There’s the common phrase Africa rising. Proponents of this analogy say the growth of sub Saharan Africa’s economy beginning the year 2000 is inevitable.
They point to the democratization of African states since the end of cold war, comparative peace, increasing presence of mobile phones and the internet, increase in consumer spending and growth in entrepreneurship as factors that continue to spur this growth- in addition to improved governance, a period of mid-to-high single-digit economic growth, rising incomes and an emerging middle class.
The World Economic Forum held in May 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda sought to open the can on the Africa rising analogy, posing the question: ‘Is Africa rising or falling?’ to a panel of African leaders including; Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, Nigeria’s business mogul Tony Elumelu and first Deputy Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund David Lipton.
