What’s even more worrying is that the BRIC countries have implemented growth strategies that will create an even bigger gap between them and Africa.

With this in mind I have outlined some thoughts on how Africa could possibly try and play catch up to its peers:

·                     Education quality – the issue of Africans being educated on the continent and then plying their trade in the developed world continues to be a challenge for the continent. However, this challenge can be partially solved by continuing to strive for the highest education standards across the continent, not just pockets of the continent. More emphasis should be placed on ensuring that the products of our education system can make a meaningful contribution on leaving the school system.

The number of skills that leave the continent will be regulated by supply and demand factors. The 'African Diaspora' should be viewed as part of continent's exports, the proceeds of which are remittances to the continent, in certain cases these remittances make up a significant portion of foreign reserves of their countries of origin. The intellectual capital residing in the 'African Diaspora' should be channelled to find solutions to the African problem.

·                     Construction Of World Class Infrastructure – firstly, good infrastructure helps in the growth of the country,thereby uplifting living standards and, secondly, it increases inter-Africa trade. At this stage of global economics it doesn’t make sense for Francofone travellers to fly from West Africa to Europe in order to catch a flight to Johannesburg. Or, why it should cost more to move a product from Kenya to South Africa than what it would cost to move the same product to Europe?

Infrastructure development has to take a regional or continental dimension, there is no point in having the best roads in a landlocked country when neighbouring states with access to ports have shocking roads. For example, India has embarked on a programme to build 20 000-kilometres of road, at its peak it will entail building approximately 20km of road a day. Bear in mind that India’s road network already has a bigger coverage than Africa’s coverage. China has also embarked on a process of building 16 000-kilometres of high speed trains and we know what China already has.

·                     Regional Trade Blocs – the world is moving towards trading blocs. Examples of these are the European Union (EU) and BRIC trading blocs. The EU recently appointed a president. Chances are that in the next decade the EU president will just be as powerful as the prime ministers of the individual member states. By organising the African continent into effective regional trading blocks will help Africa make better use of its resources and give it negotiating power on the global trade table. If South Africa, for example, has the technology and the capital to develop mines in Africa why not let them do so instead of bringing in the Chinese or the EU to come and do the mining?

We have long realised that the carving of Africa at the Berlin conference resulted in countries that should not be countries if all factors had been taken into account. It therefore makes sense to be organised in regional blocks to remove the imbalances. Being primary producers for the developed world is not where the money is – Africa has to move towards producing value-added goods and production in areas where we have a comparative advantage. For example, we can never compete with Brazil in terms of high volume agricultural production but we have a comparative advantage in growing crops that need tender care like vegetables and horticulture.

·                     Technology – Africa needs to deliver cheap and high quality technology to its citizens – this should fast track development. There is a famous photo that shows internet connectivity in global terms, while Europe and America are bright Africa only has pockets of feint light in Southern Africa, Eastern Africa and bits of Northern Africa.

 There are plenty Mark Shuttleworth’s in Africa, they just need to be harnessed! We have recently seen the development of a space rocket manufacturing facility in Cape Town but, again, the development of this technology needs to work for the continent. For example, I’m reliably informed that the CSIR has equipment that can see adverse weather conditions in the rest of the continent. The question, however, is what is the point of this technology when it cannot give the early warning signs to affected countries because of lack of communication infrastructure in some countries on the continent.

·                     Winning Culture – Africa needs to create a winning culture and get used to the idea of being world champions, the area with gains that can be achieved easily is sport. There are plenty examples of how sport uplifts countries and continents at large. South Africa winning the right to host the Soccer World Cup raised the profile of the continent and the ability to successfully host the tournament adds another chink in the armour for Africa. It’s a pity that the tournament couldn’t be parcelled out to SADC since almost all the destinations in SADC are less than two hours travelling time by plane.

Another example is how, for a brief moment, Zimbabwean’s forgot their troubles when the country held a victory parade for Ms Coventry after winning a medal at the Olympics (and I hear African swimming records are being broken at the swimming gala’s in that country). But perhaps the best example of how sport unifies is the way Didier Drogba’s hero/cult status was able to stop the warring parties in his country of birth.

Africa needs to take herself seriously, otherwise the rest of the world will not do so. By accepting dictators, rigged elections, violence, torture, and relying on aid as the majority income in our budgets makes us accomplices to these ills.

This is a challenge to all the people on the continent who have the capacity to make a change. When generations to come ask you why you haven’t resolved Africa's problems, I hope you have an answer for them!