New Orleans Solar Power

David Ngigi Villagers are introduced to a smart-card water vending system in Kenya.

Mobile phones have revolutionized trade across Africa, and in the space of just a decade or so, the continent has leapfrogged from minimal landline networks to pioneering mobile phone technology that often is not available in many western countries.

The communications company Safaricom, for example, introduced M-PESA — a phone based money transfer system — in 2007 (despite concerns over the lack of a legal framework governing transactions).