Disruption arising from COVID-19 has accelerated trends already apparent in the industrials market –– particularly digitalisation and trade volatility –– and transformation has gone from a “nice to have” to a necessity, according to the latest findings from Baker McKenzie. The law firm surveyed 700 company leaders in six industrial sub-sectors in early 2020, and again at the end of the year after the pandemic had taken hold of the global economy. In Africa, challenges in the industrials market were exacerbated by the pandemic, and highlighted by the requirements for seamless trade, strong supply chains, digitisation and sustainability, that were necessitated by the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA), as well as by the post pandemic market environment.