For its backers, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is fundamental to realising the AU’s vision of ‘an integrated, prosperous, peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena’.1 This sentiment was captured by the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, H.E. Wamkele Mene, at the Start of Trading Ceremony in January 2021 when he stated that ‘this African Continental Free Trade Area should not just be a trade Agreement, it should actually be an instrument for Africa’s development’.