Businesses across the continent are still facing a major obstacle when moving money between African countries, despite Africa’s rapid progress in digital payments and financial technology, Ola Daramola, the group chief executive officer of Bluebulb Financials Limited, has stated.
Speaking at the launch of ShopAza, Payaza Africa’s newly introduced eCommerce platform, Daramola said that while many African countries have built some of the world’s most advanced local payment systems, cross-border transactions within the continent remain slow and inefficient.
According to him, a payment sent from Nigeria to Kenya often cannot move directly between the two countries. Instead, the transaction is routed through the United States before reaching its final destination in Africa.
He described the process as a costly and unnecessary detour that delays transactions and increases operational challenges for businesses engaged in cross-border trade.
“A transfer that should happen seamlessly between two African countries sometimes has to travel through another continent before arriving at its destination,” Daramola explained during a panel discussion on building scalable eCommerce businesses across Africa.
His remarks spotlight a challenge that many experts believe is becoming the next major hurdle for Africa’s digital economy. While countries such as Nigeria have developed highly efficient instant payment systems and Kenya has become a global leader in mobile money adoption, payment connectivity between African markets remains fragmented.
The situation creates additional costs for merchants, increases settlement times and complicates efforts by businesses seeking to expand across multiple African markets.
The issue is particularly important as African eCommerce continues to grow. Platforms such as ShopAza are increasingly enabling merchants to sell products and receive payments across different countries and currencies from the start, making efficient cross-border payment infrastructure critical to success.
Daramola said the continent has largely solved many of its domestic payment challenges, but the next stage of Africa’s fintech growth will depend on creating systems that allow money to move directly between African economies without relying on foreign intermediary networks.
He argued that improving cross-border payment infrastructure could unlock greater trade opportunities, strengthen regional integration and help African businesses compete more effectively in the global digital marketplace.
Read also: Nigeria’s $25bn FMCG market beckons as technology, credit gaps reshape trade
The comments come at a time when governments, regulators and financial institutions across Africa are intensifying efforts to boost intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Experts have repeatedly identified payment interoperability as one of the key requirements for achieving the agreement’s objectives.
For many businesses, Daramola’s message represents a shift in the conversation around African fintech. While much attention has been given to mobile money and domestic digital payment innovation, he believes the next frontier lies in connecting African economies through faster, cheaper and more direct payment corridors.
As cross-border eCommerce gains momentum across the continent, the ability to move money seamlessly between African countries may prove just as important as the technology powering the online marketplaces themselves.
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