Africa is blessed with an abundance of resources, both natural and human. The governance challenge is to harness these resources to transform the living standards of people across the continent. It is for this reason that I launched the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in 2006. We aim to stimulate debate about governance in Africa and to foster excellence in African leadership. Our core initiatives include the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, a comprehensive ranking of African countries according to governance quality. The index was designed as a tool to help civil society and government monitor national progress.

The premise behind our work is an acute awareness of Africa’s potential: a youthful population, 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves, and a wealth of renewable-energy sources. Yet we continue to underperform and fail to realize our potential. The lack of development progress during the past 50 years can be attributed only to a failure of governance and leadership on our continent.