The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa - Paperback

by Dayo Olopade (Author)

The path to progress in Africa lies in the surprising and innovative solutions Africans are finding for themselves.

"A hopeful narrative about a continent on the rise." --New York Times Book Review

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 cable news 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.


"For anyone who wants to understand how the African economy really works, The Bright Continent is a good place to start." --Reuters


"[An] upbeat study of development in Africa...The book is written more in wonder at African ingenuity than in anger at foreign incomprehension." --The New Yorker

Back Jacket

For anyone who wants to understand how the African economy really works, The Bright Continent is a good place to start. Reuters


Dayo Olopade knew from personal experience that Western news reports on conflict, disease, and poverty obscure the true story of modern Africa. And so she crossed sub-Saharan Africa to document how ordinary people deal with their daily challenges. She found what cable news 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.

[An] upbeat study of development in Africa . . . The book is written more in wonder at African ingenuity than in anger at foreign incomprehension. The New Yorker


Dayo Olopade is a Nigerian-American journalist covering global politics, development policy, and technology. Dayo has been a correspondent in Washington and in Nairobi, reporting for publications including TheAtlantic, the Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, the New Republic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. She holds BA, JD, and MBA degrees from Yale University, and currently lives in New York."

Author Biography

DAYO OLOPADE is a Nigerian-American journalist covering global politics and development policy. She has reported for the New Republic, the New York Times, and other publications. Olopade is currently a Knight Law and Media Scholar at Yale University.