Africa's emerging markets are the fastest growing in the world. Photo: Jeff Attaway (Flickr)

Africa now holds an unfamiliar title: Continent with the fastest growing economy in the world.

An article this week in The Atlantic, “The Next Asia is Africa,” provides telling evidence for the economic emergence of the continent:

• Africa will have the fastest growing economy of any continent over the next five years.


• Seven of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa.


• By 2030, most African countries will have lower-middle and middle-class majorities.


• Consumer spending in Africa is estimated to triple from $680 billion in 2008 to $2.2 trillion in 2030.


• Africa has more middle-class consumers than India despite having a lower population.


• Enrollment in secondary schools increased by 48 percent between 2000 and 2008 and higher education increased by 80 percent.

The author, Howard French, argues that while few people outside of the boardroom seem to be taking note of this development, big companies are leading the way:

In March, a South African court approved Walmart's $2.4 billion takeover of Massmart, one of that country's largest retailers. IBM has opened offices in more than 20 African countries. In 2009, AES, one of America's biggest private suppliers of electricity, became majority owner and operator of the national grid in Cameroon. In Ghana, a large American data processing company called ACS now employs over 1,800 people. And around the continent, Google is investing in web infrastructure and is launching search pages in a growing number of African languages.

The entire article can be read here.

The litmus test for these fast-growing economies, however, will not be the number of large firms that invest, but whether this investment will include the continent's poorest in its growth.

This entrepreneur owns a telecentre in Tanzania and is among the small business owners in the unique position to create change for Africa's poor. Photo: IICD (flickr)

They own apartments instead of huts. They exploit technology to organize revolutions. They are Africa’s new middle class — and they are still living on less than $20 a day.

One in three Africans are earning between $2 and $20 a day and considered middle class. According to the Guardian, it is exactly this growing, educated population that is becoming the catalyst for change throughout the developing world.

According to a World Bank study cited by the Guardian, "countries with lower poverty will have a large middle class and see higher subsequent rates of both growth and poverty reduction." The reasons for this are both social and economic, but the growth of Africa's middle class seems to bode well for the continent.

Because the developing world's middle class still lives on less than $20 a day, it shares many of the grievances of those living below the poverty line, explains the Guardian. However, members of this income bracket pay more in taxes and thus are more likely to seek transparency and accountability from those in power. Since members of this narrowly defined middle class are generally business owners rather than government employees, they are unlikely to reap benefits from a corrupt system. Given these circumstances, they are often the ones most effective in lobbying for improved living conditions.

In developing countries, this mid-level income group is also particularly important in the small business sector. They have higher disposable income to invest in domestic economies and in education to produce a skilled workforce. As small business owners and entrepreneurs, they may also have the hiring power to employ new workers in difficult economic times.

Freeing Africa from poverty and corruption will take all these changes and more. But with one in three Africans qualifying as middle class, the continent may be on the right track.