With a POD no earlier than... let's say 1750, how can you make it so that an African state can make it to First World Status (at least as glorious as... lets say OTL 2012 East Bloc Nation)?
Some things/bonuses/additional challenges:
-- Not allowed to be Egypt or South Africa
-- Bonus if it is a Sub-Saharan country (Not SA or North African/Muslim nation)
-- The nation can't be a "commonwealth" type of thing, or a union (ie. Algeria stays in France; France becomes 1st World Country) to cheat their way up
-- Should be independent before 1960 (if you use a POD after OTL Scramble of Africa)
... hope that isn't a lot of "rules", it just makes things more interesting (feel free to not do the extras, although it would make things, again, more interesting if you at least followed the first one). And GO!