The Lion Awakes: Adventures in Africa's Economic Miracle

Africa is the world's fastest growing continent, with average GDP growth of 5.5% over the past 10 years. Malaria deaths have declined by 30% and HIV infections by 74%. Nigeria produces more movies than America. The Lion Awakes presents the true story of contemporary Africa, often obscured by negative headlines. Traveling from Uganda in East Africa to the growing economies and new democracies of West Africa, and to the tech hubs of Kenya and Rwanda, Ashish J. Thakkar documents an Africa undergoing significant economic transformation. The book features a new generation of ambitious, tech-savvy young Africans developing products from bamboo bicycles to iPhone applications, as well as artists, filmmakers, and architects working with newfound freedom and opportunity. It also introduces highly educated members of the African diaspora who have returned to establish companies and take government positions. These individuals describe 21st Century Africa as offering more opportunity than the First World. Drawing on his business background and family history in Africa—including his parents' expulsion from Uganda by Idi Amin in the 1970s and his own survival of the Rwandan genocide in 1994—Thakkar illustrates the continent's transformation over a decade.