New Delhi, May 8: Commenting on the changing global economic paradigm, management guru C K Prahalad said Africa will play a “central role” in this change, but is not expected to be a driver of growth in the coming years. Speaking to the media after outlining his vision of India @ 75, Prahalad said, given the continent’s natural resources, “significant” manpower as well tropical forests — which, like South America, are the “lungs of the globe” — means that Africa “will have a central role for the next 30-40 years” in shaping the new global economic paradigm.

He also said that given the vast number of countries in Africa, growth would be in form of clusters (around one big country in the region) as no single country has either the population or resource base to be a dominant force.