Africa’s Corporate Travel Problem: Cash, PDFs, and Fragmented Systems
Photo Credit: Travelers at the airport in Lusaka, Zambia. Wikimedia Commons / Duke Makangila
Skift Take
The biggest problem in African business travel is everything that happens after someone decides to take a trip. And if this really is a $10 billion opportunity, it’s surprising how little innovation has focused on fixing that part.
Business travel in Africa is growing fast — but the systems managing it haven’t kept up.
Africa recorded more than $75 billion in inbound travel spending in 2025, with business travel accounting for roughly $10.6 billion, or about 14%, according to Euromonitor International.
Inbound business travel grew at an average annual rate of around 28% between 2021 and 2025.
Domestic business travel adds significantly to that total. In South Africa and Kenya alone, it contributes an estimated $689 million annually, according to Euromonitor.
Most large companies still manage travel through a patchwork of agencies, manual approvals, and per diem systems. Requests often move through multiple layers — line managers, department heads, finance teams — tracked across email threads and PDFs rather than centralized platforms.
Payment infrastructure is another constrain
