Moving goods from one African country to another is unfortunately not as simple as it should be. Sometimes the distance between two cities is short, but the red tape, delays and unexpected costs stretch the process far beyond what is reasonable. Traders find themselves navigating a maze of permits, approvals and conflicting rules. What should be a smooth handover at the border usually turns into days of waiting and unnecessary expense. And yet, this is the very thing the African Continental Free Trade Area was meant to change.

The AfCFTA was introduced to make trade across African countries easier, more predictable and more beneficial for African businesses. But the agreement alone is clearly not enough. For us business owners, what matters most is whether that ease is something we can actually feel on the ground. If paperwork is still confusing, if logistics are still unreliable and if nobody can tell you clearly what the rules are from country to country, then trade will stay local, no matter what the vision says.

The work should be further along in implementation, not stuck in the negotiation stages where it feels like it has been for years. What’s needed now are systems that work and people who actually understand them. Making sure the route from warehouse to customer no longer breaks down at the border should not be a rare win. We can’t keep building plans around exceptions. If trade is going to move, the systems behind it must move too.