It is not that anyone is denying that the continent still has serious problems to tackle. These are evident and include rampant poverty, poor healthcare and education, lack of infrastructure, poorly developed economies that are too dependent on exporting primary products, and serious problems of corruption and lack of transparency. These have been compounded recently by high food and fuel prices, which have led to increasing unrest.

It is more that after decades when the focus was entirely on Africa’s problems, there is now a greater emphasis on solutions, which have become clearer, perhaps as a result of the development of emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. There is also a realisation that these solutions, which hinge more on trade than aid, will provide huge opportunities both for Africans and for those outside the region.

The continent’s economies have for the most part grown over the past decade, its governments have become more democratic and many countries have internalised the Millennium Development Goals into their own aspirations.

African countries need to move beyond being merely exporters of raw materials, whether they are agricultural or mineral. They must develop local industries to process the materials and move up the value chain. The agricultural sector could be the jewel in Africa’s crown but until now it has been largely ignored, and as a result the continent cannot feed itself, let alone the rest of the world.

This value-added approach needs to be applied to other aspects of society – while establishing primary healthcare and primary education have been important, African countries now need to build viable health and education systems that go beyond the basic level if they are to continue to grow.

However, it is important to move away from the idea that this is purely a matter for governments and aid agencies – or if businesses are involved, as a matter of corporate responsibility. There are serious business opportunities in meeting some of the most fundamental needs of Africans. Even the poorest Africans are willing and able to become consumers, if businesses take the trouble to find the right price point.

Africans need to start trading more with the rest of the world and, crucially, also with each other. Just 4% of Africa’s trade is between African countries, compared with a figure of 70% for Europe. It is probably too ambitious at the moment to create a pan-African trading system, but the building blocks for further regional integration are already there in organisations such as SADEC, ECOWAS and COMESA.

Without such integration, many African economies will remain too small to attract investment and to take advantage of economies of scale. Regional integration will create larger markets, operational efficiencies and more economic growth.

To bring this about, there must be more investment, because currently it is almost non-existent. However, for this to happen, the continent’s governments have to greatly improve their transparency and their standards of governance. Business needs stability, predictability, credible democracies and a lack of corruption before it will risk its money.

While Africa has a long way to go to fulfil its potential, it is at least clear about the direction in which it needs to travel and the assets it has at its disposal.