Africa Center Visiting Fellow Aubrey Hruby writes for Mic on the sixteen facts that will change the way the world thinks about Africa:
Africa has officially arrived. Earlier this month at the first ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Forum, Washington D.C. saw more Africa than ever before. Forty-two African heads of state joined President Obama in ushering in a new era. Anyone who cares about Africa couldn’t help but feel excited at the additional attention the summit brought the continent — a continent too few know enough about.
“Africa rising” is the bumper-sticker description for Africa’s dramatic change. But the phrase doesn’t quite capture the enormity of the change. At Africa’s current growth rate, living standards will increase more in 50 years than they did over in 1,000 years in the West.
While Africa’s economic success is staggering, the implications reach far beyond that. There’s a perfect storm of innovation. Economic growth has led to a technological boom and cultural renaissance. The transformation is dramatically changing the way Africa is seeing the world, and how the world is seeing Africa. In the future, Lupita and Chimamanda may be as common as Barack and Madiba, two African names Americans already know well.