Mr Eazi highlights Africa border barriers at a major dialogue, linking touring struggles to AfCFTA implementation gaps for SMEs and creatives

Oluwatosin Ajibade, the Afrobeats musician known as Mr Eazi, said on Friday in Accra that touring Europe and the United States was easier than touring Africa in the early years of his career, citing Africa border barriers that hinder artists and businesses.

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Mr Eazi spoke at the 2026 Africa Prosperity Dialogue, themed “Empowering SMEs, Women and Youth in Africa’s Single Market: Innovate, Collaborate, Trade,” where he reflected on a decade split between global music tours and entrepreneurship.

“In the last ten years, I have spent six of those years as a singer touring the world and four of those years doing a lot of entrepreneurship. Two things stand out to me,” he said.

Mr Eazi said intra-African travel proved more difficult than international tours during his rise to fame.

“In the first six years of my rise, particularly the first two years of me blowing up, it was easier to tour America and Europe than it was to tour Africa, even though I had some of the biggest songs. Once I had the number one song in Africa, touring here became even harder,” he said.

Recounting an incident at the Kenyan border, Mr Eazi said he was stopped from entering the country despite being paid to perform.

“I remember two occasions, one of me going into Kenya with my band. Even though I had been paid to perform, I was stopped at the border.

My band, which included members of other nationalities, were allowed to enter, but I, the lead artist who was being paid the most, had to wait,” he said.

Mr Eazi described the episode as emblematic of Africa border barriers that create friction in movement, payments and regulation.

“That incident speaks to the reality of the friction that is being put in place, friction that stops us from uniting, stops us from being stronger, and prevents us from developing,” he said.

Drawing from his business experience, Mr Eazi said he has invested in companies operating across 19 African countries.

“One of which I am really proud of is a company that is live in 19 African countries and processes four million transactions a day,” he said.

Mr Eazi argued that young people feel the impact of cross-border limits most acutely.

“The young people under the age of 35, we actually do not care about borders,” he said, noting that collaboration now happens “via the internet, via cross-border collaboration in business and in creativity.”

While acknowledging that frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area already exist, Mr Eazi said the decisive issue is execution. “What remains is the important work of implementation,” he said.

Mr Eazi added that easing cross-border movement does not weaken sovereignty. “We are not speaking about removing nations or weakening sovereignty.

We are speaking of enabling the commitments already made and allowing people to move, trade, and build within Africa more efficiently, securely, and lawfully,” he said.

Mr Eazi concluded by urging policymakers and business leaders to remove barriers holding the continent back. “A more connected Africa is how SMEs grow into continental champions.