War, corruption, famine and disease. Pick up a newspaper in any developed country and these four words will leap off the page in any given story about Africa. Often it can seem there is no good news to be found in the continent at all.
Many commentators in the West tend to disregard Africa as a hopeless case, and any good news that emerges is overshadowed by reports of the bad. Average gross domestic product (GDP) growth across Africa, for example, has averaged more than 6% for the past three years – a fact generally ignored by commentators who focus almost exclusively on negative news.