Nobody messes with China, nobody messes with the United States, or with Europe, because these are really big entities with a lot of clout and a lot of economic power. They have a place at the table.

We measure everything - why not governance?

Before any investor goes into any country, he is looking for the exit door.

Africa was perceived - it still is to some extent - as a place which is very difficult to do business in. I don't share that view.

Educational opportunities have supported the rise of the African middle class, the professional cadre of young people who are now willing and able to contribute to Africa's future prosperity.

After the sale of Celtel, I really wanted to give the money back, and I had a number of choices - to go and buy masses of blankets and baby milk or to go into Darfur or Congo. That would have been very nice actually, but it's just like an aspirin: it doesn't deal with the problem.

I think the Cold War was worse for Africa than colonialism.

The problem is that many times people suspend their common sense because they get drowned in business models and Harvard business school teachings.

I came to the conclusion that unless you are ruled properly, you cannot move forward. Everything else is second. Everything.

When you ask people what they think of Africa, they think of AIDS, genocide, disasters, famine.

I left Sudan when I was 25 or 26 years old. If I had stayed, I would never have ended up being an entrepreneur. You can have the qualities, but if you don't have the environment, you just wither away. It's like a fish: take it out of water, it will not survive.

I never set out really to build a financial empire or to be a wealthy man.

Experience shows that when political governance and economic management diverge, overall development becomes unsustainable.

Billions of dollars are thrown at African countries.

Africa is rich, and why are we poor then if our continent is rich. It is not right.

The brain drain from Africa has been reversed.

Electoral turnout is falling among the young, and political apathy is on the rise.

I'm uncomfortable, frankly, with the hype about Africa. We went from one extreme... to, like, Africa now is the best thing after sliced bread.

Botswana had three successive good presidents who served their legal terms, who did well for their countries - three, not one.

There is a crisis of leadership and governance in Africa, and we must face it.

Young people, all too often, find their interests overlooked and their voices ignored.

The African Development Bank is one of the most aggressive advocates of regional integration.

Of course, Nelson Mandela, everybody knows Nelson Mandela. I mean, he's a great gift not only for Africa but for the whole world, actually. But do not expect everybody to be a Nelson Mandela.

Many African people are smarter than me - kids who could have been better. I have no claim for genius.