The former homeless man bringing web access to the Bronx

The digital divide - the economic gap between those with internet access and those without - is a growing problem throughout the world, and not just in developing economies. Many people are trying the bridge this gap, and here are some of their stories.

As a teenager, Marlin Jenkins was homeless for a couple of years.

Now, aged 45, he is trying to help the 40% of households in New York's Bronx district without internet get online.

"When education, banking and healthcare are online, and huge groups can't leverage these tools, the people who struggle most are struggling harder," he says.

Mr Jenkins and his two brothers, one of whom has cerebral palsy, were raised by a single mother. When the family's housing in Yonkers, New York fell through, his mother moved them 50 miles upstate in search of somewhere to live - a search which proved unsuccessful and resulted in a period of homelessness.

He still managed to gain his high school diploma though, and after university worked for telecoms giants Verizon and AT&T, then founded a gaming start-up.

He says his first response to having been homeless was that "I needed to make as much money as possible out of college" to provide for his family, but says the 9/11 terror attacks later changed his perspective, deciding instead to "cut my profit to give more back".