The Chief Executive Officer of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), Mr. Mike Ogbalu III has set an audacious target of processing 80% of Africa’s commercial payments through PAPSS within five years, as the platform achieves 2,000% growth and expands to 20 countries. Mr. Ogbalu III offered a compelling example of a small trader who travels from Nigeria to Dakar to buy materials for resale, who previously spent days confirming payments and carried large amounts of cash across borders. Now, using PAPSS, payments are completed in approximately seven seconds, including all anti-money laundering and sanctions screening checks. He illustrated the problem using the cocoa value chain: African countries producing cocoa appropriate barely 5% of its value, selling raw beans whilst other African countries go outside the continent to buy processed cocoa products. “If you have a situation where Africa’s trade is dependent on a payment system that is not controlled by it, that is not fit for purpose.