Africa Rising 21st Century

               In a speech during the December 2022 US-Africa Leaders’ Summit, President Joe Biden promised to support African development through the African Union’s Agenda 2062 initiative. “And with this summit, and with the African Union’s Agenda 2063, our eyes are fixed squarely on the future. We’re now in the early years that will be…a decisive decade,” Biden told the gathered African leaders.             Throughout the summit, the Biden administration announced initiatives in several sectors: “The United States and African nations recognize that our world is quickly changing, and this Summit reflected how our relationship is evolving with it. We will deepen our collaboration to solve global problems and shape the rules of the road for technology, space, cybersecurity, trade, environmental protection, and economics.” Taken as a whole, they add up to supporting the African Union i...

               For more than two decades now, Americans have held polarized views about the integrity and accuracy of votes in our national elections. As someone who once taught African election observers and African political parties, this was embarrassing early on. I recall hosting a Nigerian delegation in Florida in 2002 where participants asked to see the infamous “hanging chads” from the 2000 elections. My colleagues and I took pride in our training in Africa to emphasize that in our country, losing parties tried to learn from their losses and move on to their next opportunity to win. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. American elections routinely seem to devolve into recriminations and court challenges. We would find ourselves in a precarious position these days preaching such sanctimonious sentiments about the acceptance of our election results. In 2023, there are key elections in Africa, and one hopes our government can focus on ...

               For the past several years, proponents of Africa have trumpeted the rising gross domestic product (GDP) in some African countries as the growth of their economies seemed to signal a major turnaround for the continent and its people. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) gave hope that a strong, united African market was just around the corner. Yet, the major boost to African countries broadly has been stymied by COVID-19, conflicts and other challenges. One hopes these challenges can be overcome in this new year. Kearney, a global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries worldwide, first stated in its Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) of 2021 research report that Africa would be “retail’s next gold rush” as Asia’s growth slows. “Driven by growing, young, urban, and increasingly more affluent populations, Africa’s aggregate potential as an emerging retail market far outweighs problems associ...