Center for African Prosperity, which was launched by Atlas Network in May 2019, is a new opportunity to focus on the role that free markets, property rights, and the rule of law have in creating the conditions for people to thrive in the region. With 20 active organizational partners, Atlas Network is well-positioned to engage local civil society groups to help solve complex issues with home-grown solutions that address local needs.

Under the direction of internationally-recognized business entrepreneur Magatte Wade, the Center for African Prosperity will support Atlas Network’s regional partner organizations in their efforts to promote economic freedom and strong institutions and to build the capacity for reforms that lead to broad-based prosperity across Africa.

About Magatte Wade

Magatte Wade is a serial entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and visionary business leader with a passion for creating positive change in Africa. She is the founder and CEO of SkinIsSkin.com, “the lipbalm with a mission,” and is dedicated to reducing rational discrimination while creating jobs and prosperity in her home country of Senegal. Throughout her career, she has created successful high-end retail brands inspired by diverse African traditions. She is a Forbes “20 Youngest Power Women in Africa”, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum at Davos, a TED Global Africa Fellow, and "Leading Woman in Wellness” award winner by the Global Wellness Summit. Wade also serves on the Advisory Board of the Whole Planet Foundation, of Whole Foods Market. She has written for The Guardian, HuffingtonPost.com, and Barron’s, and is a frequent speaker at business conferences and on college campuses, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, and the Wharton School of Business.

Wade believes that the “cheetah generation,” a new cohort of dynamic African entrepreneurs and professionals identified by Ghanian economist George Ayittey, will create local pathways for change that will shape the future of African prosperity. “Perhaps the most unique challenge we face is that the world has come to perceive that Africans themselves are not capable of creating prosperity—and require charity in order to survive,” she said. “This simply isn’t true. The combination of negative perceptions of Africans, combined with widespread ignorance regarding the need for economic freedom is a toxic combination.”

With Wade’s knowledge and experience guiding the Center for African Prosperity, Atlas Network will help build inclusive prosperity, fight negative stereotypes, and share a message of freedom with an international audience.

• Watch Magatte Wade in “How We Thrive: Made in Mekhé,” A FEE documentary about doing business in her home country of Senegal.

• Watch Magatte Wade on “The Power of Entrepreneurship” at FEECon

• Watch Magatte Wade’s TED Talk, “Why it’s too hard to start a business in Africa—and how to change it.”

Why are some countries poor and others are rich?

It's a question that Magatte Wade, a Senegalese entrepreneur and the Director of Atlas Network’s Center for African Prosperity, could not ignore as she as she looked around at the beauty and natural resources of her home country. Senegal has so much to offer, yet people live in poverty. Why does this happen—and what could she do to change this?

“How We Thrive: Made in Mekhé” explores Magatte's journey through the challenges of starting a business in a country that ranks near the bottom of the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World report. Creating jobs is nearly impossible in a country that throws up roadblocks to progress. And even worse, well-meaning aid projects—like shoe giveaways for children—completely decimate local businesses that can’t compete when people can get the same products for free.

“Made in Mekhé” is an absorbing look into both the culture of this beautiful country and the life-changing opportunities that are helping people lift themselves out of poverty through economic opportunity.

Teaching economics is fundamental to a rich and nuanced understanding of the benefits of free enterprise, but few textbooks exist that are relevant for African students. In his new textbook Applied Economics for Africa, renowned Ghanaian economist George B. N. Ayittey uses examples familiar to African readers to explain complex economic systems and the opportunities presented by free markets.

As Ayittey points out, “An African proverb says, ‘He who does not know where he came from does not know where he is going.’ Africa is lost and wandering because many of its leaders do not know where they came from. They have been copying alien systems and institutions instead of building upon their own.”

Atlas Network is proud to offer Applied Economics for Africa, written by Ayittey to illustrate how African ingenuity, indigenous knowledge, and local institutions can propel the continent into inclusive prosperity.

• Download the full text of Applied Economics for Africa here.

• Watch Dr. Ayittey on “How Socialism Destroyed Africa”

• Watch Dr. Ayittey’s TED Talk.

• Recent publications by Dr. Ayittey

Ambassador Dr. Martin Kimani, who is Director of Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Center and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary serving as Kenya’s Permanent Representative and Head of Mission to the United Nations at Nairobi, spoke of his involvement in forging consensus after Kenya’s tumultuous 2017 elections and told the audience that “African lives matter.” Kimani took a long view of history, pointing out that the continent is still in its infancy in matters of international trade, but that removing barriers for the individual to succeed will transform markets and create prosperity across the continent.