This is not a “rags-to-riches” story because “the African continent” has always been rich in culture, resources, and hope. However, now it is getting economically richer as it increasingly attracts investments by multinational companies. Once called “the hopeless continent” by The Economist in 2000, the same magazine described the continent as “Africa Rising” at the end of 2011. Eleven years can sure make a big difference.

Once seen as hopelessly impoverished and corrupt, Africa truly is rising faster than anyone could have predicted a decade ago. Instead of words like “hopelessness, the reports are using descriptors like new markets, rapidly growing consumer base, and government investment incentives.” Think far beyond South Africa, too. Some of the fastest growing economies on the African continent are Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique. Kenya is a strategic trading hub and Nigeria has a large domestic market. These stories are repeated from country to country. To size the African economy, the estimated annual total Gross Domestic Product is forecasted to reach $2.6 trillion by 2020.

Let us face the truth head on. Africa is an evolving continent and still needs to pursue continuing reform. However, it is unfortunate that mostly negative stories about Africa make headlines in the U.S., punctuated by rare reports addressing the bigger picture. Behind the scenes is a completely different story. The Ernst & Young 2012 Africa Attractiveness Survey indicated that Africans have a growing self-confidence in their ability to become major players in a reshaping global economy. The governments throughout Africa are focused on reform and creating a business environment that encourages foreign investment. They have been privatizing state-owned enterprises, lowering corporate taxes, strengthening the legal system, reforming the regulatory environment, creating trade opportunities, and improving governance.

The opportunities for MWBEs to leverage this growth to build capacity and sustainability for their own businesses are virtually unlimited. Africa is resource rich in commodities like oil, gold, platinum, and chromium, but that is just part of the story. Business opportunities abound for U.S. companies that can provide the kind of expertise and goods and services needed to support rapid urbanization and growing wealth. Africa needs transportation improvements, personal banking and other financial services, food and drink manufacturing, and retail. Ernst & Young has identified major untapped private sector opportunities in power generation, ports, airports, toll road concessions, water treatment, and information communication technology. Retail is said to provide some of the most significant opportunities because the sector is so under-developed and not prepared to manage the expanding consumer demand for products and services.

The businesses that soon enter the African market, consisting of 55 countries, can have high expectations of major growth over the next five to ten years. Africa is an economic frontier with endless growth on the horizon, meaning this is the place that can support a sustainable business growth strategy. There are a number of ways to enter the market, too - securing a place in the supply chain of multinationals, direct investment, shared services centers, and trade missions, to name a few.

Those who still look at Africa as a dark, isolated, backwards continent are challenged to look again with new eyes and a fresh perspective. What they see will no doubt be quite surprising because there is nothing hopeless about this continent. On the contrary, the Africa continent is ready to take its place on the world stage as an economic gem.