Is Change in Africa Really Possible? (Part 2)

More from African business insiders who think that change there is not hopeless.
In the talk that opened TEDGlobal 2007 ("Africa: The Next Chapter"), South African investment banker and president of the South African Chamber of Commerce - America, Euvin Naidoo, gives a compelling overview of the things that are happening on the ground that make Africa a realistic investment opportunity. [For us business types: Skip ahead to 7:50 minutes into the video for the hard data.]

Naidoo gives a number of examples of the imperative of moving past the "preconceptions" of Africa (famine, war, corruption), toward a compelling picture of a "continent on the cusp of enormous change."

The good news notwithstanding, progress in Africa will inevitably be measured by success against the Millennium Development Goals, or what the Economic calls in a July 5, 2007 article, "The Eight Commandments." July 2007 represents the halfway point from the articulation/acceptance of the goals to the 2015 deadline.

Are we there yet? The Economist article lays out what it describes as "incremental progress," but also calls it "half crusade and half charade" in another article in the same edition asking that very question. Evidently, MGD supporters like Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to the UN, will still argue that:

"the developing world's needs can be counted, the cheapest fixes can be costed, and the resulting bill can be calculated. All that remains in for the rich world to pick up the tab, so that a poor country's health and education ministries can get the job done. This MDG-think is seductive,...but misleading."

Whether the MDG goals can be met, whether they can only be met if accompanied by a significant level of new investment in Africa (trade, not aid) or whether they will never be met because, as the Economist argues, this is not an "engineering problem," is for the experts to argue and time to tell.

Carla E. Dearing