It's time now for the Friday edition of The Discourse, a daily feature here on Rise and Shine, where we sink our teeth a little deeper into an issue. This morning, we're asking what Africa can learn from China's economic transformation over the past five decades. Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China, died in 1976. His death was followed by major economic reforms, particularly under Deng Xiaoping, which helped move the country from a largely rural economy to one of the world's largest. But can lessons from that transformation be applied to Africa today? That question is explored in a recent opinion piece by Dr Richard Ikiebe, a Nigerian media and management consultant, teacher and chairperson of the board of BusinessDay newspaper. He spoke to us from the UK this morning 

<p>It's time now for the Friday edition of The Discourse, a daily feature here on Rise and Shine, where we sink our teeth a little deeper into an issue. This morning, we're asking what Africa can learn from China's economic transformation over the past five decades. Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China, died in 1976. His death was followed by major economic reforms, particularly under Deng Xiaoping, which helped move the country from a largely rural economy to one of the world's largest. But can lessons from that transformation be applied to Africa today? That question is explored in a recent opinion piece by Dr Richard Ikiebe, a Nigerian media and management consultant, teacher and chairperson of the board of BusinessDay newspaper. He spoke to us from the UK this morning&nbsp;</p>