The quest to put information and communications technologies (ICTs) to work in fighting poverty began at the same time as the internet revolution 20 years ago. Two decades of hits and misses later, the idea of “being connected” has evolved enormously for nearly everyone on the planet.

As a result of the diffusion and relative affordability of technologies, Africa now accounts for the world’s largest-growing mobile phone market, outpacing the US and Canada combined, with 287m subscribers. Close to 24 per cent of the world’s population has access to the internet, though with very uneven coverage.