From mobile to marathoners, some countries on this continent have successes that America could only hope for. The Washington Post’s Africa bureau chief, Sudarsan Raghavan, lists a few of them.

1. Mobile technologies The region is much less dependent on land lines and personal computers. In Nigeria, 19 out of 20 phones are mobile. Africans were years ahead of America in widespread texting and reading by phone. And, like much of the world, the bill is often much cheaper than in the United States. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images


2. Banking Years ahead of the United States, Kenya's M-Pesa network has been used by millions to pay bills, wire funds and buy food and other goods by phone.


3. Female leaders Unlike the United States, the region has elected female heads of state. Liberia and Malawi have been led by women. Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the continent's first democratically elected female leader (pictured here), also is a co-winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.


4. Airplane service Forget pretzels and peanuts: Free lunches and beer abound on flights on commercial airlines such as Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and South Africa Airways. Pictured here: beverage time on an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

5. Low-budget film-making Nigeria's film industry is considered the second-most industrious in the world, making more movies than any other nation except for India. Nollywood even is filming some of its features in the United States.


6. Long-distance running Got a marathon to run? Is it prestigious? You'd better invite the Ethiopians and Kenyans, who have dominated the international scene for decades. Kenya's Sammy Kamau Wanjiru (pictured) celebrates winning the gold during the men's marathon at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.



7. Faster economic growth Eight African nations have among the world's 20 highest-growth rates by real gross national product, according to the CIA Handbook. They are: Libya, Sierra Leone, Niger, Liberia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Botswana and Rwanda. The United States ranks No. 133 on this list.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/8-ways-africa-outperforms-america/2013/06/26/f37064e4-d99e-11e2-a9f2-42ee3912ae0e_gallery.html

say what!!!!! Niger? fast growing economy in the world?? you mean Nigeria right? some of the things on this list are true..nollywood makes cheap films,yeah..that's why most of them are in bad quality.

EroticAngelina:
say what!!!!! Niger? fast growing economy in the world?? you mean Nigeria right? some of the things on this list are true..nollywood makes cheap films,yeah..that's why most of them are in bad quality.

That is it honey, I am taking off the wi-fi service in the kitchen!

Illusion of the highest level.

Why are we deceiving ourselves?


Low budget film making = Low quality film making. Most African movies lower IQ.

Watched a scene of a Ghanian romance movie and the pick up line used by the actor was worse dan my lines back in Primary school.

Collynzo29:

That is it honey, I am taking off the wi-fi service in the kitchen!

umm y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjpoYC9wvdU

[size=15pt]M-PESA's huge credit to the Central Bank of Kenya[/size]