Africa's Road to Prosperity

10 Things to Know

About this book

Africa is the world’s fastest-growing region, yet it still grapples with extreme poverty. How can African countries leapfrog traditional development phases and generate sufficient employment for their rapidly expanding labour force?

In Africa’s Road to Prosperity, futurist and Africa analyst Jakkie Cilliers looks at the main forces that will shape the continent’s economic and political future. Large investments in infrastructure and energy efficiency are essential, as is improved regional trade integration. But African countries will only be able to modernise their economies if the influence of traditional leaders on matters such as land management and ownership is curbed.

Cilliers argues that Africa’s convergence with global income levels is certainly possible if the right steps are taken. Essential reading for anyone interested in what it will take to make Africa thrive.

Africa’s Road to Prosperity is published by Tafelberg and Jonathan Ball, and available from bookstores across South Africa and internationally through Amazon.

Joe Studwell, How Africa Works

"Jakkie Cilliers delivers economic research that is robust, straightforward and vitally important. He combines a basic optimism with blunt reality about policy challenges in Africa." 

Joe Studwell, How Africa Works

About the author

Jakkie Cilliers

Jakkie Cilliers

Dr Jakkie Cilliers is the founder and former executive director of the ISS. He currently serves as chair of the ISS Board of Trustees, head of the African Futures and Innovation (AFI) programme at the Institute's Pretoria office, and an extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria. His 2017 best-seller Fate of the Nation addresses South Africa’s future from political, economic and social perspectives. His four most recent books, Africa First! Igniting a Growth Revolution (March 2020), The Future of Africa: Challenges and Opportunities (April 2021), Africa Tomorrow: Pathways to Prosperity (June 2022) and Africa's Road to Prosperity: 10 Things to Know (July 2026) offer rigorous analyses of the continent as a whole. From August to December 2025, Cilliers was a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, during which he worked on Africa's Road to Prosperity

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