Africa has to rise up and take its place in the world.

Farming could offer the  best chance for Africa's development

Africa is perennially depicted as a place of war, disease, and poverty. It is a continent in constant need of help. To this end, international donors have often viewed Africa as that child in the family who always needs to be helped. Africa only comes to the international agenda when it is in crisis mode. How then can we make the continent move from the periphery of world affairs, and into the center, where it becomes part and parcel of the global conversation?
Africa is rich in mineral resources. It is rich in almost everything that could make a place prosperous, and yet, it is the poorest continent in the world. Picture for example a country like DR Congo, the world's poster child for poverty in the midst of plenty. The country has lots of diamond, copper, uranium, coltan, and many other minerals that you can think of. The mineral coltan is especially important as its used in the making of mobile phones. It has helped in the information revolution of the current generation, and yet, the Congolese citizens themselves cannot afford the mobile phones, tablets, and computers that make the information revolution worthwhile. Let's not even mention The Congo Forest, and the rich agricultural lands in the country. Clearly, this country, the size of Western Europe, should have been at the front seat of development, yet it remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

The continent's young perhaps then offer the best chance for the continent to develop. They are unshackled by the legacies of colonialism, and they are more exposed and outward looking. The continent's young are more educated. According to many publicized reports, the number of college and university graduates in Africa is about 5 million every year. This number is comparable to the Indian and Chinese University graduates. If these young Africans can be equipped with the requisite skills, then they can be innovative, and help to create world beating companies.

For Africa then, the continent should make it easier for people to start businesses. Currently, there are too many licenses that are required to start businesses, and there are too many obstacles that many an African entrepreneur usually faces before they launch their businesses. For one, these entrepreneurs are usually harassed even more than the foreign multinationals.

In that respect then, even as business people create more wealth, corruption levels have to come down. There is a lot of capital flight from Africa, and this doesn't do the continent any justice. It is saddening that this corruption is carried out with the aid of Westerners, further confining Africa to a sea of poverty. In addition to corruption, it must be noted that the continent is still unstable. This is largely as a result of the failure of leadership. In fact, it could be that everything in Africa, as elsewhere in the world, rises and falls on leadership. The correct leadership will enable African democracies to become stable and to flourish, and in the process, create a rich and prosperous continent that will be welcomed to the league of nations as an equal and capable player.