As more African startups and operators expand across borders, they are running into the same problem: the continent’s legal and regulatory systems are not moving at the same speed. A Nairobi event convening in June wants to change that.
For many founders, the hard part is no longer building the product. It is expanding it across borders.
A contract that works in one market can become harder to enforce in the next. Payment rails do not always travel cleanly across countries. Tax assumptions can change mid-expansion. Regulatory approvals that should take weeks can drag on for months.
The result is a familiar bottleneck for African businesses trying to scale: ambition is moving faster than the frameworks meant to support it.
Where the friction shows up
