Every year, Africans are told their economies are growing. Governments announce industrial parks, roads, digital hubs and investment deals. National plans promise manufacturing, value-addition, exports, jobs and prosperity.
Yet many families experience a different economy. Young people struggle to find work that uses their education. Small businesses remain small, not for lack of ambition, but because they lack affordable finance, technology and access to markets. Farmers produce but capture little value while salaries fail to keep pace with the cost of food, transport, housing, education and other basics.
