So often, people have very wonderful ideas. And for so many years, these wonderful ideas remain just that, ideas. This, most of the time, is caused by a fear of taking the first step into the unknown and most times, the fear of failure and what ‘people might say’.

For many years, there were various theories on the shape of the world. Some said that it was flat, like a table and that if you ventured too far out, you’d slip over the edge.

It, however, took some courageous people (among them Christopher Columbus) to, question, explore, navigate and map the world. And because of them, these theories were proved wrong and now the world is a global village.

There have been so many conferences, summits and seminars held in Africa, all geared at mapping the way forward.

Rwanda has been at most of these, playing host to a good  number, the most recent being the East Africa International Business Forum, at the Kigali Serena Hotel.

It’s at the above forum that President Paul Kagame challenged Africans to prove cynics wrong by sustaining good economic growth rates and meaningful partnerships between their governments and business, in order to realise a paradigm shift from development aid to the creation of dynamic markets, greater trade and supportive public policies.

Africans should take this challenge head on. After this conference, let the next one be on sharing notes on achievements realised. It’s time to act. It’s only by taking the first step that we shall gain progress.

Ends