"Someone in Nigeria or the Philippines with internet access can begin producing content and easily make more money with Steemit at $5 per post than they could anywhere else in their local community."
Very apt observation. Steemit is the best gateway for newcomers into the crypto ecosystem. It just doesn't get any easier. The only obstacle so far is the manual approval process for new accounts, but I'm sure they will eventually get rid of that hurdle.
I do wonder how they are going to manage that problem. I've seen people saying it takes them months to get approved. That's going to be a problem once critical mass hits.