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 selling at Nedbank Africa Regions; and Iheakachi Nwabueze, vice-president of world advertising and marketing and development at Grey, mentioned fragmented rules and disconnected cost techniques proceed to boost the 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 12 months, in line with 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 might make transactions dearer and complex.
The audio system mentioned better interoperability and fewer regulatory duplication would assist companies attain extra prospects throughout borders.
Onayemi mentioned cost techniques throughout Africa have been largely designed round particular person international locations moderately than a linked continental market, creating a pointy distinction between home transactions and cross-border funds.
Using Nigeria for instance, he mentioned home transfers might be accomplished inside seconds, however that effectivity typically 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 mentioned.
He argued that connecting present cost infrastructure, moderately than repeatedly constructing separate techniques, may assist cut 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 mentioned.
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 instance of how suppliers may provide companies by a typical underlying system as an alternative of independently recreating the identical capabilities.
Such an method, he mentioned, may cut back duplication and assist decrease the price of cross-border transactions.
Onayemi additionally recognized regulatory fragmentation as a barrier to enlargement.
He defined {that a} monetary expertise firm searching for to function in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana may wish separate licences and funds held domestically in every market to facilitate funds.
The requirement to take care of funds in a number of international locations, he mentioned, provides to the complexity of settling transactions and reconciling balances.
He mentioned fragmented company and administrative necessities make it tougher for companies to increase 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 folks 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 could be trusted, when an order will arrive and what recourse is out there if a transaction goes improper, she mentioned.
“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 mentioned.
