Bright Continent
Dayo Olopade knew from personal experience that Western news reports on conflict, disease, and poverty obscure the true story of modern Africa. So she crossed sub-Saharan Africa to document how ordinary people deal with their daily challenges. She found what the media ignores: a continent of ambitious reformers and young social entrepreneurs, driven by kanju - creativity born of African difficulty. It’s a trait found in pioneers like Kenneth Nnebue, who turned cheap VHS tapes into the multimillion-dollar film industry Nollywood. Or Ushahidi, a technology collective that crowdsources citizen activism and disaster relief.
A shining counterpoint to the conventional wisdom, The Bright Continent rewrites Africa’s challenges as opportunities to innovate and celebrates a history of doing more with less as a powerful model for the rest of the world.
Dayo Olopade is a Nigerian-American journalist covering global politics and development policy. She has reported for the The New York Times, Daily Beast, Root, New Republic and many other publications. Dayo is currently a Knight Law and Media Scholar at Yale University.