Cristina Duarte is Under-Secretary-General and United Nations Special Adviser on Africa. 

A Growing Middle Class and Continental Import Substitution: Connecting the Dots to Unlock “Made in Africa”

A crane holding a steel bar at a tea factory construction site in Kyamuhunga Town Council in Western Uganda by Baluku Brian/Wikimedia Commons.
The National Cement Share Company of Ethiopia's new plant in Dire Dawa. By Gavin Houtheusen/Department for International Development, Wikimedia.org

The interplay between the burgeoning African middle class, intra-African trade and industrialization can be leveraged to boost Africa’s economic prosperity.