By Eamonn Ryan
At the GCCA Africa 2026 Conference in Johannesburg, GCCA Africa chairman Newton Matope (CEO of Cold Solutions Africa) opened proceedings with a clear message: Africa is not a single market, but a mosaic of diverse realities, risks and opportunities. Speaking to an audience of cold chain operators, investors, policymakers and partners from across the continent, he set out a vision for how the industry must connect these fragmented “islands of infrastructure” into a single, resilient cold chain capable of underpinning Africa’s food security and intra-African trade.
© Cold Link Africa
Africa is often spoken about as if it were a single, unified market. For the cold chain industry, this is not only inaccurate – it’s dangerous.
Stand in South Africa, and you see one of the continent’s most mature cold chain ecosystems: decades of investment, technical expertise, and infrastructure. Cross a border into neighboring markets, and you may find systems still laying their first foundational bricks. A cold store in Johannesburg is not the same asset as a pilot warehouse in Nairobi or Kampala. The risk profiles are different. The operating realities are different. The return timelines are different.
This diversity is not a weakness; it’s a mosaic. But a mosaic needs grout to hold it together. Right now, Africa has pockets of excellence – clusters of modern facilities, skilled technicians, and bankable projects—but they are islands in a sea of unmet demand. Those isolated islands cannot, on their own, deliver food security or unlock the full promise of intra-African trade.
Post-harvest losses remain stubbornly high. Perishable goods spoil on the road, at borders, and in under-resourced facilities. Farmers and food businesses are left with slim margins and high uncertainty. Consumers pay the price in both cost and food safety risk.
The task before the industry is: Connect the islands. Turn fragmented capacity into a single, resilient, interconnected cold chain that can support a continental food system.
This is the lens through which GCCA is now framing its strategy in Africa. Not as a generic, one-size-fits-all blueprint, but as a platform that respects local context while knitting together regional strengths into something greater than the sum of its parts.
To do that, the alliance itself needs to evolve – from a loose network of contacts into a working community that delivers tangible change. That evolution began last year and is already visible on the ground.
If Africa is a mosaic of markets, the question becomes: can an alliance like GCCA really move from talk to tangible impact? The answer lies in the early proof points – training programmes, port initiatives, and regulatory advocacy – that show what collaboration can look like when it gets serious.