Africa is as big as a widely-disseminated infographic shows. Europe, the US, Canada, China and India would fit comfortably inside, with square kilometres to spare. It also has a billion people. How can it fulfill its potential? One of the promises of ICT is that it lets disadvantaged societies leapfrog the more gradual pace of development and get the modern stuff in without legacy. This phenomenon can be seen in the Kenyan mobile market and the world-class connectivity available in Rwanda, for example. However, challenges remain and they're more mundane than putting in more cellular towers.

"The World Bank reported recently that Africa has advanced in leaps and bounds in terms of information technology adoption and use," says Cuan Kloppers, executive director and Group CIO at Vumbiwa LoC Holdings. "Mobile devices especially have grown exponentially in Africa. A few years ago, the primary problem was bandwidth and connectivity. Nowadays we have a lot more cables such as Seacom, but now we need to overcome the bureaucracy and get that fibre further inland."