Micro-finance banking, mobile telephony and the internet are now merging to produce systems that allow individuals in the West to make small loans to entrepreneurs in Africa (through websites like Kiva), who can then use their mobile phone credits to deposit receipts and pay bills without waiting for banks to open and without handling vulnerable cash. These developments offer opportunities to the poor of Africa that were not available to the poor of Asia a generation ago. They are one reason that Africa saw economic growth rise to Asian-tiger levels in the late 2000s.
