World Bank Vice President for Africa, Obiageli (Oby) Ezekwesili told investors in London. She urged investors who are in search of the right market at a time of growing fears of a global recession to rediscover Africa.

Africa's fundamentals appear strong, and the continents outlook remains positive, Oby said, pointing to the continents rapid rebound from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, and its higher GDP growth rates projected to be 4.8 percent, 5.2 percent and 5.5 percent respectively in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

It makes business sense to bet on Africa's capital markets, Oby said, at a time when global equity markets are headed for their worst quarter since 2008, and returns on investments in Africa are among some of the best anywhere in the world.

She cited a recent study by Oxford University Professor, Paul Collier, which found the return on capital for over 950 African enterprises to be on the average 11 percent higher than in Latin America and Asia, and 70 percent more profitable if compared against similar Chinese firms.

Capital is flowing to Africa, the World Bank Vice President explained, because the continent has become a friendlier and more profitable market, about which businesses, consumers, investors and development partners are all bullish.

Investors who joined the flight for quality at the onset of the 2008-2009 global crisis can now testify, Oby argued, that Africa stayed stable even as the global stock exchanges went on a wild roller coaster ride. Recovery on African stock markets came fast despite the fact that their limited liquidity and relative small size was amplified.

While initial hopes that investors weary of markets in developed countries would seek opportunities in Africa and other developing regions were misplaced, most African stock markets with the exception of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange have been growing robustly, doubling their market capitalization between 1992 and 2002, from $113.4 billion to $244.7 billion.

In a move that is likely to set a new record, the Lagos Stock Exchange, the regions fastest growing market, plans to bring its current capitalization of $40 billion to $1 trillion in five years. According to Oby, one of the key lessons of the past global crisis is that Africa knows how to shrug off the impact.

Been there, done that, was the attitude she said African finance ministers who attended the September 23-24 Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF in Washington, DC, had on being told that news of a potential global crisis meant even more reforms on their part.

One explanation of Africa's success is the regions sustained pace of meaningful reforms. As many as 36 of the 46 African countries surveyed by the Doing Business report have implemented major reforms over the last five years, including those whose ranking has slipped or has not improved.

She called on financial capital to help itself, by not focusing too narrowly on making the fast buck, but on building the social accountability, transparency, and fostering the fight against corruption, promoting social corporate irresponsibility by helping to develop the human capital and labor skills that will be needed if the new Africa is to lure some of the 85-to-90 million labor intensive jobs in light manufacturing that wage pressures will force firms in China to off-shore in the next three-to-five years.

Strengthening Africa's capital markets whose success is intrinsically linked to the economic success of the continent is essential if Africa is to fulfill its vast potential, said Bill Mills, CEO of Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Citigroup, one of the co-sponsors of the summit.

The CEO of the London Stock Exchange and Vice Chair of the World Federation of Exchanges, Xavier Rolet, whose speech to the summit focused on what international partnerships can do to strengthen sub-Saharan Africa's capital markets, described Oby as the one person alive who has done the most to improve lives in Africa.