The Invisible People

In the next twenty-five years, Africa’s population is predicted to double in size to 2.5 billion, so that by 2050 one in four people on earth will be African. How can Africa accommodate and benefit from this huge demographic shift?In The Invisible People, former MTN CEO Phuthuma Nhleko calls for a new African renaissance based on three pillars. The first involves building a confident common identity, rooted in Africa’s long and rich history, and celebrating its fundamental contributions to modern civilisation, religion and culture. The second is unleashing the kind of economic development that has so far eluded Africa, by leveraging its significant assets and resources, abandoning outdated and inadequate economic models, and carving a new path grounded in a Pan-African vision and based on technological and economic leapfrogging. The third pillar involves bolstering Africa’s geopolitical influence, by redefining its relationship with the US and China, and embracing a strategic path in its own interests, to take its rightful place in world affairs as home to a quarter of humanity. An insightful and inspiring journey through history, economics and geopolitics, The Invisible People will change the way that people view the future of Africa and the world.

Phuthuma Nhleko is a celebrated business leader and former CEO and chairman of mobile network operator MTN. He is currently the chairman and co-founder of Phembani Group, a South African-domiciled resource and energy-focused investment holding company. He is also a director of IHS Towers and chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Tullow Oil plc and Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund (PRIF), which invests in infrastructure projects on the African continent. Nhleko’s previous directorships include BP plc, Anglo American plc, the Nedbank Group, Old Mutual SA, Johnnic Holdings, the Bidvest Group and Alexander Forbes. He holds a BSc in civil engineering from Ohio State University and an MBA from Atlanta University (renamed Clark Atlanta University). He is a fellow of the Blavatnik School of Government and Public Policy at Oxford University.