Access Bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Roosevelt Ogbonna, has called for stronger collaboration among policymakers, financiers and businesses to accelerate trade within Africa and unlock the continent’s economic potential.

Ogbonna made the call at the Access Bank Africa Trade Conference (ATC 2026) held in South Africa, where he said structural barriers continue to limit the growth of intra-continental commerce despite the continent’s market opportunities.

Speaking in his opening remarks, Ogbonna said the conference was convened to continue conversations that began at the inaugural edition in 2025 on how Africa can expand trade within the continent while strengthening its participation in global markets.

He noted that Africa’s share of global trade remains relatively small, adding that fragmented trade corridors and structural bottlenecks continue to hinder the growth of 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.

Ogbonna said stakeholders at last year’s conference agreed on three 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 smaller businesses seeking to expand across borders.

He said the 2026 edition of the conference represents a continuation of efforts to drive progress in intra-African trade, noting that some developments have already been recorded across key sectors.

“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.

Ogbonna also pointed to the growing role of technology platforms in reducing friction in payments, logistics and market access, though he noted that the progress remains uneven across the continent and concentrated in a few markets and trade corridors.

Director General for Southern Africa at the African Development Bank, Kennedy Mbekeani, called for stronger mobilisation of private capital to finance critical infrastructure required to unlock 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.

Zambia’s Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga, said policy alignment among African countries would be critical 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, said Africa’s challenge lies less in policy formulation and more in harmonised implementation.

“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 added that countries must be willing to compromise and adopt mutual recognition frameworks to facilitate cross-border trade.

“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 said.

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 said.

He added that Botswana is repositioning itself as a key trade corridor within the region.

“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.

Ogbonna urged stakeholders to move beyond dialogue and take concrete steps to strengthen 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.