Access to dollars remains major hurdle for importers – Clea boss
June 28, 2026 12:39 am
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Clea, Sheriff Adedokun, discusses developments in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market following reforms introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria in this interview with FELIX OLOYEDE
African firms import goods valued at over $1tn annually, but access to foreign currency remains a major challenge for many. How did we get here?
It built up over a long time, and most of it comes down to the fact that the demand for dollars in Nigeria has run well ahead of what the official market could supply. We earn most of our hard currency from oil, so when crude prices move or production dips, the dollars coming in fall, but the appetite to import stays exactly where it is.
For a long stretch, we also had several official exchange rate windows running at once. If you had access to the cheaper window, you could turn around and sell on the parallel market, and that gap would reward the people closest to the allocation rather than the businesses actually trading. Add years of heavy government borrowing, much of it funded through the central bank, and the naira kept losing ground, which made everyone hold dollars as a store of value. The reforms since then have helped. Reserves are over fifty billion dollars now, and the gap between the official and parallel rates has narrowed a great deal. But the habit of scarcity, and the distrust it bred, does not unwind in a year.
What inspired the establishment of Clea, and what challenge were you aiming to address when you launched the business?
It came straight out of my own frustration. Paying suppliers outside the country was harder than finding the goods in the first place. As Nigerians, we rarely pay suppliers directly. You had to go through an agent, a middleman, or sometimes a friend or relative abroad, trusting them to send the money on your behalf. Many people got scammed outright. Others lost a huge amount to hidden fees they could not see. I was also scammed before, even by people I trusted.
Going through the banks has its own ordeal. The foreign exchange scarcity meant you waited, you ran into monthly caps, and transactions failed with no clear reason. The supplier on the other side did not trust where the money came from either, because so much of it arrived through third parties. So, you had a trust problem on both ends. We built Clea so individuals and businesses could pay suppliers directly, without any of that. Not only the payment, but the speed and the trust that had been missing for years.
How severe is the foreign exchange challenge facing importers today, and what effect is it having on businesses and consumers?
It is still a serious problem, even with the recent stability. The market looks calmer than it did five years ago, but access is the part that has not caught up. An independent importer with a genuine order still struggles to get the dollars they need on time, and that is most of the market.
What it does to a business is force you to price in uncertainty. You do not know what a dollar will cost you by the time your payment clears, so you build a buffer into everything, and your working capital sits frozen in inventory instead of moving. All of that is passed on to the consumer in the end. The goods cost more than they should, and sometimes they are simply not available because the importer could not fund the order in time.
Despite ongoing reforms, many importers continue to depend on informal foreign exchange channels to settle payments with overseas suppliers. Why does this practice persist, and what risks does it pose?
It persists because it works in the short term. A foreign supplier expects prompt payment in their currency, and a delay can cost you the shipment or the contract entirely. The informal channels let you move quickly and negotiate a rate, even a worse one, instead of waiting for an official allocation that may or may not come. There is also muscle memory here. Years of slow allocations taught people to route through the informal system, and the habit stuck even as conditions improved.
The risks are serious, though. You have no recourse when something goes wrong. The money often comes from sources you cannot account for, which is a live compliance exposure the day someone asks questions. The rate is whatever the market feels like that morning, so you cannot plan. And now and then, someone hands over a large sum, and the money simply never arrives.
Payment delays are often seen as merely an operational challenge, but what impact do they have on profitability, cash flow, and business growth?
They affect all three far more than people admit. While a payment is stuck, the rate can change, so the same goods end up costing more by the time the money goes through. And your supplier, who quoted you on the assumption of fast payment, starts treating you as a slow payer and gives you worse terms next time.
Then there is the cash flow side. Money tied up in a pending transaction is money you cannot use to take the next order. For an independent importer running on thin margins and borrowed capital, a few of those delays in a row can be the difference between growing and going backwards.
What are the biggest false assumptions people make about cross-border payments and international commerce in Africa?
People assume international payment is simply sending money from one bank account to another. But it is a whole verification and information system of value transfer. Before the money changes hands, someone has to answer who is sending it, where it came from, and if the receiver can even accept it, and that is where most payments get stuck.
Many people also assume banks are directly connected across the world. In reality, that is not always the case. International payments often move through a chain of correspondent or intermediary banks. Each step can add time, fees, and another point where the payment may be delayed, reviewed, or held.
Clea leverages stablecoin infrastructure to enable global payments. What practical benefits does this provide businesses over traditional payment methods?
Speed and cost are the obvious benefits, but the bigger shift is control. Businesses gain greater visibility into their payments, more predictable settlement times, and direct access to global liquidity without relying on multiple intermediaries. That means fewer delays, greater transparency, and more confidence when managing international supplier relationships.
How do you earn the trust of businesses seeking dependable access to foreign currency, particularly amid scepticism surrounding stablecoins and digital assets?
There is less scepticism than the question assumes, and where it exists, it usually comes from mixing up stablecoins with speculative crypto. They are not the same thing. A stablecoin is a digital token designed to stay pinned to a fiat currency, normally one-to-one with the dollar and backed by reserves.
The irony in this market is that the naira has weakened sharply against the dollar over the last few years, while a dollar-pegged token held its value the whole time. So, the asset people treat as uncertain has been more stable than the currency in their accounts. I do not ask anyone to take that on faith. We build trust by focusing on what matters to businesses: compliance, transparency, and reliability. Businesses want confidence that their payments will reach suppliers securely and on time. Once they see a transaction settle quickly, with clear visibility from start to finish, the conversation shifts from the technology itself to the value it delivers.
How critical are speed, transparency, and traceability when businesses make payments to international suppliers?
They are essential because they affect business efficiency. Speed ensures suppliers get paid on time, which keeps supply chains running smoothly. Transparency helps businesses understand exactly what is happening with their payment, especially when timing and foreign exchange rates affect margins. Traceability is what gives finance teams confidence that they can track, reconcile, and explain every transaction without guesswork. When all three are in place, international payments stop being a source of uncertainty and become a reliable part of operations.
Based on your experience working closely with importers, which industries have been hit hardest by foreign exchange shortages and payment delays?
Vehicle importers get hit hard because the values are large and the timing is tight. People importing industrial machinery and spare parts are also affected because a single delayed component can hold up a whole production line.
What are the biggest structural challenges facing cross-border trade and payments in Africa today?
We are still carrying a lot of fragmentation. As some global banks reduced their correspondent banking relationships with African markets, many of the connections businesses rely on to access, price, and settle international payments became weaker. There has never been one dependable system for how money gets accessed, priced, and settled, and until that exists, every business trading across borders carries friction that should not be there.
What barriers are hindering Africa’s millions of small and medium-sized enterprises with global ambitions from competing effectively in international markets?
Trust is the biggest barrier. A foreign supplier who has been warned about payment risk from this part of the world will ask for steeper terms. Add the documentation and compliance burden, which a big company has a whole department for, and an SME founder handles alone, plus no credit to bridge any of it, and you see why so many capable businesses never make it past the local market.
What developments in the future of trade, payments, and financial infrastructure in Africa are you most excited about?
What excites me most is the chance to make geography less of a barrier to trade. Today, where a business operates can have a huge impact on how easily it can access foreign currency, make payments, or reach global markets. Better financial infrastructure can help level that playing field. When that happens, businesses can spend less time navigating friction and more time growing, hiring, and serving customers. That is the opportunity I find most exciting because it goes beyond payments and has the potential to unlock growth across entire economies.
What is your vision for Clea in the years ahead, and how do you hope the company will help transform trade and commerce across Africa?
For Clea, success means becoming the trusted infrastructure layer that helps businesses across Africa access global markets more easily. A lot of companies do not limit themselves because of demand; they limit themselves because of operational uncertainty. When payments, foreign exchange access, and settlement become more predictable, businesses can think bigger. They can enter new markets, build new supplier relationships, and take opportunities they may have avoided before. If Clea can give businesses the confidence to operate beyond their local boundaries, that would be a meaningful contribution to the future of African commerce.
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