Africa could be the richest continent on Earth. It has talent, resources, and the youngest population in the world. My mission is to help Africa become prosperous.
This is what a prosperous Africa means for Africans: steady electricity, clean cooking, safe water, working hospitals, medicine supply chains, and trained staff. Vaccines stay cold, operating rooms stay open, fewer children die from preventable disease, and less people die from indoor air pollution (especially women and children).
A richer Africa also reduces pressure to migrate out of necessity (aka illegal immigration), gets us larger consumer markets, stabilizes the region, and attracts investment.
When Africa prospers, Africans live longer and safer lives, and the rest of the world gains new partners, new products, and stronger supply chains.
1) Africa is far bigger than people think
Africa covers about 30 million square kilometers. You can fit the US, China, India, and more inside it.
Note: this is simply a fun fact. Geographic size by itself means little without prosperity.
2) It is the cradle of humanity
Modern humans evolved in Africa. Fossils and DNA evidence point to that.
3) Africa is the youngest region on Earth
The median age is about 19 years. By 2050, at least one in four people on Earth will be African.
4) Yet the region remains the center of extreme poverty
Sub-Saharan Africa holds about two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor today. On current trends, nearly 80 percent of the world’s extreme poor will live in the region by 2030.
5) Two key shortages explain most of this: energy and economic freedom
Low access to reliable, affordable, abundant energy AND weak economic freedom keep productivity low in Africa. That is the core problem.
6) The first shortage is energy
About 600 million people in Africa have no electricity today. Four out of five people in the world without power live in Sub-Saharan Africa. If current trends continue, hundreds of millions will still lack electricity in 2030.
7) The second shortage is economic freedom
The Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World report shows that countries with more economic freedom have much higher incomes, happier and healthier people, less poverty, and less corruption. Many African countries sit in the lowest quarter of the index.
8) Africa is the hardest region of the world to do business
Africa is the hardest region of the world to do business.
I’ve felt this firsthand: as an entrepreneur, basic steps that take days in the US can take months (years when I first did this!) in Senegal, with extra permits, unpredictable delays, and costly approvals at every turn.
Learn more here, here and here.
African nations rank in the bottom 20% globally for ease of doing business:
9) Foreign aid has been large, but it did not fix the core issues
Aid flows are big. Since 1960, cumulative aid to Sub-Saharan Africa is on the order of 1.2 trillion dollars.
Foreign aid did not remove the two main constraints – people still lack reliable electricity, and the rules still made it very hard to start a business or invest.
Note: I am not talking about humanitarian aid. By foreign aid, I mean long-term programs that kept dependent and also kills small businesses.
10) Colonialism and the policy turn after independence
After independence, many African leaders (they are called the “African liberators”) chose heavy state control and embraced socialism.
At the time, the West (mainly Europe and the United States) represented capitalism, which they associated with their former colonial rulers. Since the Soviet Union stood as the main rival to the capitalist West, many African leaders saw socialism as the natural “anti-colonial” choice — the ideology of resistance.
In practice, this often led to bureaucracy, corruption, and economic stagnation, as governments took over farms, factories, and trade that could have been better managed by free citizens.
11) Markets and trade are not foreign to Africa
Trade built great African economies long before colonial rule. Swahili city-states on the Indian Ocean, the Mali Empire’s trans-Saharan trade, Aksum’s coinage and Red Sea trade, and Great Zimbabwe’s gold and imports are well documented. Africa has deep commercial roots.
You can learn more here, here, here, here and here.
12) Today’s bright spot: African tech that solves real problems
Mobile money is a major African innovation: it turned basic phones into wallets for millions of Africans. Most of them never had a bank account (it is very hard to have one in most African countries).
Africa still carries the largest share of global mobile money value each year.
14) Why Africa matters (a lot)
If nothing changes, 80% of the world’s extreme poor will live in Africa. If we fix the bad laws that are keeping Africans poor, the opposite can be true. The continent could be the main engine of global growth in this century.
15) The way out is clear and practical
A) Build reliable energy at scale
You cannot run a modern factory, a hospital, or a high-tech business with a little solar panel on your roof. That’s an upgrade from darkness, but it’s not development.
Big power plants. We need power that runs 24/7, year-round, that is cheap enough for me to run a factory and compete with China.
Stop pushing energy poverty. For decades, wealthy nations used coal, gas, and oil to get rich. They can’t tell Africa, “No, you must skip directly to renewables,” when that technology is often expensive and unreliable for big industrial needs. We need to use whatever works to end poverty fast. Prosperity first, always.
B) Make rules simple and predictable
Poverty = lack of economic freedom. Right now, in too many African countries, the laws are set up to kill your business before it even starts.
My own experience shows the difference: I started a business with a sister company in the U.S. and one in Senegal. In the U.S., it took me just half a day online to register my company. In Senegal, it took me two years and all types of permits. This is the difference between a thriving economy and one stuck in poverty.
When I wanted cardboard boxes for my business, in the US, I could order them online for next-day delivery with no minimum order. In Senegal, I needed a 100,000 minimum order, 50% up front, and a four to eight weeks wait. And don’t get me started with the labor laws, high tariffs, and so on.
We need to change the rules so that any African with a good idea can start a legal business in a few days.
C) Trade, not Aid
When you give long-term aid, you often create dependency, and you hurt the local entrepreneur trying to sell the same thing. Aid is only for emergencies, not for economic development (watch Poverty Inc.!)
What we need most is investment, not donations. We do not need a handout. We need business partners who see opportunity and expect a fair return. Investors bring capital, technology, management know-how, and networks, things that grants do not provide.
Buy our products! The world should open up markets to African goods and services. There is a growing global appetite for African goods and services because many of them are premium, competitive, and already loved by customers. A customer spending money is a thousand times better than a donor giving money. Trade is how you get jobs, skills, and businesses that last. And it feels better too, because it’s earned!
Ordered some Skin Is Skin! Very informative post, thank you🙏
I totally agree with the need for power. Yes, the large financing has avoided any funding for anything but wind and solar. There are several small nuclear reactors that have good potential. Africa should build their own reactors. There are no legal restrictions on this, or on fuel production, unless a country signs a 123 agreement with the USA. With reasonable regulations that will be the least expensive most reliable power. https://deepfission.com/
Is one example. The DOE has several listed. I lived in the Philippines for 10 years. I have looked for small power plant that would power an island for several years. The simplicity of deep fission is very helpful. The ability to expand in a small physical space means you can purchase the power you need now and be able to add easily in the future.