U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to three African countries last summer might have been dubbed the “trade not aid” tour.
Obama participated in a CEO round table, visited a power plant, and launched “Power Africa,” an initiative to spur U.S. investment in Africa’s power sector.
Where former-President George W. Bush built his Africa legacy around PEPFAR, one of the most ambitious aid packages in U.S. history, Obama’s vision for U.S.-African relations — and the mark he intends his administration to leave behind — is about changing the way Americans and U.S. businesses think and talk about the African continent and its potential.