Fasten Your Seat Belts: We Are Bringing Startup Cities to Africa

The special announcement I was looking forward to making

Most people don’t know this, but African nations rank in the bottom 20% of nations globally for ease of doing business. How many entrepreneurs would willingly submit themselves to jumping through endless hoops of senseless business laws instead of focusing on their customers?

Very few, indeed. And that’s the reason why Africa remains poor.

In environments dominated by red tape and bureaucracy, companies find themselves expending exceptional effort untangling the knots in a web of broken systems that rely on cronyism to survive, whereas healthy and friendly business environments are magnets for the most valuable capital.

For the past several years, I have been working not just to raise awareness about how we have been lied to about why Africa is poor but also to show how we can create a bright future for Africa by building prosperity instead of remaining indefinitely confined to the charity trap.

I have made it my life’s mission to help raise Africa out of poverty by bringing jobs and prosperity to millions of Africans by 2050. My passion is to see Africans recognized as co-creators of innovation and prosperity globally within my lifetime. 

But the biggest obstacle to achieving this goal is the fact that most African nations have among the worst business environments in the world. They are heavily overregulated with weak law and governance.

The one African country that is near the top in business global rankings, Mauritius, is now approaching the GDP per capita of some European nations. Unfortunately, most African nations are not learning from exceptions like this.

Changing the laws individually in each African nation may not be practical, and we simply don't have the time to undertake all the necessary reforms at the national level.

But here's the game-changer that can flip this script: Startup Cities, the new jurisdictions featuring world-class law and governance.

And the best example of this model is Próspera, currently located on the beautiful island of Roatán, Honduras.

The current Próspera team has the most experience building new cities in the world. Their CEO is Erick Brimen, a seasoned executive with a heart who is engaged in this work, as am I, to bring billions from poverty to prosperity. They have Tom Murcott as Executive Director, the man who helped build New Songdo City in Korea, the most successful new city project of the 21st century.

And there’s also Chirag Shah, former Chief Strategy Officer for the Dubai International Financial Centre, the most successful new financial center of the century; Oliver Porter, who created the first entirely outsourced city government for Sandy Springs, Georgia, a model that has since been copied in many locations; Ott Vatter and Silver Siniavski, the leaders of Estonia's e-government residency program, the best in the world, and so on.

The Próspera team is made up of proven experts. The result is that Próspera has been ranked as one of the top business environments in the world.

And as of now, I am honored to play a role in bringing the Próspera model to other nations around the world. I will be joining the team as the Director of Public Affairs for Próspera, helping other nations around the world understand the power of this model.  

And I'm particularly proud to say I'll serve as co-founder of Próspera Africa, leading the initiative to bring the startup city model to Africa.

Stay tuned in the months ahead as we announce exciting new developments that will create jobs, encourage investment, reward entrepreneurship, and help millions escape poverty.