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The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, has called for stronger collaboration among policymakers, financiers and businesses to accelerate trade within Africa and unlock the continent’s economic potential.
Ogbonna made the call at the Access Bank Africa Trade Conference (ATC 2026) held in South Africa, where he said Africa must address structural barriers that continue to limit the growth of intra-continental commerce despite its vast market opportunities.
Speaking during his opening remarks, the Access Bank chief noted that the conference was convened to continue conversations which started at the inaugural edition in 2025 on how Africa can expand trade within the continent while strengthening its participation in global markets.
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He noted that Africa’s share of global trade remains relatively small, stressing that fragmented trade corridors and structural bottlenecks continue to hinder the growth of commerce across the continent.
His words, “The reality is that Africa still controls a small share of global trade. The corridors are still fragmented and more aspirational than functional, and too many small businesses that aspire to trade across Africa remain constrained. ”.
Further speaking, Ogbonna explained that stakeholders at last year’s conference agreed on three key priorities for transforming Africa’s trade landscape. The priorities he listed include (i) (i) Breaking down silos between policymakers, financial institutions and businesses; (ii) Building a trade ecosystem driven by reliable data and analytics; and (iii) Developing systems that support both large corporations and smaller businesses seeking to expand across borders.
He noted that the 2026 edition of the conference is not a fresh start but a continuation of efforts to drive meaningful progress in intra-African trade. According to him, since the last edition of the conference, some progress has been recorded across key sectors of the economy.
“We have seen value chains emerging across agriculture, manufacturing and services, and we are seeing African brands crossing borders and building a global presence,” he said.
Ogbonna also pointed to the growing role of technology platforms in reducing friction in areas such as payments, logistics and market access. He, however, acknowledged that the gains remain uneven across the continent, with progress concentrated in a few markets and specific trade corridors.
Speaking on the need for stronger infrastructure financing in growing intra-African trade, the Director General for Southern Africa at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Kennedy Mbekeani, called for stronger mobilisation of private capital to finance critical infrastructure required to unlock the full potential of Africa’s trade integration.
“The mobilisation of private capital remains crucial, as many African governments are constrained by limited fiscal space and overstretched balance sheets. The mobilisation of capital, particularly private capital, is something that we need to work on,” Mbekeani said.
Opening up on African governments’ perspective to the drive for intra-Africa trade, Zambia’s minister of commerce, trade and industry, Chipoka Mulenga, speaking during the ministerial panel discussion of the conference, noted that policy alignment among African countries would be critical to unlocking the continent’s trade potential.
“Policy is very important in making anything come together. It must be consistent, resilient and coherent. If intra-African trade must be enhanced, we must deliberately craft policies that speak the same language across our countries. We should leverage our comparative advantages, rather than competing with one another,” Mulenga stated.
Also speaking during the session, Ghana’s minister for trade, agribusiness and industry, Elizabeth Ajare, noted that Africa does not lack policy frameworks but rather struggles with harmonised implementation.
“Africa does not lack policies; we already have many. Our challenge is the implementation of these policies in a harmonised manner. That is what we must focus on to make trade work effectively across the continent,” she posited.
Ajare further stressed that countries must be willing to compromise and adopt mutual recognition frameworks to facilitate trade across borders.
“If we insist on verifying every product independently, we will not make progress. Harmonising standards and recognising each other’s certification processes will allow us to trade more efficiently,” she added.
Speaking in the same vein, Botswana’s minister of trade and entrepreneurship, Tiroeaone Ntsima, noted that African governments must focus on creating enabling environments that allow businesses and investors to drive economic growth.
“The governments of today are not like those of the 1960s, where everything was done by government. Our role now is to create an enabling environment for businesses and investors to thrive. ”.
Ntsima added that Botswana is repositioning itself as a key trade corridor within the region. “In the past we described ourselves as a landlocked country, but today we see ourselves as land-linked. By creating corridors that connect markets across the continent, we open up new opportunities for trade and economic growth,” he noted.
On his final notes, the Access Bank chief urged stakeholders across the continent to move beyond dialogue and take concrete steps that will strengthen trade relationships among African countries, emphasising that Africa’s economic transformation would depend largely on the willingness of businesses and institutions to collaborate more effectively.
“This conference must not end as another talking shop. It must become the birthplace of a movement that contributes to transforming intra-African trade,” he urged.
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