Countries from Sub Saharan Africa were amongst those that ranked high on the various lists and indexes in “Doing Business 2015”. Mauritius, for instance, was first on the “Ease of doing Business Index” and in the 230 business reforms recorded worldwide, over half came from African countries, mainly dealing with the reduction of complexity and costs in starting a business. A quarter of the global reforms concerning the strengthening of legal institutions also come from Africa. Five of the countries that were ranked among the top ten in economic progress were from Sub Saharan Africa, and Nigeria was on the same page with 10 other countries comparing the ease of doing business at a city level.

Imagine an annual report that tells you where it is most favourable to do business in the world, country by country, economy by economy. Well, this is not something new, for “Doing Business 2015” is now on its 12th edition with this year’s title being “Going Beyond Efficiency,” a catchy subtitle for a publication from the World Bank Group.

A comparison of all the important factors regarding company regulations, laws and rights of property in 189 economies have been arranged quantitatively, providing an objective basis for deciding on where to do business in the world. Therefore, information on how easy it is to start a company, set up all its infrastructure, equipment, buildings, permissions and credit, tax laws etc. is now up to date and available. This year’s report also provides data on the ease of doing business at a city level, specifically, in countries with a population of over 100 million.

This goes to show that as more countries in Africa are maturing politically, and their populations are being better educated, a corresponding economic growth is being felt strongly enough to feature in documents concerning global business.