If I tell you I’m an African, what comes to mind? Poverty? War? Genocide? Lions and elephants? Black people living in primitive grass huts?

We think in stereotypes, but reality is so much more complex and therefore more beautiful. The Africa I know is not one of grief and limitations. It is a land of creativity, entrepreneurial endeavours, opportunity, cutting-edge cell phone apps, and streets full of cars and energy. It is multi-racial and multicultural.

My description might surprise some people. Perhaps it’s a story they don’t want to hear. After all, stereotypes are more comfortable. They reassure us that the world is as it has always been; it’s predictable; we know and understand it.

I’m not denying that there is some truth in the stereotypes; there definitely is. But there are also false assumptions and outdated notions. They crumble at the edges as a new generation of Africans create…