Emerging Africa is based on the fundamental conviction that, unless growth resumes, poverty cannot be reduced in the least developed countries. This study analyses the factors underlying the renewed dynamism of certain African economies in the 1990s. Several countries are, indeed, trying to meet the challenge of building the three pillars of sustainable growth -- capital accumulation, productivity gains and institutional reforms -- in order to combat long-term poverty. The authors identify the countries that are on the way to sustained growth and, on the basis of case studies, the policies they have put in place to further the reform process. These policies are presented with a view to advising both emerging African economies and those seeking to join them.