I’m still haunted by the pain etched in the face of Goretti Nyabenda of Burundi who graced the August 23, 2009 New York Times Magazine cover story: “Why Women’s Rights Are the Cause of Our Time,” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The cold, hard reality facing women worldwide is a sobering reminder that the Taliban is only the symbolic representation of oppression, but they hold no monopoly. Nyabenda transformed her life with a $2 microloan. I think of this not only as a husband and father of three daughters (and one son) but as an entrepreneur in the wireless industry

Exactly one month later, this week’s The Economist magazine (download required so no link) has another picture of another woman a world away texting on her cell phone.

The power of mobile communications to transform the lives of the poor in developing countries worldwide has been widely discussed. Microloans to purchase or borrow a cell phone for a remote village; texting abilities; bringing communication to the 50% of the people in the world who have never made a phone call.

In 1987 I made my first cell phone call, and fell in love with both the technology and the idea of international development with wireless technology. It took me a few years to get to McCaw Cellular Communications but when I did, I knew this was the industry for me. What started as a BMW-driving toy has become the world’s most exciting and powerful tool of engagement, economic activity, democracy, journalism and more.

When I started in the mobile industry I knew in my heart and soul that this would transform the world. My gut was right and I’ve never regretted this journey.

Two years ago I made a comprehensive proposal to the Gates Foundation about how to implement a bold, mobile strategy for text and voice in Africa around commodity prices of agricultural goods and other information sources–especially women and subsistence farmers. They thought it was too expensive from a consulting perspective. I let it drop because I wasn’t interested in a project where the client was convinced it was an easy task when it was, in fact, extremely complex from a business perspective. No harm, no foul. And so they talked internally for another year or so. Now, there is discussion that they’ve dusted off the proposal and moved on to other consultants and advisors. For the sake of women in developing nations, I certainly hope they’re taking it to the next level. This idea is too powerful to lose.

Mobile communications gets our attention domestically because of distracted driving laws, teenagers, the buzz of rude talkers and more. But for so many women worldwide, it’s a blessing. I’m so honored to play a small, insignificant but personally meaningful role in my professional career to bring mobile communications to the world. While I spend time on numerous consulting projects outside of mobile, it will always be a technology–and a vision of interconnected world–that I treasure.