Binyavanga Wainaina Quotes

Far from being hopeless, Africa is full of hope and potential, maybe more so than any other continent. The challenge is to ensure that its potential is utilised.

Africa is no more this poor continent. It's on the march.

But while I'm realistic about our challenges, I'm optimistic about our future. There are a few things, and if we do them, we're going to have the greatest era in our history. And I have detailed what those things are specifically.

At the same time, we are keenly aware that China is still the largest developing country in the world and we need to make long and hard efforts if we are to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically achieve modernization.

We have a growing interest in Africa’s success.

My final aim is to bring Iran, within twenty years, to the same level of civilization and progress as will be enjoyed by the most highly developed countries. During the last ten years the degree of our backwardness has been halved, but it is this remaining backwardness which will be the most difficult to combat.

We all have to acknowledge a simple fact: Africa is growing.

Perhaps sooner than we think, African innovations will help the rest of the world create lasting social and economic value.

I'm reasonably optimistic about the future, especially the future of the United States - for the century, at least.

Haiti has changed a lot.

I see in industrialization the central problem of building in our time. If we succeed in carrying out this industrialization, the social, economic, technical, and also artistic problems will be readily solved.

China's development benefits other countries.

We begin to change the world when we stimulate long-term prosperity using technology. There is not a problem that's large enough that innovation and entrepreneurship can't solve.

By the time Africa is developed, it will be the wonderland of the world, 'cause it will be able to make use of all the mistakes of other nations. But it nah go just drop out of the sky. So we have to put in work.

I think that Africa has made quite rapid progress and a lot of the conflicts that we saw on the continent have abated.

Africa is not fulfilling people's hopes and aspirations. African leaders have not had an agenda that included governing Africa so that people would find their careers, their life, dreams and visions fulfilled here.

What does Burma have to give the United States? We can give you the opportunity to engage with people who are ready and willing to change a society.

People see fashion as superficial and shallow, but it's actually not. As an industry, it can really change how things happen and change trade for countries that really need it.

The future of Africa is in innovative engineering.

Unprecedented technological capabilities combined with unlimited human creativity have given us tremendous power to take on intractable problems like poverty, unemployment, disease, and environmental degradation. Our challenge is to translate this extraordinary potential into meaningful change.

You cannot blame the mismanagement of the economy or the fact that we have not invested adequately in education in order to give our people the knowledge, the skills and the technology that they need in order to be able to use the resources that Africa has to gain wealth.

I always was fascinated with China, because I was born in Europe, and for us, China had this fascination and mystery. The first time I came here was in 1989. They were on bicycles, and the speed of the growth has been incredible.

The only people who can fix Africa are talented young Africans. By unlocking and nurturing their creative potential, we can create a step change in Africa's future.

All over the world, we're seeing access to food, clean water, education and healthcare improve; as a result, global innovation is rising as well.

My 2020 Vision for India is to transform it into a developed nation. That cannot be abstract; it is a lifeline.