Jonathan Lawley is a former district commissioner in Colonial Zambia.

Born in India where his father was in the Indian Engineering Service, he was educated between Southern Rhodesia, South Africa and Cambridge.

He joined the British Colonial Service in Northern Rhodesia and served in pre-independence Zambia.

He has since lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe and Namibia, working mostly in management training of African staff.

He is consultant to the Business Council for Africa, the former director of the Royal African Society and the Africa director of the British Executive Service Overseas (BESO).

His book Beyond the Malachite Hills paints an unusually bright picture of Africa, throwing off the colonial past and embracing modernity and new skills in the context of collaboration with Europe and US business and, increasingly, with rising Asian economic powers.

For him, Africa's solutions lie in trade, not aid.

For more information on the Business Council for Africa click http://www.bcafrica.co.uk/