Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa

"For anyone who wants to understand how the African economy really works, The Bright Continent is a good place to start." &;Reuters

Dayo Olopade knew from personal experience that Western news reports on conflict, disease, and poverty obscure the true story of modern Africa. And so she crossed sub-Saharan Africa to document how ordinary people deal with their daily challenges. She found what cable news ignores: a continent of ambitious reformers and young social entrepreneurs, driven by kanju&;creativity born of African difficulty. It&;s a trait found in pioneers like Kenneth Nnebue, who turned cheap VHS tapes into the multimillion-dollar film industry Nollywood. Or Ushahidi, a technology collective that crowdsources citizen activism and disaster relief. A shining counterpoint to the conventional wisdom, The Bright Continent rewrites Africa&;s challenges as opportunities to innovate, and celebrates a history of doing more with less as a powerful model for the rest of the world.

"[An] upbeat study of development in Africa…The book is written more in wonder at African ingenuity than in anger at foreign incomprehension." &;The New Yorker