African international locations should harmonise regulatory necessities, join cost programs and put money into shared monetary infrastructure to make cross-border trade quicker and cheaper, consultants said on the 2026 Moonshot by TechCabal convention.
Speaking on a panel titled, “Commerce Without Borders: Cross-Border Without Friction”, Tola Onayemi, chief government officer (CEO) of Norebase; Tatiana Ndlovu, government head of promoting at Nedbank Africa Regions; and Iheakachi Nwabueze, vice-president of world advertising and development at Grey, stated fragmented laws and disconnected cost programs proceed to boost the associated fee and complexity of doing enterprise throughout the continent.
Cross-border trade between African international locations reached $220.3 billion in 2024, rising 12.4% from the earlier yr, in accordance with Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2025.
Yet companies buying and selling throughout the continent proceed to navigate completely different currencies, cost programs and regulatory necessities, which may make transactions dearer and complex.
The audio system stated higher interoperability and fewer regulatory duplication would assist companies attain extra prospects throughout borders.
Onayemi stated cost programs throughout Africa have been largely designed round particular person international locations slightly than a linked continental market, creating a pointy distinction between home transactions and cross-border funds.
Using Nigeria for example, he stated home transfers may very well be accomplished inside seconds, however that effectivity usually broke down when transactions crossed nationwide boundaries.
“Once you start to move that from outside one jurisdiction to the other, that interoperability breaks apart,” he stated.
He argued that connecting present cost infrastructure, slightly than repeatedly constructing separate programs, might assist scale back the price of transferring cash throughout the continent.
“If we own that layer, what it means is that we’re able to set a lot more of the pricing and the cost,” Onayemi stated.
He known as for a shared infrastructure that may allow monetary establishments and cost suppliers to attach their companies whereas persevering with to serve their prospects.
He cited Nigeria’s home cost infrastructure for example of how suppliers might supply companies via a typical underlying system as a substitute of independently recreating the identical capabilities.
Such an strategy, he stated, might scale back duplication and assist decrease the price of cross-border transactions.
Onayemi additionally recognized regulatory fragmentation as a barrier to growth.
He defined {that a} monetary expertise firm searching for to function in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana may wish separate licences and funds held regionally in every market to facilitate funds.
The requirement to take care of funds in a number of international locations, he stated, provides to the complexity of settling transactions and reconciling balances.
He stated fragmented company and administrative necessities make it more durable for companies to broaden throughout African markets.
For retailers, the problem extends past accepting funds to receiving funds, settling transactions and arranging the logistics wanted to ship items throughout borders.
Ndlovu believes the options should additionally account for purchasers’ expectations, arguing that individuals ought to have the identical confidence when shopping for items and companies throughout borders as they do of their home markets.
Customers have to know the worth of a product, whether or not a provider will be trusted, when an order will arrive and what recourse is out there if a transaction goes fallacious, she stated.
“The reality is that the same empathy design principles that you apply on local products, you should absolutely be able to apply cross border,” Ndlovu stated.
