At the 2026 Moonshot by TechCabal conference, a panel on cross-border commerce put a sharp question on the table: why can a Nigerian complete a domestic bank transfer in seconds, but hit a wall the moment that same transaction crosses a border? Tola Onayemi, CEO of Norebase, had a direct answer. Payment systems across Africa were built around individual countries, not a connected continent, and that design choice is costing businesses every single day.
The numbers behind the frustration are striking. Cross-border trade between African countries reached $220.3 billion in 2024, a 12.4% jump from the year before, according to Afreximbank's African Trade Report 2025. That growth is real, but so is the friction underneath it. Different currencies, disconnected payment rails, and duplicated regulatory requirements across dozens of markets keep transactions slower and more expensive than they need to be.
Onayemi, alongside Tatiana Ndlovu, executive head of marketing at Nedbank Africa Regions, and Iheakachi Nwabueze, vice-president of global marketing and growth at Grey, argued that the fix is not complicated in theory: harmonise regulations, connect the payment systems, and invest in shared financial infrastructure. Greater interoperability and less regulatory duplication, the panelists said, would open up more customers and more markets for businesses willing to expand.
The ambition is already baked into frameworks like the African Continental Free Trade Area, but the gap between policy and payment reality remains wide. With trade volumes climbing fast, the pressure on regulators and fintech builders to close that gap is only going to grow.
Originally published by TechCabal.