Africa no longer fits the stereotype; it’s the world’s fastest growing continent.

For years, Africa has been seen through the eyes of charity television appeals. Crippled by poverty, corrupted by military leaders, and overcome with drought and famine; unable to stand on its own two legs and develop, apparently earning the name, the “Third” world.

There’s no denying it – Africa has problems, but the overriding stereotype that Africa is backwards, unwilling and falling apart at the seams is plain wrong.

Africa is growing at an incredible rate. It possesses 6 of the world’s fastest growing economies, it’s the second biggest mobile market in the world, and just counting Nigeria alone, has produced more films than Hollywood. It’s quite a CV. Mobile technology has transformed the lives of millions of Africans with services such as “M-Pesa” allowing customers to pay their bills and transfer money, and text services such as “M-Farm” making sure that farmers know their markets and can get the best deals, all at the twiddle of a thumb.

Government is changing too. Rwanda has the largest proportion of women in parliament in the world, an achievement Europe could only aspire to. The continent has 20 Nobel peace prize winners under its belt and Malawi’s President Joyce Banda took it a step further by not only vowing to repeal bans on homosexuality, but also abandoning the presidential jet and fleet of luxury cars which the previous government had previously insisted upon.  

Culturally, Africa is a hipster’s dream. With Afrobeats, the vibrant hybrid of African electronic hip-hop, permeating the charts, with Kanye West’s signing D’Banj’s hit Oliver Twist reaching number 9 in the top 40, African music has been reignited. Similarly, you don’t have to travel far to see Africa fashion at the forefront of this season, with explosive prints on Topman’s t-shirts and the front cover of Vogue oozing African style.

The face of Africa has changed from the improvised to the empowered, with the potential to progress, inspire and innovate, and with the recent spoof appeal for Africa to donate radiators to freezing Norwegians, with the brilliantly named “Radi-aid”, it looks like the world is opening its eyes to 21^st century Africa. 

Sources

http://www.seeafricadifferently.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/01/malawi-joyce-banda-discards-presidential-jet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bXjgx4J0C4