This paper identifies and describes five economic activities through which ICT could effectively be used to open global markets for rural and marginalized communities. The activities are identified in contexts where there are no industries, there is limited or no access to markets, no access to capital, effectively leveraging and optimizing what already exists in communities. The paper borrows from the smart community centre model of Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust (SEIDET) in South Africa and the Botswana Virtual Marketplace Trading Portal to illustrate and to argue that ICT could give marginalized individuals in rural villages in Africa, access to global markets and the technical means for packaging, marketing and selling their own products and thereby creating jobs and alleviating poverty.