From blood diamonds to mobile phones

In the aftermath of Kenya's violent political spasm, the mobile phone service provider Safaricom had its initial public offering.

The company's pre-tax profit of $370 million was surprising and upended the

. . . conventional wisdom that sub-Saharan Africans, especially in places like Kenya where income averages out to a dollar a day, had no interest in a mobile phone.

The founders of Safaricom must have heard the ol shoe salesman story. (Two shoe salesmen found themselves in a rustic part of Africa. The first salesman wired back to his head office: “There is no prospect of sales. No one here wears shoes!” The other salesman wired: “No one wears shoes here. We can dominate the market.")