[pavlov]

I think the key part in the article may be this:

"Instead, the company’s true feat is setting up a distribution model and payment infrastructure that West African families and community leaders are comfortable with."

A distribution model that goes through community leaders has built-in trust. If someone steals the hardware, it will be known inside the community.

In contrast, a $50 million plant being built by foreigners may seem to the locals as yet another isolated project by the colonialists, and therefore a free target for stealing.

I'm not saying your company would act against the local community -- but the locals may not see it that way. To them, a huge foreigner-built project is an extension of what they've seen happen in West Africa ever since the French showed up in the 19th century and started building railroads for their own use.