZS. Funds held for 72 hours after delivery. Raise a dispute if goods are wrong or damaged — payment is protected. If no dispute is raised within 72 hours, payment releases automatically to the supplier. 2.5% fee vs 8–15% today.

Per transaction · 2.5% fee

🚛

Logistics Coordination

Long-haul Central Corridor. Auto-generated AfCFTA customs documents. Verified transporters. No last mile complexity.

Commission · 40% of booking fee

📊

Trade Intelligence

Every transaction becomes verified corridor data — sold to governments, banks, and DFIs as monthly subscriptions.

Subscriptions · $2K–$10K/month

💳

Trade Financing

Transaction history becomes a credit score. Trade loans at 3% flat per 30 days versus 25% per month informally.

Origination fee · 3% flat

📚

Financial Education

Embedded profit trackers, cash flow alerts, and weekly voice notes in Kinyarwanda and Swahili.

Cohort licence · NGOs & Government

How It Works

From order to payment.
Protected every step.

Find & Verify

Browse verified suppliers with trust scores and transaction history

Fund Escrow

Pay in local currency via mobile money. Funds held safely.

Ship & Track

Verified transporter. AfCFTA documents auto-generated.

Inspect Goods

72 hours to inspect against agreed specification.

Payment Released

Escrow releases to supplier in their local currency. Minutes.

10+ years facilitating cross-border trade at embassy, UN, and private sector level across East Africa

The Founder

Built by a trader
who lived the problem.

Gladness Mello is a Trade Facilitation Specialist with over 10 years of experience facilitating cross-border trade at embassy, UN, and private sector level. She facilitated over $1 million in trade deals between Tanzania and Egypt at the Egyptian Embassy, worked inside AfCFTA policy development at UNECA for 14 Eastern African countries, and currently runs her own trading business in Kigali — giving her direct experience of every problem TradeBridge is built to solve.

She is not building something she researched. She is building something she needs — and would pay for today.

UNECA Alumni $1M+ Trade Facilitated Economic Diplomacy AfCFTA Specialist Kigali, Rwanda

The Market