The year 2020 is the start of a new decade in which geographic factors may play an important role. There are undeniably important indications that this decade and the coming era are going to be distinctly African.

A few days ago, I returned from South Africa, the most important and largest economy in the continent. The country is the miracle of Mandela, the great man who left behind one of the most important political and human legacies of the modern era. This is reflected positively in the political stability and economic investment in the country which has become a democratic model for the entire continent and a role model for other countries with the tireless work it has undertaken to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of the media as pillars of institutional action and the separation of powers.

It is also the country that gave birth to the great novelist Alan Paton, the author of "Cry, the Beloved Country" and "Ah, but Your Land is beautiful", who wrote against the oppressive apartheid regime, as well as the country of the writer J. M. Coetzee, winner of the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature, whose works have inspired political and social reform.

Today, there are stars that shine on the African continent that act like magnets that attract stability and investment. Perhaps what is happening in Ethiopia is evidence of that. Addis Ababa plays an important role in regional peace, for which its leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Today it attracts massive investment from China, Japan and Israel. Then there is Ghana, which was described this past decade as the coming African tiger.

Of course, there are other countries that may have the same success, but the most surprising country on the African continent is Rwanda. It represents the dream transformation from a country that witnessed one of the worst and most bloody civil wars to a stable country with impressive economic growth and degrees of extraordinary educational merit and commitment to environmental standards in a way that matches the activities of advanced industrial countries.

Therefore, it is no wonder that Africa is classified by many studies and consulting offices as one of the world’s most promising regions for financial investment. Now is the time for Africa, which is long overdue after its era of colonialism.