Access Bank Urges Stronger Public–Private Collaboration to Boost Intra-African Trade

Access Bank Urges Stronger Public–Private Collaboration to Boost Intra-African Trade

L - R: Roosevelt Ogbonna, CEO/GMD, Access Bank Plc; Tiroeaone Ntsima, Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Republic of Botswana; Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister for Trade, Agricbusiness and Industry, Ghana; Hon. Chipoka Mulenga, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Republic of Zambia and Seyi Kumapayi , Executive Director, African Subsidiaries , Access Bank Plc at the 2nd edition of the Africa Trade Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa today , Wednesday, March, 11, 2026.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Roosevelt Ogbonna, has called for deeper collaboration among policymakers, financial institutions and businesses to accelerate intra-African trade and unlock the continent’s vast economic potential.

Ogbonna made the call during the 2026 edition of the Access Bank Africa Trade Conference (ATC) held in South Africa, where stakeholders gathered to discuss strategies for expanding trade within Africa and strengthening the continent’s role in global markets.

Speaking in his opening remarks, the Access Bank chief said the conference was convened to continue conversations that began at the inaugural edition in 2025, which focused on addressing structural barriers hindering trade across the continent.

According to him, despite Africa’s huge market opportunities, its share of global trade remains relatively small due to fragmented trade corridors and systemic bottlenecks that limit the movement of goods, services and capital across borders.

“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,” Ogbonna stated.

He noted that participants at the 2025 conference identified three key priorities for transforming Africa’s trade landscape. These include breaking down silos between policymakers, financial institutions and businesses; building a trade ecosystem driven by reliable data and analytics; and developing systems that support both large corporations and small businesses seeking to expand across borders.

Ogbonna added that the 2026 conference represents a continuation of efforts to drive measurable progress in intra-African trade, noting that some gains have been recorded since the previous edition.

“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.

He also highlighted the growing impact of technology platforms in reducing friction in areas such as payments, logistics and market access, though he acknowledged that progress remains uneven across the continent, with gains concentrated in a few markets and trade corridors.

Also speaking at the conference, the Director-General for Southern Africa at the African Development Bank, Kennedy Mbekeani, emphasised the need to mobilise more private capital to finance critical infrastructure that would support 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.

From the government perspective, Zambia’s Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga, stressed that policy alignment among African countries would play a key role in 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,” Mulenga noted.

Similarly, Ghana’s Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ajare, said Africa’s challenge is not the absence of policies but the lack of harmonised implementation across the continent.

“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 also called for the adoption of mutual recognition frameworks to ease cross-border trade, noting that harmonised standards and certification processes would significantly reduce trade barriers.

In the same vein, Botswana’s Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Tiroeaone Ntsima, said 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,” he stated.

Ntsima added that Botswana is repositioning itself as a key trade corridor within the region by strengthening connectivity between markets across the continent.

On his closing remarks, Access Bank’s Executive Director for African Subsidiaries, Seyi Kumapayi, urged stakeholders to move beyond dialogue and take concrete actions that will strengthen trade relationships across Africa.

“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.