Gabriel Ologunwa, Flutterwave’s lead for global expansion and payment partnerships in Anglophone West Africa, joined policymakers, banks, fintech executives and other industry participants at the Nigeria Fintech Forum to examine the future of cross-border payments and Africa’s broader financial integration. During a panel discussion on removing barriers to seamless regional payments, he said the continent may be significantly closer than commonly believed to resolving the obstacles that have long restricted intra-African commerce.
Ologunwa said payment-system fragmentation, limited access to foreign exchange and regulatory disparities have historically made cross-border trade slower and more expensive. However, progress in financial technology, including the growing use of stablecoins, is helping transactions become quicker, cheaper and more efficient. He argued that the necessary technology is already available and that, if regulatory cooperation improves alongside continued innovation by private companies, Africa could establish a genuinely real-time, low-cost cross-border payments network within the next few years.
He identified the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol and the adoption of ISO 20022 as key components of a more integrated payments infrastructure. At the same time, he said durable progress would require closer cooperation among regulators, payment companies and other private-sector players to improve interoperability and bring greater consistency to rules across African markets. For small and medium-sized enterprises, he added, the issue is not simply whether they can receive payments: they also need one connected system covering collections, disbursements, foreign-exchange services, compliance and reconciliation. Flutterwave is seeking to address that complexity through a single platform that enables companies to operate and expand in several African countries. Ologunwa said one of the sector’s biggest opportunities is to make a transaction between Nigeria and Kenya as straightforward for a small business as it is for a multinational, with stronger digital infrastructure and sustained cooperation essential to Africa’s next stage of economic growth.
