The Africa CEO Forum that went underway in Kigali on Thursday should not end as another gathering where Africa’s ambitions are eloquently stated but weakly acted upon.
If there is one urgent message policymakers in the room must take home, it is that the continent cannot build a single market while making it difficult for its own investors, entrepreneurs and capital to move.
The experience shared by Nigerian billionaire and BUA Group founder Abdul Samad Rabiu should shame the continent. He recounted how he was once turned away from an African country just because his visa had expired for one day.
That one of Africa’s leading industrialists can still face avoidable barriers while trying to do business on the continent says a lot about the gap between our speeches and our systems.
Africa has spent years speaking about integration, industrialisation, value chains and the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Yet, in practice, too many borders remain hostile to business.
Capital still moves too slowly. Regulations remain fragmented. Currency restrictions complicate transactions. Visa regimes frustrate investors. Customs systems delay goods. Banks struggle to support cross-border trade with the speed required by modern enterprise.
These are not minor inconveniences and must addressed with urgency.
When an African manufacturer wants to expand across the continent, they should not have to fight bureaucracy at every border. When an investor wants to deploy capital into another African market, they should not be trapped by unclear rules, slow approvals or policy uncertainty. When business leaders gather in rooms such as the Africa CEO Forum, the conversation should move beyond diagnosing the problem to committing to timelines, reforms and accountability.
The truth is simple: Africa does not lack capital. It often lacks the systems that allow capital to flow where it is needed most.
Policymakers attending the forum must therefore treat capital mobility as a continental priority. This means harmonising investment regulations, easing repatriation rules, strengthening regional payment systems, removing unnecessary visa barriers for businesspeople, simplifying customs processes and accelerating implementation of AfCFTA commitments.
It also means trusting African enterprise. Too often, African investors receive more suspicion from fellow African states than foreign investors do. That contradiction must end.
The well-attended Kigali forum should therefore trigger a shift from conversation to implementation. Africa’s private sector has shown the appetite to build. What it needs now is a policy environment that does not punish ambition.