Continental trade: “Africa must kill its borders” — Sir Sam Jonah

Ghana took a prominent place in the global business and entrepreneurship conversation as the GEF Global Business Forum Ghana Edition convened business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, diplomats and institutional leaders in Accra to advance trade, investment, enterprise growth and cross-border partnerships. Held under the theme “The World We Help to Create,” the Forum moved beyond dialogue to practical engagement, connecting businesses with investors, markets and decision-makers while generating commitments to support entrepreneurs with access to global opportunities, including sponsored participation, travel and accommodation to the Global Entrepreneurship Festival (GEF) 2026 in Cairo, Egypt, from 6-8 November 2026. The Ghana Edition formed part of GEF’s wider global engagement series and provided a strategic platform for positioning Ghanaian businesses, entrepreneurs, innovations and investment opportunities within an expanding international network of investors, governments, institutions and business leaders.

Delivering the keynote address, “Building the World We Help to Create: Africa, Trade, Investment and Shared Prosperity,” Sir Sam E. Jonah, Founder and Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, placed enterprise development, intra-African trade and investment at the centre of Africa’s economic future. Drawing on decades of experience in African business and international capital markets, including the historic listing of Ashanti Goldfields on the New York Stock Exchange, he emphasized the critical relationship between enterprise, capital and economic scale.

“An enterprise of scale needs capital,” Sir Jonah said. He also challenged the assumption that governments can absorb Africa’s growing working-age population through public employment. “Government cannot employ all its population.

But through enterprises, entrepreneurs can,” he said. Turning to African economic integration, Sir Sam called for the removal of barriers inhibiting intra-African trade and challenged governments and businesses to translate continental agreements into practical economic outcomes. “If we want Africa to buy from Africans, we must learn to kill the borders,” he said.

Addressing the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the need to improve competitiveness and mobility across African markets, he declared: “Implementation is the new innov… Ghanaian business statesman Sir Sam E. Jonah has challenged African governments and businesses to tear down barriers to trade and create an environment in which African enterprises can grow, compete and generate the jobs needed to absorb the continent’s expanding working population.

For Sir Sam Jonah, continental integration must move beyond agreements and declarations to tangible changes that make it easier for African businesses to trade with one another. Sir Sam Jonah, Founder and Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, made the call in Accra when he delivered the keynote address at the GEF Global Business Forum — Ghana Edition, held under the theme, “The World We Help to Create”. He also urged African governments and businesses to focus on implementing existing continental initiatives, particularly the African Continental Free Trade Area, saying effective implementation was itself a form of innovation.