Cede hosts forum on building seamless payment infrastructure in Africa

Cede, a global treasury solutions and payments infrastructure provider, held an Ecosystem Mixer in Nairobi on Friday, bringing together sector leaders to consider the challenges impacting cross-border payments in Africa and the steps needed to create a more reliable and interoperable system.

The session, themed “Seamless Africa: Building an uninterrupted payments rail,” brought together senior executives including Kemi Olajide, investment principal at African Climate Ventures; Mr. Tochukwu Ekwonna, Payaza Chief Financial Officer (CFO); Bonface Isinta Onbui, CEO of Choice Microfinance Bank. and Joyce Ampaire, Head of Business Development, AFREXIM Bank East Africa.

Cede said Kenya was selected for the initiative due to its strong digital adoption and status as a regional hub for financial and payments innovation. Commenting on the company’s extensive infrastructure ambitions, Cede CEO and co-founder Akin Afolabi said the long-term vision is steadily taking shape. He pointed out that the company is building a connected network that supports the smooth movement of funds between markets.

In his words, “We started with a vision that was too big to grasp. What we are building is becoming clearer. We now have an infrastructure layer that allows us to move money beyond local currencies through connections with banks, exchanges, and fintech providers.”

The forum also considered technical requirements to enable seamless payments, highlighting the need for intelligent routing, AI-driven liquidity management, improved interoperability, and faster payment processes. Panelists noted that strengthening trust and reliability across user touchpoints is essential to driving adoption.

Regulatory alignment featured prominently in the discussion, with stakeholders pointing out that countries’ differing compliance regimes pose a barrier to intra-African trade. It was noted that greater collaboration between regulators, banks and fintechs is essential to reduce friction while keeping systems secure.

Dapo Olatinsu, COO and co-founder of Cede, who moderated the session, said the conversation highlighted the need for greater collaboration across the ecosystem. He said: “The cross-border payments gap is well understood. What is needed is sustained cooperation between technology developers, banks and regulators. Kenya is playing a central role in that dialogue.”

Cede used the forum to introduce Voye, an upcoming multi-currency remittance product designed to support fast and transparent remittances across major corridors, including Kenya. The company said Voye will operate as part of its broader infrastructure stack, providing consumers and businesses with access to secure digital wallets and cross-border payments backed by Cede’s compliance framework.

Cede said the insights from Nairobi Mixer will inform the next phase of market engagement as the company prepares to roll out Voye and deepens its collaboration with partners across East Africa.

The company said the Ecosystem Mixer is the first in a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening collaboration across the payments value chain and supporting the development of resilient regional payments systems.

“Cede is building a financial infrastructure that supports secure, compliant and efficient cross-border transactions for individuals, businesses and institutions across major corridors in Africa and the world. The company’s next retail product, Voye, extends this infrastructure to users seeking simple and transparent international money transfers,” the CEO said.