African international locations should harmonise regulatory necessities, join cost techniques and put money into shared monetary infrastructure to make cross-border trade sooner and cheaper, consultants acknowledged on the 2026 Moonshot by TechCabal conference.
Speaking on a panel titled, “Commerce Without Borders: Cross-Border Without Friction”, Tola Onayemi, chief govt officer (CEO) of Norebase; Tatiana Ndlovu, govt head of promoting at Nedbank Africa Regions; and Iheakachi Nwabueze, vice-president of world advertising and development at Grey, stated fragmented rules and disconnected cost techniques proceed to lift the price 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 12 months, based on Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2025.
Yet companies buying and selling throughout the continent proceed to navigate completely different currencies, cost techniques and regulatory necessities, which may make transactions dearer and complex.
The audio system stated larger interoperability and fewer regulatory duplication would assist companies attain extra prospects throughout borders.
Onayemi stated cost techniques throughout Africa had 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 techniques, may assist scale back the price of shifting 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 referred to as for a shared infrastructure that might 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 may provide companies by way of a standard underlying system as a substitute of independently recreating the identical capabilities.
Such an method, he stated, may 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 know-how firm looking for to function in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana may need 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 tougher for companies to develop 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 patrons’ 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 must know the worth of a product, whether or not a provider could be trusted, when an order will arrive and what recourse is obtainable if a transaction goes mistaken, 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.
