While presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and William Ruto spoke of industrialisation, investment and African integration, business leaders at the South Africa-Kenya Business Forum repeatedly returned to a simpler complaint: Africa’s trade agreements are moving faster on paper than they are at border posts, customs offices and regulatory agencies.
Held at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand as part of Ruto’s state visit to South Africa, the forum brought together government officials, financiers, industrialists and business organisations from both countries. What emerged was an unusually candid discussion about the obstacles that continue to hold back trade and investment between two of Africa’s most important economies.
For all the enthusiasm surrounding the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), speakers argued that the next phase of African integration will depend less on new agreements and more on removing practical barriers that continue to frustrate businesses operating across borders.
The message came through repeatedly from executives, investors and business organisations representing both countries.
Kenya and South Africa occupy pivotal positions in their respective regions. Kenya is widely regarded as the gateway to East and Central Africa, while South Africa remains the continent’s most industrialised economy and largest financial centre.
Yet trade between the two countries remains modest relative to their economic weight.
In 2025, bilateral trade reached about $680 million. Kenya remains one of South Africa’s largest trading partners outside the Southern African Development Community, while more than 60 South African companies operate in Kenya across banking, insurance, telecommunications, manufacturing and retail, among other sectors.
Ramaphosa says South African companies have undertaken 96 investment projects in Kenya worth more than $2 billion. Kenyan companies have invested in 11 projects in South Africa valued at about $283 million.
The figures formed the backdrop to a forum that focused less on trade statistics than on what comes next.
Standard Bank Group chief executive Sim Tshabalala argued that Africa’s integration challenge remains significant despite the establishment of the AfCFTA.
Describing Kenya and South Africa as the “two bookends of Africa’s most important north-south economic spine”, Tshabalala said the East African Community and Southern Africa had the potential to form a powerful economic corridor stretching from Mombasa to Cape Town.
Yet Africa continues to trade far less with itself than other regions of the world.
Africa’s intra-regional trade accounted for roughly 17% of exports, compared with 59% in Asia and 69% in Europe, he noted.
Tshabalala proposed two practical measures that could accelerate integration: a continent-wide customs processing system and visa-free travel for African business leaders.
His remarks were echoed by Kenyan industrialist Raghbir Singh Chatthe, the managing director of Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries, whose group has invested about R3.5bn in South Africa.
Chatthe’s investments include agricultural operations in Mpumalanga and sugar-sector assets in KwaZulu-Natal. He said the investments supported hundreds of South African jobs and had demonstrated the benefits of African capital being invested on the continent.
“African capital invested in Africa does more than generate returns,” he said. “It creates jobs, develops skills, strengthens communities and keeps value on our continent where it belongs.”
Chatthe argued that African countries needed to facilitate the movement of skills and expertise more effectively and move beyond exporting raw commodities towards local processing and manufacturing.
The focus on industrialisation was reinforced by Business Unity South Africa chair Dr Stavros Nicolau.
“Our industrial ambitions on the continent need to be matched with regulatory speed,” Nicolau said.
He pointed to fragmented regulations, customs bottlenecks and inconsistent standards as barriers preventing businesses from fully exploiting opportunities created by the AfCFTA and other regional trade agreements.
Nicolau also highlighted the uneven nature of trade between the two countries. South Africa exported substantially more to Kenya than it imports, reflecting both the size of South Africa’s industrial base and the limited diversification of trade flows in Africa.
He argued that the solution lay not in restricting trade but in growing it through investment, manufacturing and stronger regional value chains.
The strongest call for urgency came from Jas Bedi, the chairperson of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance.
Bedi proposed technical working groups, faster customs recognition procedures and accelerated negotiations on rules of origin. He called for governments to focus on implementation rather than additional commitments.
“AfCFTA is now law but law without implementation is just words,” he said.
His comments appeared to capture the mood of many participants.
Throughout the day, business leaders repeatedly returned to the same concerns: customs delays, regulatory duplication, non-tariff barriers and the slow pace of implementation.
What distinguished the forum was that both presidents largely accepted the diagnosis.
Ramaphosa’s address reflected many of the issues raised by business.
He spoke of the need to address implementation challenges under the AfCFTA, modernise customs systems, harmonise standards and expand digital infrastructure.
More significantly, he suggested that the relationship between South Africa and Kenya was evolving beyond traditional trade.
“We have moved beyond what we can sell to each other and towards what we can build together with each other,” he said.
The phrase captured a recurring theme throughout the forum.
Whether discussing pharmaceuticals, automotive manufacturing, agriculture, fintech or logistics, speakers focused on building integrated value chains rather than simply increasing exports.
Ramaphosa argued that South Africa and Kenya should collaborate in developing industries rather than competing in isolated national markets.
“We should not confine ourselves to ‘Made in Kenya’ or ‘Proudly South African’. We need to build Pamoja, Together,” he said.
Ruto struck a similar note.
Positioning Kenya as a gateway to East and Central Africa and South Africa as one of the continent’s leading industrial and financial centres, he said the two countries possessed complementary strengths capable of driving broader African growth.
“We must move beyond conventional trade and deliberately build integrated regional value chains in manufacturing, agriculture, mining, logistics, pharmaceuticals, energy, digital services and green industrialisation,” he said.
Ruto repeatedly emphasised industrial policy, infrastructure and value addition.
He pointed to Kenya’s strengths in fintech, mobile money, digital services and logistics while highlighting opportunities for collaboration in automotive assembly, mineral beneficiation, agro-processing and green manufacturing.
The Kenyan president also stressed the importance of transport and logistics infrastructure, linking Kenya’s Port of Mombasa and the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport corridor to South Africa’s major ports as part of a broader effort to strengthen east-south trade links across the continent.
Taken together, the speeches revealed a striking degree of alignment between government and business.
Both sides spoke of industrialisation, value chains, infrastructure, investment and implementation. Both sides argued that Africa’s future growth depends on greater economic integration.
The difference was that business leaders were more explicit about what is holding that integration back.
Ramaphosa appeared to acknowledge that frustration in his closing remarks.
He urged officials to reconvene business leaders within two years and measure progress through investment outcomes rather than declarations.
Otherwise, he joked, he and Ruto would simply meet at the airport, exchange greetings and return home without having achieved much.
“I would like to come to Nairobi to hear real commitments for investments,” he said.
After a day dominated by calls for implementation rather than new promises, it was a challenge directed as much at governments as it was at business.
The forum produced no major investment announcement and no dramatic breakthrough. What it did reveal was a growing consensus that the next phase of African integration will be judged not by agreements signed but by factories built, goods moved, capital invested and jobs created.
For South Africa and Kenya, that may be the most important outcome of all.