Are You A Cheetah or a Hippo?

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
by George Appiah

A major renaissance is taking root in Africa. You need to be living on the continent to appreciate the gradual — sometimes even painful — but sure drive of our respective countries towards stable democracies and economic prosperity. But who are the drivers of this renaissance?

In this thought-provoking talk from the 2007 TEDGlogal Conference held in Arusha, Tanzania, Ghanaian economist George Ayittey describes these people as the agile “Cheetah Generation”, a new breed of Africans who are taking their futures into their own hands and moving the continent forward.

This, he contrasts with what he calls “Hippos” — the lazy, slow, ornery (and thankfully, dying!) generation who have ruled and ruined post-colonial Africa over the decades.

Click on the image below to play the video. Total video length: 18mins

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