African enterprise needs banks that connect markets

Sivuyile Makiza, Head of Commercial Banking, Access Bank South Africa

An entrepreneur in Johannesburg can identify a potential customer in Lagos within minutes. Completing the transaction may take far longer. The payment route may be unclear, local requirements unfamiliar, and the business may have no trusted relationship on the other side of the border.

That gap between visibility and commercial access remains a constraint on African enterprise. Opportunities are increasingly easy to identify, while the systems that help businesses turn them into sustainable trade remain uneven.

From my perspective in commercial banking, this is changing what businesses need from financial institutions. Finance remains essential, and it becomes more useful when it is supported by market knowledge, reliable payment routes, and relationships that help clients navigate unfamiliar jurisdictions.

The first step is often a connection

That gap between visibility and commercial access remains one of the most underestimated barriers to African trade. In my view, Africa’s trade challenge is increasingly not a lack of opportunity or even a lack of capital. It is a lack of connectivity between businesses, markets, payment systems, and trusted commercial networks.

Working with businesses across South Africa, I regularly see companies that can identify opportunities elsewhere on the continent but struggle to convert those opportunities into transactions. Finance remains essential, but it becomes significantly more powerful when combined with market knowledge, reliable payment routes, and relationships that help businesses navigate unfamiliar jurisdictions.

Banks with a presence across African markets can play a practical role here. They can bring local knowledge into the discussion, help clients understand regulatory and payment requirements, introduce credible counterparties, and structure finance around the transaction that is actually taking place.

This is relevant to South African businesses looking elsewhere on the continent and to companies in other African markets seeking opportunities here. The relationship between South Africa and Nigeria offers a useful example. South Africa brings deep industrial capability and established corporate supply chains, while Nigeria contributes entrepreneurial energy, scale, and a large business ecosystem.

There is room for stronger commercial links between the two countries in manufacturing, energy, digital services, and logistics. Progress depends on viable businesses finding one another and having enough confidence in the payment, financing, and operating arrangements to complete the deal.

AfCFTA has to work for businesses

Despite Africa being home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, intra-African trade remains significantly lower than in regions such as Europe and Asia, highlighting the scale of the opportunity that still exists.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) gives the continent a shared framework for deeper regional trade. Its success will be felt in the transactions businesses can complete, the markets they can enter, and the value chains they can join.

For many companies, expansion into another African country still means establishing new banking relationships, understanding local regulations, identifying suitable partners, and finding reliable ways to move money. These requirements can slow a transaction before finance is even discussed.

The policy framework creates an important foundation, but businesses still need practical support around payment mechanisms, trade finance, market information, and logistics. They also need clarity on how funds will move, where delays may arise, and whether support can continue from the purchase order through to final payment.

In discussions with clients looking to expand beyond South Africa, the most common questions are rarely about pricing or credit. They are about who they can trust, how they will get paid, and whether they have the right partners on the ground. Those concerns often determine whether a transaction proceeds at all.

This is where a pan-African banking network becomes commercially useful. A bank with relationships across several jurisdictions can help reduce fragmentation by connecting local knowledge, payments, trade finance, and client relationships across the markets involved.

The objective is to help African businesses avoid rebuilding the entire commercial and banking structure every time they cross a border.

Women-led enterprises need routes into markets

Women-led businesses often face financing constraints alongside limited access to commercial networks, market information, mentorship, and trusted introductions. Those barriers can restrict regional growth even where the underlying business is sound, and the product has already found a domestic market.

A woman entrepreneur may have proven demand at home but still struggle to identify buyers in another country or understand how to enter that market. Capital has greater effect when it is linked to practical support that helps the business prepare, build relationships, and reach customers beyond its existing base.

Support for women entrepreneurs should follow the full commercial journey. Through the W Initiative, Access Bank combines finance with capacity building, mentoring, market connections, and business support. The intention is to help women-led enterprises prepare for growth and become more visible to customers, partners, and investors.

These connectivity challenges can affect businesses of all sizes, but they are often more pronounced for entrepreneurs who have historically had less access to commercial networks and introductions. Women-led enterprises are a particularly important example..

Banks will be judged by the connections they enable

Africa’s future growth will increasingly be shaped by businesses that can reach customers beyond their home markets, participate in regional value chains, and build commercial relationships across borders.

AfCFTA has created a framework for this future, but frameworks alone do not create trade. Businesses need practical pathways to opportunity. They need trusted partners, reliable payments, market intelligence, and financial institutions capable of connecting the different pieces of the commercial journey.

The banks that matter most in Africa’s next phase of growth will not simply move money. They will help businesses find markets, build relationships, navigate complexity, and convert opportunity into trade.

Africa’s entrepreneurs are already building. The next step is ensuring they have credible routes to customers, suppliers, and partners across the continent.