For African societies, no issue looms larger than employment. Only vibrant entrepreneurship and thriving small businesses can hope to provide the millions of jobs that are needed.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Africa is not for the weak-hearted: infrastructure issues are there. The middle class is absent in most of the countries. We have to cater to the low end of the market to grow.
One of the challenges for sub-Saharan Africa is that markets are of modest size. This makes regional integration important.
It is important to nurture any new ideas and initiatives which can make a difference for Africa.
The biggest opportunity in 2013 is in Africa. It has seven out of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world. In Nigeria alone there are 100 million people with mobile phones. In total, 300 million Africans - five times the population of Britain - are in the middle class.
I don't think Africa gets as much credit as it should have on the world stage. People tend to think of us as coming from The Dark Continent, where nothing good goes on. That's not true. A huge amount of, as I say, entrepreneurship goes on.
Those who have the ability as African men to bring a change in a community that so desperately needs it are concentrating only on their own careers, some charities, and how much money they can make.
Corruption is Africa's greatest problem. Not poverty. Not lack of riches. Not racism.
We know that working with small businesses to create jobs will do more to help our economy than anything the Obama Administration has tried to do.
Jobs are a priority for every country. Doing more to improve regulation and help entrepreneurs is the key to creating jobs - and more growth.
What we need in Africa is balanced development. Economic success cannot be a replacement for human rights or participation or democracy... it doesn't work.