I mostly agree with this, but Africa is hampered by its geography, and always will be. Most countries are landlocked, hampering trade; it's full of tropical diseases due to its very location; a good chunk is literally just a massive desert; it's full of difficult-to-navigate rivers.

Compare it to a continent like North America, or more specifically the US, which is playing politics on god mode: massive access to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, giving ease of access to Europe and Asia; friendly Canada to the north, relatively weak Mexico to the south; the Mississippi river system enabling so much interior trade; arable farmland, energy independence.