mBenki SmartPowerLink
Power the community.
Protect the corridor.
An off-grid, independent node for power, connectivity, health and financial transactions — a modified shipping container that brings the services of a town to places that have none. Built in the field in Zambia, now upgraded for the Lobito Corridor.
Talk to us about a deploymentWhy it exists
The last mile has no power and no signal
For communities
Rural residents cannot charge a phone, get online, see a clinician or reach a bank without travelling. The services exist; the access point does not.
For our agents
A Smart Agent with no power and no connectivity cannot serve anyone. This is where SmartPowerLink started: a way to keep our own people working where the grid does not reach.
For the corridor
Rail, power lines and fibre run through communities that gain nothing from them. Assets with no local value are assets nobody protects.
mBenki Connect
The connectivity hub that came first
mBenki Connect is the deployed, community-scale version: a solar-powered hub with satellite internet that gives a town reliable connectivity and, with it, reliable financial access.
Where the grid is weak or absent, Connect provides constant high-speed access from solar power and a Starlink terminal. It is where a certified Smart Agent works, where a customer charges a phone and gets online, and where a small business can find a desk and a signal.
Power
Solar generation with battery storage. Runs without the grid.
Connectivity
Starlink satellite backhaul. High-speed public Wi-Fi.
Workspace
Flexible desk space and device charging for local business.
Financial access
A certified Smart Agent on site, serving customers through mBenki Pro.
Where it came from
It started as a box for our agents
01
Origin
Field agents in remote Zambia needed reliable power and internet to complete transactions. We built them a solar-powered hub with satellite connectivity, and opened it to the community.
02
Evolution
The hub became a node. With climate-controlled medical storage, a telemedicine link and edge computing, one container could serve a whole community.
03
Now
Upgraded to corridor-grade infrastructure: autonomous drone inspection, perimeter monitoring and cold-chain validation for heavy industry.
Inside the container
Four zones in one 20-foot node
Zone 1
Connectivity and FinTech
Public Wi-Fi, device charging and financial access through a certified mBenki agent.
Zone 2
Health and resilience
Climate-controlled medical storage and a telemedicine portal.
Zone 3
Administration
A secure operations workspace and local coordination hub.
Zone 4
Power and drone operations
Battery banks, power management and a retractable hangar for the SmartAirLink drone.
Technical elements
- Solar4 kW mechanised fold-out solar wing array
- ConnectivitySatellite business terminal for backhaul where there is no terrestrial network
- Perimeter4K AI security cameras for continuous monitoring
- Structure20-foot high-cube ISO container, modified in the United States
SmartAirLink
Continuous perimeter intelligence
An autonomous aerial system built into the node itself. A retractable hangar houses the drone, charges it and launches it on schedule, so inspection runs around the clock without a crew on site.
Automated inspections
Scheduled rail, power and fibre line audits, day and night.
Sensors
4K AI sensors for crack detection and vegetation encroachment.
Operations
Retractable hangar for continuous uptime, no manual launch or recovery.
Purpose
Not surveillance for its own sake: industrial-grade risk reduction.
Corridor intelligence network
From reactive maintenance to predictive risk reduction
Each node collects several streams of data. Linked along the corridor, they become a data-enabled spine that shows problems before they become failures.
Rail integrity and perimeter
Track condition and intrusion along the line.
Power line anomalies
Faults and encroachment on high-voltage routes.
Fibre network health
Physical condition of telecom and fibre-optic runs.
Environmental and weather
Local conditions that affect operations and assets.
Hazard and UXO mapping
Integration with hazard and unexploded-ordnance data.
Cold-chain validation
Temperature integrity for medical and agricultural logistics.
The principle
Real community value is what keeps the asset secure
Community value
What the node gives the people around it
High-speed Wi-Fi. Digital financial services through a certified agent. Telehealth access. A node that people use every day is a node people look after.
Industrial security
What the node gives the corridor
Reduced vandalism, rapid response to anomalies, and system integrity — because the community has a stake in the infrastructure, not just a view of it.
Enabling real community value increases long-term asset security.
Deploy a node.
For corridor operators, mining and logistics companies, development finance institutions and government: tell us where the access gap is and we will show you what a node does there.
Get in touch
mBenki takes part in the Lobito Corridor Alliance, a private-sector-led initiative developing enabling infrastructure along the corridor.
Talk to our team