Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank, underlined the importance of strengthening collaboration between policymakers, financiers and businesses to accelerate intra-African trade and unlock the continent’s economic potential. He made this call at the Access Bank Africa Trade Conference (ATC 2026) in South Africa, underscoring the need to address persistent structural barriers that continue to restrict intra-continent trade despite Africa’s huge market opportunities.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Ogbonna said the conference was held to continue the dialogue begun during the first meeting in 2025 on how Africa can increase trade within its borders while increasing its participation in global markets. He noted that Africa’s share of global trade remains relatively small, with fragmented trade corridors and structural bottlenecks posing major obstacles to growth.
He said: “The reality is that Africa still controls a small portion of global trade. Corridors remain fragmented, more aspirational than functional, and too many small and medium-sized businesses wishing to trade across Africa remain constrained.”
Speaking further, Mr. Ogbonna recalled that last year’s conference identified three key priorities for transforming Africa’s trade landscape: (i) breaking down silos between policy makers, financial institutions and businesses, (ii) building a trade ecosystem based on trusted data and analytics, and (iii) developing systems that support both large and small businesses seeking to expand across borders.
He stressed that the 2026 edition is not a new start, but a continuation of ongoing efforts to foster meaningful progress in intra-African trade. He said some progress had been made since the last conference, with value chains in agriculture, manufacturing and services emerging, and African brands gaining recognition across borders.
Mr. Ogbonna also highlighted the growing role of technology platforms in reducing friction in payments, logistics and market access. However, he acknowledged that progress remains uneven across the continent, with progress concentrated in some markets and trade corridors.
African Development Bank (AfDB) Southern Africa Director Kennedy Mbekeani, speaking on infrastructure financing, called for increased mobilization of private capital to finance critical infrastructure projects that can maximize Africa’s trade potential. “Mobilizing private capital remains critical as many African governments are constrained by limited fiscal space and oversized balance sheets. Mobilizing capital, especially private capital, is something we need to address,” he said.
During a panel discussion, Zambia’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Chipoka Mulenga stressed that policy coordination among African countries is essential to unlocking trade potential. “Policies are very important in putting something together. Policies have to be consistent, resilient and coherent. If we need to enhance intra-African trade, we need to deliberately develop policies that speak the same language between our two countries. We need to leverage our comparative advantages rather than compete with each other,” Mulenga explained.
Elizabeth Agyare, Ghana’s Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, added that Africa already has many policy frameworks but faces challenges in harmonized implementation. “Africa is not without policies. We already have many policies. Our challenge is to implement these policies in a harmonious way. That is what we must focus on to make trade work effectively across the continent,” she said. He also emphasized the importance of mutual recognition frameworks to facilitate cross-border trade, saying, “If we insist on verifying every product individually, we won’t make any progress. By harmonizing standards and recognizing each other’s certification processes, we will be able to trade more efficiently.”
Botswana’s Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Thiloaone Nsima, also reiterated the need for an environment that fosters business and investment growth. “Government today is not what it was in the 1960s, when everything was done by the government. Our role now is to create an environment where businesses and investors can thrive,” he said. He further shared that Botswana has been strategically repositioned as an important trade corridor, transforming from a “landlocked” country to a “land-linked” country, stressing the importance of connecting markets through regional corridors.
Concluding the session, Seyi Kumapay, Executive Director of Access Bank’s African subsidiary, called on stakeholders across Africa to go beyond dialogue and take concrete steps to strengthen trade relations. “This conference must not remain just a chat; it must become the birthplace of a movement that will contribute to the transformation of intra-African trade,” he urged.
