by Chanty Gbaye. Recently, conversation has circulated online as to whether people such as Nicholas Kristof were too soon to popularise the phrase “Africa rising”. Some, such as the New York Times’ Jeffrey Gentleman, even suggested replacing “Africa rising” with “Africa reeling”. As a member of the African diaspora, I — and many other Africans across the world — know that a two-word catchphrase doesn’t capture the dynamic innovation coming from our people.
Taking a step back, the relationship between Africa and the global community has been heavily defined by humanitarian aid, rather than economic partnership. The leading cause of failure in Western aid programmes is a lack of contextual knowledge of African communities. The trend of offering money without local input is a trend that stunts African growth.
Looking forward, African youth on — and off — the continent are leading the charge for African development. Our youth offer optimism for the future of Africa. They include the Kenyan school girls who created an app helping users avoid long lineups for public transportation and South African Kiara Nirghin, a recent winner of Google Science, whose innovation uses different fruits to retain soil water while also combating the effects of droughts on crops. Hello Tractor, a company founded by diaspora youth, provides African farmers with energy-efficient tractors that are better equipped to handle the size of farms on the continent.
Increased access to cell phones for African youth populations is key to their work as well. With 298 000 000 African internet users and counting, mobile technology is taking over the continent. Even 70% of the poorest fifth of the population own mobile phones.
Although challenges to development may remain, Africa certainly is not reeling. Africans are constantly innovating and transforming their continent for the better. If anything, Africa is on the move, and the future of African development is filled with boundless opportunities.
Chanty Gbaye is Fellow at Addis Ideas. Originally from Liberia, he is a political science major, with a minor in communications and a concentration in public administration. To learn more about the online community connecting African innovators, go to addisideas.org.
“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.
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