The Bright Continent ~ Dayo Olopade
Nigerian-American journalist Dayo Olopade spent two years circumnavigating the African continent to gather true and original African stories. Stories about ordinary people who have to deal with the challenges of every day life and triumph in the face of the greatest adversity. The result is The Bright Continent a harshly honest book which challenges all of us – Africans included – to change the way we think about the continent. Africans who have historically been viewed as a people in need of handouts and aid, are actually helping themselves in ways that only they know best, providing creative and innovative solutions to their problems. Did you know that the film industry in Nigeria that the world now calls Nollywood started simply with a young man called Kenneth Nnebue whose credit includes Glamour Girls and Living in Bondage? In the beginning, the movies were made directly into VHS, today the Nigerian movie industry is a multi-million dollar respected behemoth.
It is stories like this that Ms. Olopade weaves into the bright tapestry that forms the African continent.
Here she is giving a TED talk in Nairobi:
