By Chibuzor Alli
African businesses are losing billions of naira to expensive cross-border payments, with hidden foreign-exchange spreads, slow settlement processes and complex compliance requirements increasing the cost of international trade.
A typical $20,000 supplier payment can cost a business more than N400,000 through a 1.5 per cent hidden foreign-exchange spread, while payments can take days to settle, creating cash-flow pressures and straining relationships with suppliers.
The challenges are being worsened by foreign exchange volatility and liquidity constraints across sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in markets such as Nigeria where businesses often face difficulties accessing foreign currency for imports.
As more companies expand through the African Continental Free Trade Area, businesses are increasingly having to deal with high transaction costs, clearing fees and multiple currency conversions when settling invoices across borders.
The payment challenges have also created operational difficulties for corporate finance teams, with delayed transactions sometimes leaving businesses dependent on automated support systems rather than real-time assistance.
Oneremit expands cross-border operations
Cross-border payment platform Oneremit, founded in 2024 by Hammed Afenifere, Olusola Carter and Bolaji, said it has expanded its operations to serve more than 1,000 businesses.
The company said it has processed more than $200m in outbound commercial transactions as it seeks to address payment challenges faced by African businesses trading internationally.
In a statement made available to The PUNCH on Friday, co-founder Olusola Carter said existing payment infrastructure had not kept pace with Africa’s growing trade ambitions.
“Running a business in Africa is already hard. Payments shouldn’t be. When we started Oneremit, we kept coming back to one idea: that Africa is part of the global market, but the payment infrastructure available to African businesses hasn’t caught up to that reality. That’s the gap we’re closing,” Carter stated.
Co-founder Bolaji said the platform works with banks, correspondent networks and other international providers rather than seeking to replace traditional financial institutions.
“We’re not trying to replace the banks or the correspondent networks. We’re working with them, a network of international providers, banks, and partners we’ve built relationships with over time, so that our customers don’t have to think about any of it. They send a payment; we handle the routing,” he said.
Compliance and payment infrastructure
According to the company, its model combines compliance-focused payment infrastructure with a human concierge service to help businesses manage international transactions.
It said partnerships with international payment firms, including OwlPay, TerraPay and Blockradar, were helping to improve settlement times, increase corridor coverage and strengthen transaction monitoring.
Oneremit currently holds regulatory licences in Canada, the United States and Nigeria, while it said licensing approvals were underway in the United Kingdom, Ghana and Tanzania.
The company said the approvals formed part of its plans to expand into European and other African markets.
The developments come as African businesses seek to take greater advantage of the AfCFTA, which aims to increase intra-African trade but still faces practical challenges around payments, currency conversion, liquidity and financial infrastructure.
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