Industrials

Chris Paizis, Head of Client FX and International Banking, Absa CIB, provides a battle plan for corporate treasurers in the current “warlike” environment of global trade.

Walk into any small business in Lagos, Nairobi, or Johannesburg, and you’ll see the same thing: ambition trumping circumstance. SMEs (small and medium enterprises) make up the majority of businesses across the continent, such as in sub-Saharan Africa where they account for 95% of all registered businesses and contribute 50% of the total gross domestic product (GDP).

Africa’s payment ecosystem has long been defined by accessibility. In many markets, millions of people operated outside the formal banking system, relying on cash or informal transfers to move money. Out of this gap emerged one of the continent’s most striking financial shifts: the rapid rise of mobile-enabled wallets and fintech platforms that gave people a way to transact securely, even without a traditional bank account.

International payments are the connective tissue of the global economy – enabling trade, investment, and capital mobility across borders. Yet despite their central role in the financial system, they remain stubbornly expensive and complex, creating real friction in the flow of capital and affecting everything from multinational supply chains to individual remittances.

There is no shortage of hype around the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area, often framed as a ready-made substitute for the export markets Africa risks losing under shifting U.S. trade policy. The tariff wave under the Trump administration was a harsh – though in many ways inevitable – lesson in how fragile a trade model becomes when it leans too heavily on a few dominant markets.

The Absa Macro and Risk Management Conference underscores Absa’s commitment to helping clients make sense of global volatility and translate it into actionable African strategy. By convening world-class thinkers, the conference challenges institutional investors and corporate leaders to look beyond the noise of tariffs, wars, and economic turbulence — and focus on long-term opportunities for growth, resilience, and regional collaboration.