Semafor organised its annual World Economic Summit in Washington, D.C., amidst heightened global economic uncertainties. The event gathered leading voices from both the public and private sectors across the world.

Speaking with Payoneer’s CEO, John Caplan, in a fireside chat moderated by Semafor’s Yinka Adegoke, Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola stressed the urgent need to continue building infrastructure and developing initiatives to boost Africa’s cross-border trade amid geopolitical shifts.

“In a time when global trade is becoming more unpredictable, Africa cannot afford to remain fragmented”, Mr Agboola stated.

While acknowledging that cross-border payment growth in the continent is not limited to the “big four” fintech markets, he expressed his concerns that “the share of overall trade within Africa is still low.”

“The momentum in trade between countries like Nigeria and Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana shows intra-African trade is happening, and we’re building an infrastructure to drive that growth even more aggressively,” he commented.

Agreeing with John Caplan, CEO and Director of Payoneer, on the implications of global economic shifts, Mr Agboola expects long-term impacts on emerging economies. He recommended stronger intra-African trade and regional supply chains as a survival and sustainable strategy for Africa’s growth.

According to the Flutterwave founder and CEO, key initiatives like Ghana and Rwanda’s licence passporting framework–Africa’s first licence passporting framework, PAPSS, and AfCFTA—are already underway to unlock Africa’s economic potential and increase the continent’s competitiveness on the global stage.

“Today, trade between African countries often requires routing funds through the US dollar. With PAPSS and our infrastructure, we can simplify that, facilitating payments from naira to cedi directly, for example, to reduce cost and time,” he added.

Despite tariff concerns, both speakers agreed that cross-border payments and trade, driven by small and medium-sized businesses expanding across markets as well as multinationals, leveraging emerging technologies such as AI, will continue to grow. Global trade won’t wait, and Africa can’t wait either.  

Answering questions on growth, Mr Agboola highlighted strong growth in cross-border remittances, travel, FMCG, and digital services; areas Flutterwave is actively supporting with its infrastructure.

As Africa navigates global economic currents, boosting internal trade and leveraging new technology remains critical for sustained growth and global competitiveness. Flutterwave is well-positioned to drive the revolution as the category leader of enterprise payment solutions on the continent.