Benin, Africa’s leading cotton producer, is working to derive more value from its cotton by processing it into finished garments before export. To achieve this goal, the government partnered with Arise IIP in 2020 to establish Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone. The strategy is already bearing fruit: roughly 40,000 tons of cotton are turned into 7–10 million garments annually within the industrial zone. Some of these garments are produced for brands like the U.S. Polo Assn. and Kiabi. The sector supports more than 2 million rural livelihoods and relies on 183,746 producers organized into 2,206 cooperatives. Furthermore, the government’s push for more textile manufacturing has spawned several local fashion brands. The expansion of the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone and the shift toward finished-product exports have also helped narrow Benin’s current-account defici from 6.2% of GDP in 2024 to 5.7% in 2025.