Connecting Africa’s wallets, unlocking Africa’s trade, smartly

Yesterday, Monday, 2 November, I joined discussions at the 15th Africa Internet Governance Forum at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, including a Smart Africa Steering Committee roundtable. My main message was that connecting Africa’s mobile money wallets across borders, alongside visa-free travel, could transform intra-African trade, significantly. At the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), we estimate that implementing both reforms could help raise intra-African trade from around 16% to more than 25% within five years. The opportunity is enormous. The figures I presented show that US$2.1 trillion flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, with approximately US$1.4 trillion, two-thirds of the total, transacted in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa had some 1.2 billion registered accounts, while West Africa alone recorded approximately US$498 billion in transactions across 517 million accounts. These are accounts, rather than unique individuals.