The reality is that Africa is becoming a remarkable success story. […] Africa's consumer sectors – goods, telecom and banking, amongst others – present the largest opportunity and are already growing two to three times faster than those countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). […] The rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other region in the world. This is not surprising given the competitive edge of the continent. […] Estimates from the African Development Bank suggest that companies participating in infrastructure investments in Africa can earn commercial rates of return from 5 to 10 percent in the water sector, 17 to 25 percent in the power sector and 25 to 30 percent in telecoms. Across sectors, infrastructure investments average returns of between 15 and 20 per cent.

“We chose to focus on growth because we think that it is a necessary condition for the achievement of a wide range of objectives that people and societies care about. One of them is obviously poverty reduction, but there are even deeper ones. Health, productive employment, the opportunity to be creative, all kinds of things that really matter to people seem to depend heavily on the availability of resources and income, so that they don't spend most of their time desperately trying to keep their families alive.”