For anyone building technology for rural Malawi, that question needs to come early.
It's tempting to borrow ideas that work in countries with reliable internet. But many tools quietly assume a constant connection, and that assumption breaks the moment you leave town.
At Ripple Africa, where I work, this shapes how we build.
Our field staff use a data collection app in areas where network coverage is weak or missing. Yet the information they collect is needed for audits and analysis. Their work can't stop every time the signal drops.
So we designed the app to work without the internet. Entries are saved on the device as staff collect them, and when a connection returns, everything syncs back to the wider team.
In tech, this is called "offline-first." It flips the usual thinking: instead of treating no connection as an error, the app treats it as normal. Being connected is a bonus, not a requirement.
For the person using the app, it simply means they can get on with their work. Saving an entry is instant instead of waiting on a slow network, and nothing is lost when the signal disappears halfway through.
For me, the lesson is this: in Malawi, offline shouldn't be the edge case. For many people it's the everyday reality, and our tools should be designed around it from the start, not patched in at the end.
Where else do you think offline-first thinking could make a difference here?