"It's the best kind of innovation - the problem-solving innovation born out of necessity," says Toby Shapshak, editor and publisher of the South African version of Stuff magazine says.
As Technology of Business embarks on a month-long series of features exploring some of these innovation stories, we kick off by looking at Africa's main technology trends and the challenges facing this vast 54-nation continent of 1.1 billion people.
You cannot talk about Africa without talking about mobile. Most innovation involves mobile devices and wireless technology in some way or another.
It's not hard to understand why.
Installing a traditional fixed-line telecoms infrastructure made no economic sense across huge, sparsely populated, and sometimes difficult to cross terrains.
The mobile phone - particularly cheap "feature phones" such as the Nokia 1100 and the Samsung E250 - offered sufficient functionality combined with long battery life.
In a continent where access to electricity is still patchy, particularly in non-urban areas, battery life and energy-frugal applications are key. This is why so many essential mobile services in Africa are based around the SMS texting platformInformation is power, and before mobiles came along, access to data was limited for millions of Africans.
But by the end of 2014 more than 600 million people - about 56% of the population - are likely to own a mobile phone, with some researchers estimating penetration could reach 80%.
When you consider that just 1% owned a mobile in 2000, the rate of growth seems all the more astonishing. There are now more than 35 mobile network operators in Africa busily extending their base station networks to improve coverage.
Foreign companies are waking up to the commercial opportunities this presents.
"Large, multinational consumer goods companies are now looking for ways to reach their customers and employees in Africa through mobile channels, and are viewing South Africa as a gateway to the rest of the continent," says Tielman Botha, South Africa country lead for Accenture Mobility.
