Africa’s ambition to produce globally competitive businesses will depend heavily on its ability to attract more growth capital, strengthen financial infrastructure and build closer cooperation between governments and the private sector, business leaders and policymakers have said.
The message emerged from a high-level executive roundtable organised by Flutterwave in partnership with Invest Africa on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The closed-door meeting, held under the theme “Africa Forward: Investing in the Next Decade of Growth,” brought together senior African government officials, international investors, financial institutions and technology executives to examine how the continent can unlock a new era of sustainable economic expansion.
At the centre of discussions was the challenge facing African businesses that have successfully moved beyond the start-up stage but now require significantly larger pools of capital and more efficient financial systems to expand into multiple markets.
Participants identified fragmented regulations, limited access to expansion capital and difficulties moving money across African borders as some of the major obstacles restricting the growth of businesses operating across the continent.
They also noted that Africa’s diverse markets present additional challenges, including differences in infrastructure, availability of skilled talent and the regulatory and commercial conditions under which companies operate.
Government, Investors Converge
The roundtable demonstrated the growing emphasis on collaboration between the public and private sectors in driving Africa’s economic transformation.
Representing Vice President Kashim Shettima was his Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia. The meeting also featured the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.
Other members of the Nigerian delegation included Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Lateef Kayode Are.
International investors and business leaders also participated, with representatives from organisations including 500 Global, Absa Bank, Africa50, Africa Finance Corporation, Amazon, Chapel Hill Denham, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Goldman Sachs, Itana and Resilience 17.
The presence of stakeholders from government, finance, technology and investment circles underscored the focus on finding practical ways to move Africa’s growth ambitions from policy discussions to actual investment and infrastructure development.
‘The Real Opportunity Is Deep Infrastructure’
Flutterwave Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Olugbenga Agboola, said the continent’s technology sector had demonstrated its ability to develop businesses capable of scaling, but argued that the next phase required deeper financial and digital infrastructure.
He said the coming decade should focus on making it easier for African businesses to operate across national boundaries without being constrained by inefficient payment systems and limited access to capital.
According to Agboola, simplifying cross-border transactions, improving liquidity and widening access to financing would be critical to enabling African enterprises to compete internationally.
The discussions therefore moved beyond payment processing to broader infrastructure capable of supporting businesses as they expand into new markets.
From Payments To Pan-African Infrastructure
Participants considered a number of potential solutions, including stablecoin-based payment rails, institutional banking utilities, shared fraud-prevention systems, patient capital and strategic public-private partnerships.
The proposed approaches were aimed at tackling some of the structural difficulties businesses face when expanding beyond their home markets.
A more integrated financial ecosystem, participants argued, could help reduce transaction friction, improve trust and make it easier for businesses to access the money and services required for international expansion.
The meeting ended with government and private-sector participants committing to greater attention to three broad areas: expanding cross-border infrastructure, mobilising capital for business expansion and developing financial systems capable of supporting African commerce at a global scale.
The discussions placed financial infrastructure at the centre of Africa’s next growth story, with stakeholders emphasising that the continent’s ability to produce successful businesses will increasingly depend not only on entrepreneurship and innovation, but also on the systems available to help those businesses cross borders and compete internationally.
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