Access Bank CEO Urges Policymakers, Businesses to Accelerate Intra-African Trade

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Roosevelt Ogbonna, has called for stronger collaboration among policymakers, financiers and businesses across Africa to accelerate intra-continental trade and unlock the continent’s vast economic potential.

Ogbonna made the call at the Access Bank Africa Trade Conference (ATC 2026) held in South Africa, where industry leaders, policymakers and investors gathered to discuss strategies for expanding trade within Africa and strengthening the continent’s participation in global markets.

According to the Access Bank CEO, Africa must address the structural barriers that continue to hinder the growth of intra-African commerce despite the continent’s significant market opportunities.

He explained that the conference builds on discussions initiated during the inaugural edition held in 2025, where stakeholders began exploring practical pathways for strengthening Africa’s trade ecosystem.

Ogbonna noted that Africa’s share of global trade remains relatively small, stressing that fragmented trade corridors and structural bottlenecks continue to limit commerce across the continent.

“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,” he said.

The Access Bank chief highlighted three key priorities identified during the previous conference as critical to transforming Africa’s trade landscape.

These priorities include breaking down silos between policymakers, financial institutions and businesses, building a trade ecosystem supported by reliable data and analytics, and developing systems that enable both large corporations and small businesses to expand across borders.

According to Ogbonna, the 2026 conference represents a continuation of efforts to drive tangible progress rather than a new starting point.

“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 stated.

He also pointed to the increasing role of technology platforms in reducing friction in payments, logistics and market access, although he acknowledged that the progress remains uneven across the continent.

Also speaking at the conference, the Director General for Southern Africa at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Kennedy Mbekeani, stressed the importance of mobilising private capital to finance infrastructure critical to supporting intra-African trade.

“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.

During a ministerial panel discussion, Zambia’s Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga, emphasised that policy alignment among African countries would be essential 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 said.

Ghana’s Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ajare, noted that Africa already has multiple policy frameworks designed to promote trade but often struggles with harmonised implementation across different markets.

“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 said.

Ajare further stressed the need for countries to adopt mutual recognition frameworks that allow goods and services certified in one country to be accepted across others.

“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.

Also contributing to the discussion, Botswana’s Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Tiroeaone Ntsima, said 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 stated.

He added that Botswana is repositioning itself as a strategic trade corridor within the region, noting that the country now sees itself as land-linked rather than landlocked.

“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 said.

In his closing remarks, Ogbonna urged stakeholders across Africa to move beyond discussions and implement concrete actions that strengthen economic partnerships and trade relationships across the continent.

“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 said.