Africa 2 Rises

Ruharo, who started his own business developing text-messaging products for cellphone companies, now has 14 employees, recent college graduates who share his taste for designer jeans and iPods.

Vijay Mahajan, a University of Texas business professor, recently coined the phrase “Africa 2s” to describe people who are neither desperately poor (Africa 3s) nor obnoxiously rich (Africa 1s), and says the middle group is one of the most important drivers of economic growth in Africa. Mahajan, who has written a book, Africa Rising, says, “(Africa2s) are the people sending their kids to school ... who are the most optimistic, the most forward-thinking.”

On any afternoon in Kampala, the parking lot of the Garden City mall is full of Africa 2s like Zubedah Nanfuka, shopping inside the dimly lit, air-conditioned expanse. “It’s the one place you can be international and keep up with friends from Western countries,” said Nanfuka, a 27-year-old programme assistant at an embassy who until recently hosted a local lifestyle TV show called Cook and Dine. “If you say ‘I shop at Garden City’, it puts you in a certain class.”

Mariam Adam, a cosmetologist and playwright, said that her friends come to the mall even though they can’t afford to buy much. She said it’s not so much about shopping, but rather what the mall represents. “People come to be seen here, so other people assume you have money. Things have changed a lot,” she said, recalling the days when she felt shabby compared with a visitor from London. “Now, someone from London can come and they’re wearing the same shoes I have.”

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