Africa’s economic potential will remain largely untapped unless the continent fixes its fragmented payment systems, according to Wole Ayodele, chief executive of fintech firm Fincra.
Speaking at the Africa Tech Summit (ATS) in Nairobi on Wednesday, Ayodele said the next phase of Africa’s growth will depend less on demographics and startup optimism, and more on building the financial infrastructure required to support cross-border commerce.
“We have so much potential in Africa. We are the fastest-growing continent,” he said during his keynote address. “But to truly unlock that growth, we need the infrastructure to support it.”
While initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aim to boost intra-African trade, Ayodele noted that businesses still face significant hurdles when operating across borders. Payments systems, regulatory frameworks, currencies and capital controls differ widely from one country to another, forcing companies to rebuild financial operations each time they enter a new market.
A company with established treasury and payment processes in Nigeria, for example, may have to start over in Kenya or South Africa. This fragmentation increases transaction costs, delays settlement times, and exposes firms to currency volatility, he said. As a result, finance teams spend more time managing risk than driving expansion.
Fincra, which operates in more than 50 African markets and connects to over 20 global payment integrations, is positioning itself as a solution to this challenge. Ayodele described the company’s goal as helping shift Africa’s payments ecosystem “from fragmentation to federation” by improving interoperability across markets.
Despite a crowded payments landscape that includes banks, mobile money operators, regional switches and newer settlement initiatives, regulatory divergence and liquidity constraints continue to limit seamless cross-border trade.
“Africa’s demographics are clear; we have a young and growing workforce,” Ayodele said. “The question is not potential; it is infrastructure. Without the rails, growth cannot scale.”
His comments come as African startups adopt more cautious expansion strategies amid cooling venture capital flows. Increasingly, founders are prioritising profitability, compliance management and operational resilience over rapid geographic expansion.
Ayodele stressed that no single company can solve the continent’s structural payment challenges alone. Achieving seamless trade under AfCFTA, he said, will require collaboration among fintech firms, banks and regulators to build interoperable systems that can support a truly integrated African market.
Source: Techcabal