Merely eight years ago, economists and investors had crowned Africa as the “final frontier”, noting the continent had potential which involved high risk yet high returns. Africa had become a global conversation while China was aggressively growing its economy and the U.S. and Europe were slumming in the recession.
Between 2001 – 2010, six out of the ten fastest-growing economies (measured by GDP) in the world were located in Africa with a projection that by 2015.
In this period, Africa also witnessed large numbers of the diasporan community returning “back home” to start a new life, take advantage of the
ties and reconnect with Mama Africa.
Africa became the place to be, with the emergence of a middle class, shopping malls springing up all over the continent, per capita income on the rise, mid- to high-end luxury property developments being acquired, intra-Africa regional developments, strengthening currencies against the dollar plus African governments showing promise to its people and the rest of the world.
Today, the story is gravely different with the exception of two nations.