The Gambian government has implemented a National Identity Management System through a partnership with IMS Gambia Ltd, an implementation partner of Margins ID Group. Moses Kwesi Baiden Jnr, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Margins ID Group, stated, "Digital identity is not a card. It is infrastructure." He further noted, "Mobile Money Is Not A Payments Story. It is an identity story."
Separately, the African Development Bank’s 2025 Trade Finance Report indicated that Africa's unmet trade finance demand reached US$74 billion in 2024. The same report estimated this demand reached US$92 billion during the same period. These figures highlight the scale of financial requirements across the continent as nations seek to modernize economic systems through improved identification and digital frameworks.
Evaluating the Ghanaian Digital Model
Ousman Bah, Special Adviser to the President of The Gambia on ICT and Digital Economy, visited Ghana in December 2022 to evaluate its digital infrastructure. He stated, "When I came to Ghana in December 2022, I met Margins and looked at what Margins was doing compared with what Western countries were doing in terms of digitalisation." During this trip, he observed, "In terms of the driver’s licence that he just talked about, I see with my own eyes how they are scanning all this data and putting it in one single database." Ghana’s system has since integrated more than 20 million people and 262 institutions. Bah noted, "How they have the digital ID, and this is what I want in The Gambia. We are not there yet."
Technology Implementation and Strategic Vision
Accra hosted the 11th MOBEX Africa Conference 2026, serving as a venue for discussions regarding the technological frameworks currently shaping the continent. Participants examined various digital initiatives and the infrastructure required to support national identification systems similar to those adopted by The Gambia.
The African Development Bank’s 2025 Trade Finance Report projects that the African trade finance gap could exceed US$100 billion by 2027 under a moderate-to-severe scenario. This projection illustrates the financial requirements facing regional economies as they attempt to integrate digital identity models into their broader economic and trade frameworks. The report suggests that the scalability of identification systems remains a factor in addressing these funding challenges across diverse markets.
