The "Africa Rising" narrative has harmed as many startups as it's helped. It creates unrealistic growth expectations while ignoring the crucial infrastructure and policy work needed before many tech models can succeed at scale.

While everyone focuses on corruption, the bigger issue is capital flight. Africa loses $88B annually to illicit financial flows - nearly equal to all development aid and foreign direct investment combined.

Nobody wants to discuss it, but, The CFA Franc currency used by 14 African nations still requires them to deposit 50% of foreign reserves in France's treasury. Financial sovereignty remains an illusion for many "independent" African economies.