When the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into force in May last year, it set a course for radical increases in prosperity across the continent. The agreement strips away tariffs on 90 per cent of goods and opens up the world’s largest free trade area — a market of over $2.5tn

However, removing tariffs is a starting point, not a destination. With a population to rival India or China and a growing urban middle class, the winds are blowing in Africa’s favour. But it must still overcome several challenges hindering its progress.

For a start, Africans need to start trading more with themselves. Take the EU as an example: 61 per cent of its trade is internal among member nations. For Nafta, the figure is 40 per cent. For Asean, 23 per cent.

Africa is behind all of these with just 16 per cent of trade flows coming from deals between African businesses. This is a problem for growth, as large amounts of wealth end up flowing out of the continent. It also means African businesses often pay more than necessary for finished materials and products, forced to rely on expensive imports from outside the continent rather than taking advantage of cheaper suppliers producing goods of the same quality closer to home.

AfCFTA goes a long way to unlocking intra-African trade. However, to take advantage of this trade area, companies rely on infrastructure. African nations comprise at least half of the top 15 most-affected countries in the World Bank’s evaluation of infrastructure disruption. Moreover, financing for African infrastructure is currently $68bn to $108bn behind the levels required by the continent. With firms in low and middle-income countries facing costs of $300bn per year just from outages of water and electricity, states, financial institutions and investors that are able to tackle this infrastructure deficit will reap rewards from a considerable step up and inflow of business activity.