The old pit-to-port economic model of colonial Africa is no longer viable, sustainable or desirable. There is a growing realisation among South African companies that their growth compass is now pointing ‘due north’ – not, as in the past, a north that bypasses the rest of the continent, but one that incorporates the full potential that lies between Cape and Cairo. But greater economic integration will only be feasible if greater efforts are made to improve the hard and soft infrastructure needed to connect African countries to one another.