Mama Bassey, 40, a petty trader, has just left home for her stall beside the ever-busy main road in Oban town, Cross River State.

She hails a bike and boards it with her wares in tow. On her way, she receives a call on her phone that her youngest son has come down with fever. She aborts her journey to the stall and quickly dashes home, picks her son and proceed son a 10km journey to the nearest hospital.

After consultation with the doctor, the boy is placed on malaria drugs but the hospital’s pharmacy is out of malaria medicines.

He is also supposed to receive a vaccine but unfortunately, the last batch, which the hospital received a few months ago, has been discarded because there was irregular electricity with which to preserve the vaccines.

The illness cost Mama Bassey and her family dearly in lost time and revenue, and it could have been worse as Bassey himself was put at the risk of death.

Interestingly, the global socio-economic landscape today has welcomed many organizations that are changing the educational, healthcare and business terrain with innovative and exciting products and services that make life better and easier.

In India, Educom is providing solutions that can support every level of educational need from individual teachers, to large scale procurement for new educational projects, by working with schools, colleges, state bodies and teachers to provide advice and resource materials to improve learning outcome.

These smart schools are fostering opportunities for teaching and learning by integrating learning technology in these areas. People in this community and bordering communities, however spend less on acquiring better education.

Africa Indoor Residual Spraying programme (AIRS), since 2001, has also helped protect millions of people in Africa from malaria, by spraying insecticide on the walls, ceilings, and other indoor resting places of mosquitoes that transmit malaria, also ensuring that spraying does not harm people or the environment.

It is expected that Africans with the help of this program will spend less on the treatment of malaria and will be at a lower risk of death caused by malaria.

In Nigeria, Samsung Electronics, West Africa demonstrated its passion to help meet the demand for unique solutions in education, healthcare and electrification when it launched its digital village. The village utilizes one resource that Africa has in abundance, “sunshine”.

In partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Samsung recently launched a solution, dubbed the Samsung Digital Village, in Oban, Cross River State.

This is first of its kind in Nigeria and it is made up of several solar powered innovations, which altogether provide holistic solutions to rural infrastructure challenges, such as those faced by people like Mama Bassey.

The Digital Village relies on alternative energy (solar energy) to power its activities.

Mr. Brovo Kim, managing director of Samsung Electronics West Africa, speaking at the commissioning of the Digital Village, noted that a sizeable proportion of rural communities across Africa do not have access to electricity, a situation that denies people in these areas access  to tools and resources to drive socio-economic development. “We are not only bridging the digital divide but also providing a facility that meets the most critical health and educational needs of the rural community,” he added.

The Digital Village has several components that the beneficiaries can leverage on to enhance their livelihoods. For instance, the solar powered generators are the heart of the digital village and are designed to power classrooms, small businesses and community facilities.

The generators can last for up to 25 years, compared to the normal traditional diesel generators which are not that sustainable and require a lot of servicing.

The batteries in the generators can last for up to eight years before they are replaced.

Innovations such as the Digital Village, smart classroom and malaria management have been known to transform lives and communities.

Just last year, a randomised control trial in a Ugandan community found that tea, when consumed once a week, was effective in preventing multiple episodes of malaria in humans living in malaria endemic areas. Smart classes, however, have changed the process of learning.

In this new dispensation, learning is happening more through screens; be it television, laptop or films. Students are very quick in learning new technologies, particularly when used in education, it enhances the understanding of the concepts.

The Digital Village is designed to help beneficiaries overcome socio-economic barriers that prevent rural community dwellers from obtaining quality healthcare and education.

The initiative will also contribute to the ICT sector, through the provision of transformative e-learning solutions.

With these barriers sufficiently lowered, the digital environment offers opportunities for people to take part in the wide spectrum of activities that makes learning sociable and fun.

The strategic thrust of this innovative initiative reveals an operational shared value approach, which is manifested in the fact that both Samsung and its consumers are expected to benefit from this innovative social investment to transform the lives of its beneficiaries.

The Samsung Digital village has previously been launched in South Africa, Ghana and Gabon and has positively impacted upon the lives of millions of people in these countries.

The village has provided them with a cluster of connected health and education facilities, helping to fast track the development of these countries.

With innovations such as this, it is expected thatthere will be less demand on the family purse and time. Rural dwellers like Mama Bassey are saved the hassles of travelling long distances in search of healthcare services for their families, hence lowering the risk of death.

The solar powered electricity now available will make the difference. It is not in doubt that these solutions, combined with a strategic partnership with UNESCO, will engender smarter, stronger and well informed communities.