I had the honour of speaking at the Elevate Africa Convening 2025 in Gaborone, Botswana, where I joined industry leaders on the plenary session, “Bridging Borders: Unlocking Trade Through Seamless Intra-African Payments.” The session explored how innovative financial infrastructure, digital technologies, and regional collaboration can accelerate intra-African trade and deepen economic integration under the AfCFTA. I was joined by Abraham Osho of Pan-African Payment & Settlement System- PAPSS, Athman Ali of Visa, and Ehi Binitie of Rancard, and the session was moderated by Karen Matsiko of Pivotedge Advisory & Consultancy Group It was an insightful discussion on building trusted, scalable systems that empower businesses and governments to transact seamlessly across borders, which underscored a key message: Africa’s trade potential will be fully realised when payments and processes become truly frictionless and built to support continent-wide economic participation.