Announcing 233 Tech, saying Goodbye to this blog.

Announcing 233 Tech
(http://www.233tech.com)




Yes, we have finally started the march onto what I hope will become of the best content networks for Ghanaian content.

Sadly that means I have to say goodbye to this blog and focus my attention on making 233 Tech the best it can be.


You can still follow me on twitter (@just2izy). Its been wonderful, although I wish I could have shared my thoughts on several more issues and posted more often.

Thanks to anyone who read or commented on this blog. Thanks!

Jumpstarting Brand Ghana: Obamamania + Social Media

Fact. Ghana is at the center of debates on Africa because of Obama's visit.

Fact. Ghana was the number one trending topic on Twitter during Barack Obama's speech to Africa.


This is a big deal. Against the Iran Elections, Michael Jackson and other topics on the minds and hearts of people, Ghana became number one on twitter as Obama was delivering his speech.

I personally have had people who would in no way have met me either online or offline relay my thoughts and opinions all over the world. I believe others like (@Kwabena, @jdakorah, ) had similar experiences. It is a great time to be Ghanaian but we have #obamaghana fever for only a few more hours or days at best. It is time to take that popularity and sustain it into branding Ghana as a destination for investment and tourism.

In stating the above it must be obvious that majority of this interest especially in terms of sustained interest was on online social sites like Twitter and Facebook and discussion forums on news websites like BBC Have Your Say.

Capital required for initiatives to improve the tourism and investment outlook of a country are usually large and pound for pound or more appropriately; 'Naira for Cedi' or 'Rand for Cedi', Ghana cannot compete with juggernauts like Nigeria and South Africa and even the North Africa countries. This is where 'obamamania' provides us with a tremendous opportunity to level the playing field and we must not squander it.

The Ministry of Tourism recently launched a three (3) year tourism strategy (Budget:GHC 15 million) and I assume our capable and able leadership have included budgets for online and social media channels. Online social media like any medium online and offline needs time, investment and strategic understanding to effectively deliver a return on investment. The government needs to embrace this new medium and find the people with the right skills and knowledge to effectively use this medium.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube all offer a possibility to send our message to the world, if harnessed properly. This medium offers great opportunities at relatively lower costs. Leveraging the viral and interactive nature of social platforms including their ability to provide a more personal experience can be a powerful way to improve the marketing mix for 'Brand Ghana'. In some cases social media campaigns could be more effective than ad spots on CNN. I mean remember the beautiful ad campaign on CNN about two years ago? They didn't last very long and I assume the rates of ad spots were just unsustainable for long term with the tourism budgets available to Ghana. (Help with Youtube Ad URL, still can't find it. Add link in comments)

I believe to effectively execute any type of tourism strategy, the ordinary Ghanaian must pitch in. As the visit of Obama has shown without any direct investment an army(#Ghana, #obamaghana) rose up to ensure Ghana was the focus in the eyes of the world online. It is time for us to draw lessons from 'Mr Hope' himself Barack Obama. Heres's a quote from 'The Social Pulpit' a study by the PR Firm, Edelman of Obama's succesful use of social media.

Barack Obama won the presidency in a landslide victory (by a margin of nearly 200 electoral votes and 8.5 million popular votes) by converting everyday people into engaged and empowered volunteers, donors and advocates through social networks, e-mail advocacy, text messaging and online video. The campaign’s proclivity to online advocacy is a major reason for his victory

Remember, the same ads I referred to were distributed on Facebook and watched hundreds of times on Youtube. Give us 10 videos like that within the three (3) year campaign and I guarantee a viral distribution without any direct prompting. Our very own Brand Ghana army is waiting to be mobilized. South Africa is doing this very effectively with its 'My South Africa' campaigns.

Barack Obama during his campaign and in his administration uses technology and new media to ensure his message is heard. Ghana must embrace this culture and make of message of opportunity reach the companies, governments and people of the world.

The following section, is almost a 'how-to' for doing it the wrong way. I have struggled with myself whether to include this section in this post, but it would be irresponsible not to show the potential consequences of underestimating the power of the internet and new media (blogs, social networks). In aiming to promote Ghana, I sought to highlight Panafest in my tweets. Google 'Panafest 2009 website' and this is what you discover.

Welcome to what was once the Panafest - Ghana website. To satisfy your curiosity, I am the former webmaster and I have removed the website from the internet for nonpayment of fees by the principal organisers of the event.

Simply it tells the tale of people misunderstanding the far reaching consequences of this medium and how the organisers of Panafest have done Ghana a great disservice.
(Note: I do not condone the action of the 'webmaster' but he seems to really want his money)

However this also brings hope because it allows me to start a real life case of why social media works.

PROJECT CODENAME: Social Media Works.

Follow @panafest on twitter for updates.
Share this Ghana.gov Panafest article URL : http://bit.ly/kCw3Z

I will update this post with statistics on how well the link is doing. Please help me prove that, New media works.

Yes We Can!

Technology and Ghana's Public Expenditure

In the past weeks 'issues' about travel allowances for the Minister of Sports (aka the Triple M scandal) which ended with the Minister resigning for inappropriate use of public funds and two public official being asked to refund $20,000 to the state made me remember two posts I did sometime in 2007. At its basic the posts (The Book of Efficiency, Chapter One Part One and Part two were about using technology to make public expenditure and procurement more transparent, efficient and cost-effective.

Expenditure by public institutions is a huge problem for any government and especially so for the present Mills Administration because it was of the pillars of their election campaign. Technology I believe can be used to address many issues surrounding public expenditure.
In the posts mentioned above (please read them; Part One & Part Two), the UK Government (the US & Canada have similar schemes) designed and deployed an electronic payment scheme for use in Low value, High Volume purchases by Government Departments and Agencies called the Government Purchasing Card (GPC) programme, way back in 1997.

The main problems I see with public expenditure are; Transparency, Control, Efficiency and Cost-Savings.


Transparency
Government expenditure is usually the trickiest part of governance for any nation because it either creates wealth, improves the health and well being of a nation and protects citizens from harm or it enriches public officials and their cohorts. Transparency i believe is the key to ensuring government spends tax payers money in ways which broadly benefit the populace. If the public does not know what is being bought, contracted for or wasted, how do we approve or disapprove. Electronic transactions by their nature improve transparency and access to financial information about expenditure and reduce the scope for illegal activities.

In the case of Ghana, a similar scheme to the UK Government Procurement Card programme would provide information about financial transactions to several institutions: Ministry of Finance and Sector Ministries (eg. Ministry of Transport); Government Departments and Agencies (GDA eg. Municipal & District Assemblies, EPA, Urban Roads,etc); Financial institutions (Provider Banks, Visa, MasterCard); Scheme Merchants & Retailers.

In the preceding list, the most interesting are the financial institutions. Collusion and corruption between government ministries and its associated departments to perpetuate the $1,000 - $50,000 schemes suddenly must involve some of these public organisations to work flawlessly. Between rigorous audits from international regulators and shareholders, loss of millions of dollars in fines and lost credibility for $10,000 rip-off schemes, most will say, No Thank You!

Electronic transactions may ensure 'The Right to Information Bill' could allow access to expenditure information for monitoring and audits by the public and interest groups because electronic data scale better than paper. Transparency ensures better control.

Control
The main principle in UK was "Relevant financial thresholds set to capture a large percentage of low value purchases with appropriate controls, but minimizing restrictions." Basically controls were set based on the requirements of individual cardholders tailored specifically to suit each department.

The linchpin of this framework [the GPC programme] was an organized series of automatic preventive checks regarding a range of limits on expenditure: the maximum value of each individual transaction carried out by the GPC holder; the card’s period of validity; the cumulative ceiling set for each department or office

In the case of 'Triple M' the person releasing funds under 'Travel Allowance' could not have credited the Minister with more than the maximum of $1,200. In more flexible implementations, payment can occur but will trigger in-built reporting mechanisms. Such control mechanisms ensure ad hoc revisions by cardholders are reduced to a bare minimum and each such allowed overspend is documented and must be accounted and explained.

The key in all this is to provide controls but not to overly restrict the ability of individual cardholders to take decisions within the rules. Control should therefore lead to efficiency.


Efficiency
Efficiency of government procurement is one of the main reasons for the enactment of the National Procurement Act, Act 669. In trying to attain efficiency it must be done in accordance with the legalities of this Act.

Pre-qualifying suppliers, merchants and retailers in compliance with Act 669 and without marginalizing local providers for goods and services procured using government cards can greatly improve procurement efficiency.

Administrative and management efficiency also increases with electronic transactions as electronic data can be manipulated more easily to improve decision making processes about expenditure.

Another area of efficiency is in payment settlement, which for government contracts usually deter the best suppliers and contractors from participating because of delays in receiving payments. Efficient buying and selling reduces costs.

Reduce Costs
Electronic transactions provide cost savings in a myriad of ways. The most important cost reduction benefit is in reducing the paperwork involved in procuring goods and services by government. This huge administrative burden provides significant cost savings in eliminating paper-based purchase orders and invoice processing, accounting, record-keeping, storage and retrieval of expenditure related data.

Efficient expenditure by procuring goods and services at competitive prices in bulk by government also saves money. Another cost saving usually ignored is brought about by better priced solutions when payment settlement is reliable. When contractors are unsure about payment they increase prices to ensure their profits do not erode when they finally receive payments.

In summary, electronic payments can provide transparency which allows both government and the public to control expenditure leading to efficient spending and reducing costs.

Politics and OLPC Ghana

The 'One Laptop Per Child' (OLPC) is a project which stirs strong emotions (My original post) in me because I believe it offers the chance to enhance learning and imparting knowledge to school children in developing countries. Many of us have in our own ways lamented on how the lack of practical education from basic to tertiary levels in Ghana, hampers the growth of knowledge and the quality of education Ghana.

The XO-1 laptop offers to a great potential to correct this, if there is enough passion, willpower and thought put into implementing the OLPC vision to enhance our learning and provide a new way to gain knowledge in Ghana. Politics threatens this potential.

Politicians have great power to do good and inspire change but too often we have seen only the dark side of power exhibited. Today another dark cloud looms, one I hope is merely a misunderstanding.

"The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating the payment for 10,000 Xo Laptops which it perceives was done in haste a day before Professor Mils government was sworn in" (source: Daily Graphic)

I believe earnestly that the SFO has every right to probe into any such possible misappropriation of public funds. My only hope is they realize the payment for US $2,050,000 although done in haste was not illegal. If they find otherwise, OLPC Ghana could be in trouble.

The most important emotion in the implementation of such projects as OLPC is public perception for national good. If any illegality is found, public perception could become anger at another political gimmick to steal public funds. This I fear could be disastrous. Currently 'OLPC' is not exactly a buzzword and for it to become 'popular' only because of another political scandal would be disastrous in the least.

This leads me to another fear I have in my heart about OLPC Ghana, that unless the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education truly understand the potential, this project may get a C instead of an A+. We have enough of such projects, example the Aveyime Rice Project!

I believe putting the XO laptops into the hands of pupils is itself a powerful social and educational change as is evidenced by Nigeria’s experience. (Read BBC article).

My favorite from the Nigerian experience is a boy who went from not so popular to 'Senior OLPC Repair Engineer’ (hope the video is still available) because he could fix most common problems with his and other XO laptops. Also significant is the pride and curiosity the laptops arose in both children and adults.

I believe that the real impact (A+ scorecard) will be for the Ghanaian organizations (GES, MOE, OLPC Ghana) to enhance the curriculum to include practical education, similar to what Thailand and other test countries have shown work.

I hope again this is just a misunderstanding.

Links:
OLPC
OLPC Ghana
For Educators
For Developers
How OLPC Ghana began
Paper on OLPC Ghana by SF Buchele

Advertising in Ghana: Innovation or Irritation?

Well this post is inspired by my visit to Accra Mall today. I'm using Email to Blogger and Gmail App doesn't allow HTML email so bear with me until I go 'online' to format links properly.

Advertising in some aspects is still in its infancy but since multinationals spend huge amounts on advertsisng we are now in an 'Ad Boom'. The question is where do we draw the line and when does advertising stop being innovative and starts irritating.

I think there's a thin line and I will leave you to personally decide but today on my way to the washrooms at Accra Mall I saw no less than3 ad 'systems' at work.

On the walls in the corridor were some wall-mounted ads (Ecobank had taken it), at the end of the corridor a guy was 'lurking' and handing out flyers.(He'd better watch out for germs). Inside the washroom above the urinal basins were ad spaces (face ads is the name of the company) and two had been taken by Marie Stopes ( Sexual, Family Health and Pregnacy awareness) with some STI ads. There was a bigger one showing a 'business card online printing service'.

My thoughts are that well if we're going to have such ads how about a little context, say a hygiene product or if you're a general business like a bank how about a "have u closed your zipper? We pay attention to the little details,bring your business and money to us" kind campaign. No context makes such ads a 'No Win' for me. For example, I need business cards so why didn't I copy the url or address, because I only remembered after I had washed my hands and left and then going back felt odd.

Another ad system at the Accra Mall is 'bluetooth advertising' (someone please try and tell) which excited me to no end the first day I saw it but my BalckBerry is probably preventing access (sob sob).

But thinking through I feel it has similar challenges to the Google SMS service as Tim Akinbo (@takinbo) stated in this blog post ( See my comments below the post)

I feel that 'tech' stuff in themselves will not excite people. Bring on the 'discount coupons' and you have a service. I will 'hack' my BB bluetooth security settings just to get '50%' off Levi's jeans! I'm even thinking of interactive ways of using the bluetooth like allow uploads of funny clips shot at the mall and display, sponsored by Nokia or something.

One person who may have something to say is Amos Anyimadu
(@AfricaTalks) who thinks Ghana is now the capital of 'ugly big
billboards' (via Twitter). I will pose the question to him and update with response.

What do you think? Any thoughts on advertising in Ghana?

--
Sent from my mobile device

Random thoughts on Ex-gratia, vetting...

This post is inspired partially by this blog post
(http://akuamoahboateng.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/transition-09/ )and
partially by ECG. Yes, ECG! There's 'light off' as we say in Ghana and
my phone is the only thing alive.

Like the title states random thoughts and I contradict myself plenty of times.

Ex-gratia: I think the issue about the 'amounts and numbers' of money
and items must be treated delicately.

What, cars and houses?
Look I also agree it would be better if the State Protocol Department
would host the ex-presidents 'guests'.

But what happens when the SPD boss gets 'annoyed' with an
ex-president. Our societal nuances, lack of political maturity and
other issues means if this alt route is used it must be made into law,
else President Jimmy Carter visiting President Kuffuor sucessfully
depends on the whims of the SPD boss and how he feels about the
ex-president and the same will apply for President Mills if NPP is in
power.

$1 milion Foundation?
If we can build a system to ensure the foundation is not abused it
could be good. President Mills we know loves sports and it means we
will probably get a 1 million dollar sports education fund or a 1
million dollar boxing training academy, etc. What about President
Jerry Rawlings who loves Art. Ghana's first art school perhaps?

So why can't they do this while in government? Because we need a 1
million storage facility in the North, or clean, drinking water
or...... You can't indulge yourself with things you like when in
power. Out of power they can ensure something they are passionate
about gets done.

Wait a minute you say, $ 1 million, you mean 1/60th of the minimum
capitalisation of foreign banks as stated by BoG or 1/600th of the
estimated cost of the Boankra Inland Port (my dream project for job
creation) but we don't have that kind of money to waste!

Well since a foundation and a fund are cousins or at least related
and the most sucessful schemes of recent times are all fund based
(GETFund, NHIS) maybe we should find the money.

Vetting papa paa!!!
I am worried about the vetting process and yet it was a powerful
'state of the mindset' address'

I dare not doubt the character, competence and experince of the
nominees after all I have not yet achieved anything near what most of
them have done. Here's what I learnt.

Tax: the most feared 3 letter word in America, UK don't scare nobody
here in Ghana. The honourable nominee for Women & Childrens
Affair was (she has resigned hopeful as she said) Chairman of an NGOn
actually I think she registered it, and didn't know NGOs have a tax
obligation. Most people live a tax free life and who suffers, Mr
Highway, Mrs Clean Water and their children who are now on Social
Welfare! I think any government that can increase the number of people
paying taxes will do well. I think President Mills agrees with mw on
this as he"s set up a supervisory board. Another board!

Talking of boards, why did the president rush to disslove public
boards handicapping some of the activities of the organisations who
need boards to approve funds (hint:NHIS is one such og).

Anyway. CV. How can big men and women, accomplished so much have such
awful CVs. Full of typos, inconsistencies, all live on national TV.

Oopss or rather Yes!
The power is back and I will leave off my musings to do some work
(maybe a short movie then, work).

Just before I go.

ECG. They do this too much. They say theu need some plenty money($149
million just for the south, I must check the fig) to fix the power
cuts. Yesterday their Manager incharge of Debts was smiling while
telling us people owed them almost $20 million from as far back as
2005 (a single company owed 78,000)
Well hope the conversational manner of this blog is refreshingly
different from my other posts! More powercuts right!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Wireless Ghana, bridging the Digital Divide.

Much has been said about the 'digital divide' and how it excludes
Africa from participating fully in the revolution that is happening
through and on the internet. Although a myriad of issues ( See my post) contribute to the digital divide, one major issue has been Affordable
Access, especially in rural Africa.

Well I am enthused but suprised to stumble on Wireless Ghana, a project using ad hoc MESH networks to provide affordable internet and wide area connectiity to rural communities.

Why surprised? Because it has taken me this long to even hear of such
an initiative. If there is anyone reading who has prior knowledge of
this project why have you not continued to make noise.

Two main things I love about this initiative;

1. Action, Not words, policy, unconferences....

Wireless Ghana has the tagline "interconnectivity for West African
communities" and they are delivering small steps at a time.

The project was lauched in 2005 and currently operates a 20km wide
MESH network (Akwapim Community Wireless Network) using Open Source software and commercial network and PC hardware to share a 128 kbps VSAT internet
access across ten nodes.

It benefits schools, NGOs,small business owners across 6 towns in the Akwapim District of the Eastern Region of Ghana.

2. SMART and DIRTY!

The MESH network is built using;

a. Open Source Software: CUWiNWare (Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network)

b. Antenna: Rugged (probably local made) well suited for the terrain

c. Routers: Old unwanted PCs and New Wireless Cards (recycle, reuse)

I love this hands-on, hack stuff together approach because its about
using what's available and usual lowers cost.

( See Flickr Album)

So who are the people behind it?

Three people manage it;
Project Director: Mr. John Atkinson (Peace Corps Ghana); doubles as teacher.

Project co-ordinator; Mr. Gideon Kofi Amoah

Chief Officer of Technology: Mr. Ebenezer Boateng.

Ultimately it belongs to the whole community.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Twestival : The Power of Social Media

First I must admit shame that I made a mistake of assuming twestival was for only US and Europe and did not even bother to read a post on it in my Google Reader.

So, what is Twestival ?

On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water

This is a manifestation of what innovative use of Social Media channels can do in all areas of our life. Twitter is everywhere and using that huge community for charity is brilliant, smart and powerful.

Twestival, the brainchild of a handful of twitter.com users, debuted in London in September, 2008. Intended to be a local networking affair where attendees could meet their contemporaries behind twitter avatars while also doing it’s bit for charity, it has evolved into much more.

Participants will gather in cities all over the world, joining forces to raise money for CharityWater.org, a nonprofit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Real people, real time, real power to make a difference.

Source:FPR

I believe I have not read any posts or tweets ( I will do a more comprehensive search later) about Ghanaian twitterers getting involved.

Lagos is hosting a Twestival thanks toFrancis Oghuma (@qubestreet) and it has put Lagos on the Map. The other African locations are: Johannesburg, Cape Town and Lusaka.

Accra it seems will not be part of Twestival and sadly I may be as much to blame as any other twitterer in Ghana. This would have been an opportunity to firmly register Accra on the Twitter map since we could have generated hashtags to last months pointing to Ghanaian twitterers and Accra itself.

I sadly have to say GO LAGOS. I am officially a Lagos Twestivalian!!

LESSON: In this Global era of Social Media never assume you cannot be a part of any event. If I had just paid more attention a week ago, my trip to Accra would have read:

1. Get Klustrs.com marketing material to University of Ghana, Legon

2. Attend TWESTIVAL ACCRA .........

Here is my attempt to make up for my shame!




I hope all Twestivals are a huge success.
People Power Rules!

Why so serious? Blogs of a MIghTy African: BarCamp Ghana 08 - It's only the beginning

Why so serious? Blogs of a MIghTy African: BarCamp Ghana 08 - It's only the beginning

BarCampGhana 08: My Thoughts

I apologise profusely (plenty, plenty, plenty) for not being able to blog about BarcampGhana08 until now, especially since I was a panelist for social media.I could make up excuses saying Klustrs.com is taking all my time but I won't. Forgive me and lets move on.

BarCamp Ghana 08 at the Kofi Annan Center of Excellence (AITI-KACE) was for me one of the best meetings, conferences or anything of that nature I have been to, flaws inclusive. I enjoy informal networking activities (although enough don't happen in Ghana) and this was one of the most informal events I have been to.

It was great meeting people who share the same views and the same Lets-Make-IT-work in Ghana / Africa spirit. Yes it was Great. It was especially nice to meet a Nubian Cheetah(Nii Simmons) and David of davidajao.com (someone next to me is reading this post by David) and best of all I met in flesh someone who had commented on one of our blogs, Esi Cleland.

My first impressions Of BarCampGhana was that it would be fun, when an Afro man welcomes you to an event, its got to be FUN! The only downside for me at the beginning was that I was a panelist, who was late and had no idea what was about to happen .

I felt more at home after the first introduction sessions and mingling (beauty always overshadows fear)and once up there on the panel for social media I felt right at home among people talking about topics I LOVE!

What Did I learn from the Barcamp?

PANELS: Social Media

I realised that most bloggers have a problem knowing whether anybody out there cares (David, Esi and Nii, ignore this). It is a very disorienting experience to blog and not get responses to the issues.

This is what was suggested.

1. Be Consistent. Blog as consistently as you watch the episodes of your favorite television show. This also translates to 'Blog about something you LOVE'. Choose a category of technology you love and talk about it. (David said this)

2. Use other Social Media channels. This simply equates to Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. Ok, there are other ways to get your blogs on fire. Create correct tags for the content and do a googlle search to see if your posts turn up for those tags. Writing thoughtful comments and contributions on other blogs may get you started.

3. Get a Statistics tool. There are many ways to know if you are all alone or not on your blog. Ask Esi she has one on her blog. (Esi said this)

4. Social Media is not only Blogging. YES I knew this already but it was refreshing to see Alan come up with a video device to help promote citizen media. ( I like Alan, he's a busy man. Google Mapmaker)

5. For Lazy Bones. Start with small tiny chunks of telling your story and gradually build yourself up to become big. Simply put, if you're lazy start with Twitter. ( I said this in response to a question)


BREAKOUT SESSIONS: Entrepreneurship & Collaboration

1. Plenty Plenty Ameri-Ghanaians. It was very very obvious from a lot of the introductions and interaction that the US connection was tight. There were a lot of Ghanaians back from the US or planning on moving back to Ghana from the US at BarCampGhana. Is the credit crunch bringing talent back? If Yes, then I'm all for it. (Forgive Me)

2. Ghana is about to explode. If the aspirations and hopes of all the participants in this breakout session are realized even 50%, then Ghana my beloved Country is about to explode with New Age Business (Web 2.0 Ghana style).


KEYNOTES

I think all three speakers were Great.

1. BSL (Ebay,Paypal: the Zulu Warroir style). Chinery Hesse gave a good business minded speech on how he got where he is and where he is going with his new service, a payment and e-commerce business model, done within an African context.

1. Nubian Cheetah. George Ayittey spoke at BarCampGhana to tell us, ain't no government going to make it right, only WE can make it right.

2. Estelle Sowah. Love the CEO of BusyInternet. I think if more higher ups gave us such frank, warm, FUN speeches more people would realise that, Yes it is Hard but it is Worth IT. She had no idea how she was going to manage BusyInternet, but she took the challenge and what do we have one of Ghana's biggest ISP providers.


Finally, My next Post will try to Aggregate as many Links to BarCampGhana as I can in an hour. Wish Me Luck!


Justin Dakorah & Nana Kwabena Owusu, Klustrs.com

BarCamp 08: LIVE

I'm at the BarCamp 08 event at the Kofi Annan ICT center and blogging LIVE.

The current speaker is advocating that during our discussions we should focus on building 'BRAND GHANA".

I will update during the day.

Oops, Forgot met David Ajao of davidajao.com

Barcamp has really been good so far. We just went for lunch and we are having a key note address

I have so much to blog about I will do it tonight.

Facebook Developers Garage: Accra,Ghana

I believe we are now firmly on the map. Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and Samasource are bringing a Facebook Garage to A-C-C-R-A.

So what exactly is a Facebook Garage. According to the Facebook Wiki for developers;

Attending or hosting a Facebook Developer Garage is an
opportunity for a deep dive into Facebook Platform: it is a forum to
share ideas with local developers, look for partners on your latest
project, see and participate in Facebook App demonstrations, seek
technical support, or just network and socialize with other developers
interested in the Facebook Platform.

In general, Garages will welcome ad hoc presentations,
brainstorming sessions with other developers, and social interaction
time.

The Accra Garage will be the first in West Africa and Sasha Rush from Facebook will give a four (4) hour workshop (That long? Must be juicy!) on;

Application development and Entrepreneurs getting their products to the market

Its really great to have a Garage because it helps developers and entrepreneurs interested in using the platform meet each other. I am looking forward to meet people just like me and probably get one person to join the Team at Klustrs.com.

Whatever happens. I will be blogging about it, so get ready.

UPDATE:

Well after all the hype (By me) I was actually late for the Garage. How was I late? My fault a little and a stroke of bad luck. I had no power at home and It took me a lot of improvising to get ready (ever ironed by gas power?).

Anyway I did meet Sasha Rush the Facebook Engineer briefly and discussed what Facebook Connect Has to Offer.

I will blog later about Facebook Connect and its potnettial to make a many a web app viral if used properly.

Read the Techcrunch Post about Facebook Connect.

Zain: Wonderfully poised

The entry of Zain into The Ghanaian telecom market via acquistion of majority stake (75%) in Western TeleSystems (Westel) at around the same period Globacom obtained the a mobile License has created real competition and a breath of anticipation about our telecom industry.

This post seeks to explore the 'wonderful' world of Zain, who they are, what they offer and my opinion of a startegy that could help them in their quest to capture market share.


Zain operates in the Middle East and Africa, and until recently operated under different brand names (Celtel in most of Africa) now consolidated under the Zain brand. Zain is presently in 14
African countries and in Ghana, Zain will operate both a 3G mobile service and fixed services which they inherited form their acquistion of Westel.

So what will they offer? Let us answer this question by assessing Core Services, Vaued Added Services, Data Services they provide in their other operations.

Core Services

I have garnered from blogs in East Africa that Zain has good service quality. However this is not a guarantee the same will happen in Ghana. This is because on the strategy front whereas in Kenya they are engaged in a price war they have stated categorically the approach in Ghana will be different.

Phillip Sowah, Country Manager, Zain Ghana, said

......... Zain will not engage in any price war since call rates were already low in Ghana adding that the company will not oversubscribe its network.

Their 'One Network' concept also offers frequent travellers considerable cost savings by paying the same price for calls on Zain irrespective of the country you are in. I believe in countries they do not have operations a more traditional roaming agreement will exist.

Zain has stated that it will cover about 85% of the country from
North to South by following the road network. If they can deliver on call quality, they will win customers. OneTouch/Vodafone and MTN the biggest operators have serious quality issues . In area of call tariff prices I will believe they will price competitively.

Valued Added Services.

This is the area in whicn things get really interesting. Zain seem to enjoy differentiating their brand through Valued Added Services (VAS). One really notable focus of the company seems to be in micropayments/mobile payment market.

Their first attempt into this market in Kenya under partnership branded 'Sokotele' to challenege the mighty Safaricom's MPESA failed. They have decided to start another solo service called Zap, a Money Transfer service. Zap it seems will be rolled out across all their countries of operation but I do not know if they will offer it in Ghana.

The remittance and microbanking, mobile banking area is an interesting space and any Mobile Network Operator (MNO) which succeds in this area will improve their Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) signficantly. In other countries especially the Middle East, information services (Restaurant info, Hsopital Info) are also offered but they have more structured infrastructure than Ghana.

Data Services

My favorite area. Zain offers data access through GPRS/EDGE (where is the 3G ) in Kenya.In Ghana I do not know if only GPRS/EDGE or also 3G data access will be available.Anyway reasonable fixed monthly data plans or even a reasonable pay-as-you go option will gain them customers (Me Me Me!!!).

What Strategy to use ?

This is what I think.

a. Focus on getting new and prospective phone owners, they have less allegiance to any network. Capture existing market share by selling your message of better network quality and then actually proving it as they have done in Kenya. This should gain you the mass subscription you need to survive.

b. Improve your ARPU above the average by delivering VAS especailly in information services. Most people will pay for SMS info services which provide them with relevant timely information. Sports Updates, job opportunities, get creative.

c. The Ultimate. Look to the future. High speed access must be leveraged to build Ghana's future network. Don't make the mistake MTN made by offering your data services at premium rates. Focus on the 18-28 demomographic. This demographic is still looking for an affordable always on option to engage in the social media era of the web. Be the 'Web 2.0' telecom network by offering affordable monthly plans. Don't go the Wireless Office route go the "Youtube,Facebook,Skpe,Twitter" 24/7 route.

There are several technology start ups in Ghana who are building web apps and bsuinessess which require regularly decent access to the internet. 3G mobile access would be perfect for such start ups and they will become evangelists for your network (Hint: Klustrs.com. Full Disclosure, I am a co-founder of Klustrs.com).


I personally believe Zain can deliver on their promise and are ready for business. Why?See their brilliant pre-registration campaign. Brilliant move on two levels:

1. Build a database of your users even before they make their first call on your network. You can even assess the number of people willing to move from your competitors and which competitor's users are easier picking and focus on bringing them to your network.

2. Make people know you care about them. Gving people their preferred number without any premium services fee or 'knowing someone' is an excellent way to do this.

What to know how much impact it makes. Read David Ajao's article and the most interesting thing is not the article but the comments. 1,296 people commented at the time I checked the blog, mostly talking about getting their number and asking for help registering, 1,296!. He actually shut down comments an did a follow up post.

Since a christmas launch seems likely, especially since we all know how jammed the
existing networks get during the christmas period, I say WONDERFUL!!

Where is the Information? Part 1:Academia

I am really excited today because I just came across a great blogging website, Appfrica.net and they are officially my number one website for technology news in Africa (2nd overall after Techcrunch).

I'm so excited that I am suddenly fired up to blog. Fortunately an article at Appfrica about "web presence" ranking of universities in the world has provided me food for thought.

My reason for this post will not be self evident so let me state it, Access to Information. Yes, access to information. Justin (my co-contributor and partner) has been asking the question, Where is the Information? I am attempting to find out why it is so difficult to find information in Ghana, by doing posts on lack of information conscious mentality in academia,business and the blogosphere.

This is why this particular ranking which seeks to measure the visibilty and substance of academic material available through the web presence of the academic institutions worldwide appeals to me.

The "Webometrics Ranking of World Universities" as it is called is conducted by Cybermetrics Lab, part of the CINDOC - CSIC, a research body in Spain, which is

".....devoted to the quantitative analysis of the Internet and Web content especially those related to the processes of generation and scholarly communication of scientific knowledge."

The rankings are intended

"... to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a web
presence that reflect accurately their activities. If the web
performance of an institution is below the expected position according
to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider
their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and
quality of their electronic publications
"

Plain English, they want to encourage the academic community to put more academic publication and research material ('stuff') on the web.

I like the rankings because the methodology is based on extracting data using the citadel on which our internet existence is built, the 'search engine'.

For the purposes of the ranking four (4) search engines (Google, YahooSearch, Live (MSN) Search, Exalead) and the specialist scientific database of Google Scholar were used primarily because their API's are publicly available.

Four indicators were obtained from the quantitative results provided by the main search engines as follows:

Size (S). Number of pages recovered from four engines: Google, Yahoo, Live Search and Exalead.

Visibility (V). The total number of unique external linksreceived (inlinks) by a site can be only confidently obtained from Yahoo Search, Live Search and Exalead.

Rich Files (R). After evaluation of their relevance to academic and publication activities and considering the volume of the different file formats, the following were selected: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Adobe PostScript (.ps), Microsoft Word (.doc) and Microsoft Powerpoint
(.ppt). This data was extracted using Google.

Scholar (Sc). Google Scholar provides the number of papers and
citations for each academic domain. These results from the Scholar database represent papers, reports and other academic items. "

Another assumption in the process is that internet access exists and is available to the institutions and therefore financial constraints were not factored into the ranking, a point which may or may not significantly affect the ranking (what do you think?)

My focus is on the ranking of African universities and it is immediately noticeable that plenty of South African universities are in the upper tier of the rankings and although I was not
surprised, I wished my alma-matter was in the first 20 institutions.

Now comes the interesting part. Where are the Ghanaian universities?

And the winners in Ghana are.............

1. University of Ghana - Africa 46, World 6657

2. KNUST - Africa 50, World 6758

3. Asheshi - Africa 95, World 8860

Now I must say I was really surprised that UG beat KNUST. It seems their recent revamp of the website and a creation of a Management Information Systems (MIS) directorate was in the right direction. I will do a thorough comparision in a later post.

What does this mean:

I beleive that if this was a straight comparision of availability of information and functionality of academic websites, Ghanaian institutions may have placed higher in the ranking. However, in terms of the websites being a repository of academic publications and research, we will mostly definately not gain a whole lot of points.I think ultimately this was the undoing of the Ghanaian websites.

This means although the major universities have started on the right track in order to avoid the 'Business Card Syndrome' and become a repository of knowledge and information, it is time to dust off all the wonderful research sitting on shelves and start making an electronic archive. This will benefit both students and increase international presence of the institutions. Although this may require some investment, I do not think PDF and other rich document media formats require a server farm akin to that of facebook and it can be done.

Ultimately for me the whole process is excellent because it seeks to say that merely having a .edu domain name whether in Ghana, the US or India is not enough. the domain must support all activities of the institutions, creating awareness, boosting the presence of the institution worldwide and YES, dissemination of INFORMATION.

Since the rankings are done half yearly, I am preparing a PDF document yo give to the three Ghanaian institutions so they can work their way up.

So, where is the information? On the shelves of academic institutions where with a little effort they can move from and become worldwide knowledge!

CHANGE NOW; Ministry of Communication website.

The title of this post should make it fairly obvious what it is about. I was researching on Nokia's presence in Ghana to see if I could offer a new perspective and one of the articles I found happened to be from the official website of The Ministry of Communication, Ghana. To my utter dismay the website has not changed!

I will not mince words, the website has an ugly design, poor usability and says 'we are cheap and unwilling to pay for a better website". In fact I think even if the MOC decided to use a template website in lieu of a custom development, there must be better templates out there.

I know for a fact that the communication industry in Ghana is one of the most vibrant ones, with major players in both Africa and the world present here. In this 'search-centric' era, anyone interested in the telecommunications industry in Ghana is likely to start finding information through a search engine query. It is also very likely the official website may be returned as part of the results, although I am hoping the SEO is so poor it may be further down the result list.

The MOC website must be completely overhauled and by this I do not mean just an interface redesign but a version that also does not fall victim of the "Business Card Syndrome". The BCS is my own coined phrase for websites that merely present facts and figures about a business entity, instead of leveraging the interactive power of the internet and using the website as part of the entire business process, from Supply Chain Management to Customer Relationship Management.

I am using this post and other means ( a facebook group) to advocate for a redesign of the Ministry of Communications website.

Please Add a Comment to Support this Cause, unless you think I am wrong.

Branding versus Service Provision

This post is my first after a long absence from blogging on either of my co-authored blogs. This means it must be an issue which has really left a big impression on me. It is based on a personal experience, which is what most of my new blogs will center on; Personal everyday experiences put into a business or technology context.

This blog is about my observation (or perception, I stand corrected) that Ghanaian companies are spending a disproportionate amount of money on branding compared to service provision, when it should be the reverse.

Klustrs.com, the first product of the fledgling start up Justin and I have began, is almost ready and last Tuesday (November 4) due to the unavailability of both the regular paid access and the free wireless internet service at Justin's hostel (Yes people, he's still in school) we decided to get our own ‘internet’ connection .

Our immediate choice was to get a fixed wireless phone from GT/Vodafone since there was an ongoing promotion (GHC 40 price) and we had been consistently bombarded with radio and TV ad campaigns about its features and flexibility. ‘Internet’ connection (actually GPRS) is an additional GHC 40 per month, so we got GHC 80 from an ATM (sorry not E-zwich, still VISA) and walked into the GT customer care center in Adum. I was excited since the entrance had Vodafone posters just to remind you of the new face of GT.

Alas (see how they’ve forced me to use such an OLD word!), upon inquiring we were informed there were no units available, we should come back on Thursday. Actually the response was either “we have run out of stock and would receive some units from Accra soon” or “we have some in stock but they are not yet properly configured” I was so disappointed I don’t remember . The funny thing is although my mind screamed,” WHAT, come on!”, I felt deep down that I had expected it that, Walk in, Walk out, might just have been too good. I must however praise the person I spoke with, she did scribble a contact number for me on a piece of paper to call two days later to check if the units have arrived. Carefully inspection of the paper revaled the reverse had all the personal contact details (phone,post address, home adress,place of work of a customer!) but thats another post.

We walked out and immediately started complaining (EH! TOO KNOWN BOYS) about how companies spend millions building brands and advertising and then pour it down the drain through poor service provision. Guess what flashed into view as we walked on, KASAPA’s office! In we went, to get a similar phone (called the Home Work phone).

Two things happened in the KASAPA office;

1. Their service was inappropriate since the ‘internet’ (CDMA data service) was pay-as-you-go at 0.04Gp per minute which computes to about GHC 2.4 per hour.
2. It was proved beyond doubt that I am ‘TOO Known’! Actually what happened was, when we met the person in charge my first question was, what are the different options for your‘data plan’ (EH ALASKA!). He goes like ‘huh?’, Oh no, you see KASAPA uses CDMA technology and we have several great features………, I stopped him in the middle and said actually all we need is the data options to assess if we can afford their service. Still staring at me (thinking who is the CRaZy guy), Justin said ‘Internet’, and Voila! He says yes, it can connect to the internet……back to our main story.

Having been disappointed by GT, priced out by KASAPA (I’m not saying the price is outrageous, just inappropriate for a net freak like me!), we decided to try TIGO,Express Yourself ( I love their ads) , just down the street.

We get to Tigo and I step up to a lovely young lady and ask about their Data SIM Cards (This “DATA” again?), she responded by stating the price, ¢900,000 (GHC 90.00). Her response made it sound as if the SIM Card alone was GHC 90.00, so I asked for clarification. Her facial expression changed (not so lovely now) and just as she was staring at me with a ‘Get a Life’ look, an elderly man seated in a queue (Bless Him!) explained: GHC 20.00 for registration,GHC 70.00 as credit against a customer account.

That sounded more reasonable than GHC 90.00 for a SIM card albeit a DATA SIM card. I thanked the man, turned and smiled at the girl (flirting with the enemy or sarcasm,choose one) and walked out where Justin was waiting.

BOTTOMLINE:

1. Ghana Telecom/Vodafone :

Spend big Cedis on Ad campaigns and then consequently waste it by not observing simple inventory management rules: Stock Re-order Levels, which would have led to better service provision . CONSEQUENCE: They lost a customer who walked straight to a competitor.

2. KASAPA:

Not much they did wrong but;

a. The personnel should know more about the industry than 'TOO KNOWN' customers like me. Data plan, data options, et cetera should equate to 'internet' in the mind of th person in charge of the primary device for delivering internet access on your network.

b. How do you the ‘Underdog’ compete against your bigger competitors? Better services all round including Data services. GT has fixed monthly payment plans, why not Kasapa?

3. TIGO:

A bad day for the primary contact between a potential customer and your services can be disastrous especially when they withhold relevant information about a service from the customer. Fix it so they have less bad days, or you monitor them and take out the ones who always have a bad day (Some people are just always angry)

To conclude, the telecommunications industry is a service based industry and the perceptions of the customer although influenced by branding, is ultimately won through the best service provision and service fulfillment, almost always. I love the GT and TIGO ads but ultimately I need services delivered as promised.

GLO or ZAIN to the rescue or better yet the Juggernaut that GT/VODAFONE represents on paper must become reality soon.

Please Comment on the following?

1. Am I wrong, does Branding influence you more than Service provision?
2. Am I being too critical about companies building brands in neglect of actual service provision and fulfillment?
3. Is Alaska TOO KNOWN? Vote Y for ‘Yes’ and N for ‘No’ 

OLPC Live in Nigeria

Before I start this post I would like to apologize for myself and my co-author for leaving you without any information on whats happening for a while. Put simply, 24 hours are not enough for us.

Now to the substantive post. OLPC and OLPC Nigeria have tested the XO laptop in a rural Nigerian primary school and my heart sings with joy about it.

Read the full article from BBC NEWS.

I promise to post again real soon.

The Electronic Payments System in Ghana

Electronic cards be them ATM, Debit or Credit cards are used worldwide for a variety of purposes and reasons but the most common use is for withdrawing cash and paying for goods and services. In Ghana, ATM Bank cards and debit cards are the most common form of electronic cards. This industry has undergone and is undergoing fantastic changes.

I will highlight these changes and what the future holds and then start a debate as to why we never use our cards for anything else apart form withdrawing cash.

Types of Electronic Cards in Ghana

Stored Value Cards

Stored value cards also called e-money have been available in Ghana for sometime and were the first type of electronic funds available. SikaCard® by SG-SSB (then know as SSB) and Mondex® by GCB are examples but they have never been popular and are not prevalent.

ATM / Debit Cards

I have chosen to group ATM and debit cards together as most Bank issued ATM cards in Ghana now double as a PIN based debit card. The development of the ATM system in Ghana started in 1980 when the Trust Bank introduced the first ATM. A disparate and unconnected network of ATMs sprung up as other banks installed their own ATMs until the creation of the Ghana National Net Settlement Service (GNNSS) by VISA® International (also called the Visa Horizon network). All ATM / Debit cards issued in Ghana currently are therefore VISA® branded with VISA Electron® being the most common brand (issued by 7 out of 23 banks). United bank for Africa(UBA) is accredited but does not currently issue cards.

It must however be noted that two banks, Intercontinental Bank and Ghana Commercial Bank are set to soon release MasterCard® branded ATM and debit cards.

This might increase competition and reduce the high transaction charges for use of these electronic cards which currently stand at ¢2,500 (GH¢0.250) at your banks ATM, and ¢7,500 (GH¢0.750) for transaction on other bank ATMs and also other EFTPOS terminals, an assumption.

It is also interesting to note some ATMs allow use of Value Added Services like ; fund transfer between accounts and purchase of prepaid mobile units.

Credit Cards

Ecobank Ghana Limited currently issues the only credit card called the Ecobank Gold Card which VISA® branded. I do not know the criteria for assessing credit worthiness as there is currently no credit bureau formally established in Ghana, although there are hints the Bank of Ghana (BoG) will grant licences soon.

The Current State

The BoG as the regulator of the financial sector in collaboration with the financial institutions, especially the banks are currently implementing or formulating policy on various issues which will improve the use of electronic cards for more financial transactions.

The most relevant to this discussion is the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement System (GIPSS). The GIPSS is an independent entity established in an agreement between the BoG and the Ghana Association of Bankers, to be responsible for the different components of Ghana’s payment and settlement system infrastructure and would include the following:

1. National Switch (the Common Platform)
2. Biometric Smart Card
3. Cheque Clearing
4. Codeline Cheque Truncation
5. Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), and
6. Automated Clearing House (ACH)

This is an exciting proposition and the most important factors for the ordinary bank user and Ghanaian are the following;

1. A national switch means you can use your ATM card in any ATM in Ghana to withdraw cash. It would no longer require your ATM be ‘branded’ as all banks would be connected to the platform either directly or through other member banks as the costs involved may be considerable for smaller banks.
2. The Biometric Smart card directly moves to the newest and increasingly preferred choice of electronic systems which involve using unique biometric data as opposed to PIN and signatures. It also provides the advantage of NOT requiring numeracy and literacy skills a situation which would allow unbanked illiterate Ghanaians to become a part of the electronic and digital age.

The GIPSS is on schedule and a contract was awarded to Net1 U.E.P.S. Technologies, Inc, a Johannesburg based company on June 26, 2007 for the supply, development and implementation of the National Switch and Smart Card Payment System and is scheduled to be completed in 9 months. The intention of NET1 is to connect all 23 banks in Ghana by December 2007.

"Net1 provides its universal electronic payment system, or UEPS, as an alternative payment system for the unbanked and under-banked populations of developing economies. This system uses secure smart cards that operate in real-time but offline, unlike traditional payment systems offered by major banking institutions that require immediate access through a communications network to a centralized computer. This offline capability means that users of Net1's system can enter into transactions at any time with other card holders in even the most remote areas so long as a portable offline smart card reader is available. In addition to payments and purchases, Net1's system can be used for banking, health care management, international money transfers, voting and identification."

(Source: www.secureidnews.com . Read FULL article)

The Future

The next few months are going to be an exciting period in the electronic payment industry in Ghana. Its is finally feasible to invest in adopting electronic payment infrastructure for companies that offer financial services and products such as pre-paid utilities, money transfers, loan and insurance management, savings accounts, and third party payments in anticipation of payment instrument that can be issued to all Ghanaians regardless of their financial status or dwelling location.

There is also a need for all local business to gear up to accept the new payment instrument and IT solution providers and suppliers of electronic products must plan and strategise how to effectively supply, train and maintain these systems for local business (Young entrepreneurs this could be your business model).

It had also been a puzzle to me why VISA International has been inactive in advertising the use of VISA® branded debit cards as a retail purchase instrument. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when sometime this month Standard Chartered Bank and SG-SSB in collaboration with VISA® International started a radio campaign promotion the use of VISA® branded cards.

The Debate

A VISA Electron® branded ATM / Debit card can be used at any VISA branded ATM, Retail Point-of-Sale (POS) or any Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) Terminal displaying the VISA logo. For VISA Electron® cards discretion for use in online transactions lies with the Issuer of the card, that is the banks. Cedi account cards currently cannot be used online but there are arrangements for cards drawn on a foreign currency to do so at some banks.

Question: Why are we so reluctant and unwilling (If you have please post a comment of How and When) to use our VISA cards to buy goods and services?

I have been trying to come up with answers and I believe these are some reasons.

• Limited acceptance points: Most of us procure goods and services from merchants who do not provide this facility and we therefore do not come into contact with the facility anyway.
• High transaction costs: Assuming the ¢7,500 (GH¢0.75) for use at different bank branch ATMs apply to use on a POS device or terminal, then 2 transactions a day means ¢15,000 (GH¢1.50) which translates to ¢105,000 (GH¢10.50) a week! Minimum daily wage is around ¢19,000 (GH¢1.90) Ouch!
• Limited of information and advertisement: There is not enough of an information and advertisement drive by the issuers of cards, retail merchants and the others who provide the facility about the services offered. I believe by making such information as ubiquitous as possible, interest and use will increase.
• Limited service offerings: The number of services which can be paid for with an electronic card is limited to mostly shopping at convenient stores and buying food. Important as these industries are; what about utility payments, cash back options, purchasing prepaid units for all types of situations, mobile phones, internet access, et cetera which provide real value to us consumers. The service providers should innovate and excite us with ‘real’ services.
• Lack of System Reliability and Customer Care: I have nicknamed this ‘The Nightmare Scenario’ as mot of us have experienced trying to access an electronic service and being told the ‘system is down’, not with a smile but with contempt by the service provider. Imagine trying to buy prepaid electricity units at 9pm at the last ATM en route home and to be told the system is down!

Notwithstanding all the above mentioned, why could I not make myself pay for stuff at GAME® with my Ecobank VISA Electron card when the VISA Logo is boldly displayed? I simply felt "some way"! I think the most significant barrier to all of us is psychological! What do you think?

I am proud to say the Bank of Ghana is my favorite National Institution as they are really doing their work as the independent Central bank excellently.

---

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

I have been gearing up to write about this for sometime but I was delaying it because most of what I had originally planned was unflattering not about the OLPC but about its possible adoption (actually lack of adoption) into the New Education Reform sectors ‘focus’ on ICT. I have always complained that the people in power seem not to keep up with these issues especially when it comes to ICT and thank goodness I’m wrong. I am totally fired up since I learnt from Justin that the Ghanaian Government (His Excellency John Agyekum Kuffuor) has made pronouncements on adopting the OLPC.

The One Laptop per Child association (OLPC) is a Delaware, USA based, non-profit organization created by faculty members of the MIT Media Lab, set up to oversee The Children's Machine project and the construction of the XO-1 "$100 laptop"

The OLPC project is an initiative to provide the almost 2 billion children of developing and third world ( I so dislike this word) countries with no little or no access to educational tools with the XO laptop, a children's machine designed for “learning learning” and “tap into the children's innate capacities to learn, share, and create on their own”. The laptop was originally priced at $100 dollars but is currently being offered at around $175.

I must first make the point that as with any such project it has both its good points and also its criticisms. I will however focus on the good points here as I am convinced the idea in general is laudable.

In my search for articles on the OLPC project and its Ghanaian connection I stumbled upon (Again!) a really interesting blog detailing how the OLPC reached the eyes of His Excellency President Kuffuor, who has endorsed the program and announced that he planned for every ‘Class One’ (1^st Grade) student in Ghana to have a laptop. Read the article “The Week Everything Changed”. It is quite an interesting and long entry so please read it using the link provided.

I believe if the ‘jaw-jaw’ becomes action and a good education model is built around the use of the XO laptop for learning, it would be fantastic. Education in Ghana as we all known is too theoretical and boring and making it more playful for the young ones will grow their minds, so much more (This is not a DSTV advert).

There are several ideas on educational content and educational models for using the XO laptop effectively to fit into the educational systems. Most of the ideas are based on “constructionism” which basically is “a philosophy of education in which children learn by doing and making and explore and discover instead of being force fed information”. The main proponent of this philosophy is Seymour Papert whose ideas are deemed to have influenced Nicholas Negroponte to start the OLPC and therefore most of the educational models have constructionism at their very foundation. The field notes from the test of the XO laptop in Thailand is a must read to see just how exciting and refreshingly different this can all be.

PS. Read more about the technical aspects of the XO laptop

PSS. If you don’t already use a newsreader like GoogleReader, please sign up for one. It makes it easier to subscribe to different blogs,website feeds,news feeds etc and you know if any new content has been posted. You can keep up with you favorite stuff much easier this way.

The Truth behind the 'Digital Divide'

Have you ever really wondered why monthly costs for internet access in so expensive in Ghana and most of Sub-Saharan Africa. I mean most offers for monthly access are quoted in US Dollars and compared to charges in UK and US (which I can totally afford) we are paying an arm, leg and maybe a little of our hearts.

I stumbled upon an article and I am not referring to stumbleupon.com but stumbling in a literal sense, which is how I find most juicy stuff on the net. The article is called The Halfway Proposition and highlights the most important issue in the eyes of African ISPs as to what creates high end-user costs for internet access, 'Reverse Subsidy'. ‘Reverse Subsidy’ refers to African ISPs paying for both direction of traffic over the internet backbone.

The Problem
Obtaining upstream connectivity requires African Internet Service Providers (AISPs) to purchase bandwidth from International Backbone Providers (IBPs). Typically 90% of an AISPs upstream cost is the physical link from them to the IBP’s country and 10% is the cost of purchasing IP Bandwidth once they get there. Whether the service is purchased as a bundle or separately the AISP pays 100% of the International carrier to get from Africa to the IBP network and then 100% of the Internet bandwidth cost. This amounts to a reverse subsidy of IBP connectivity costs by AISPs.

When an end user in Kenya sends E-Mail to a correspondent in the USA it is the Kenyan ISP who is bearing the cost of the International connectivity from Kenya to the USA. Conversely when an American end user sends E-Mail to Kenya, it is still the Kenyan ISP who is bearing the cost of the International connectivity, and ultimately the Kenyan end user who bears the brunt by paying higher subscriptions. Simply put “If you (AISP) want service you have to come to me, if you don’t want to come to me – that’s fine, I’m not paying to come to you…."

The Solution
The Halfway Proposition is a strategy that borrows the experience of Asia and adapts it into a realistic strategy for Africa. Redressing the balance through regulation by the ITU is not the way forward. It would be far better to allow the process to be driven by the private sector.

Step 1 – Create Traffic Aggregation within Africa
i. Through the creation of Internet Exchange Points
ii. Through the emergence of Regional Carriers facilitating regional peering

Step 2 – Create Digital Arteries to carry the traffic
i. Regionally. Regional Fibre Optic Infrastructure to reduce the costs of regional peering
ii. Internationally. International Fibre Optic Infrastructure to reduce the costs for IBPs to establish Point-of-Presecence at Points of Aggregation in Africa.

Since the article and the idea was conceived in October 2002 it has been almost 5 years and progress has been made.

Hip Hip Hooray

Step 1 – Create Traffic Aggregation within Africa

• Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) have been created in 10 countries with some like South Africa and Nigeria having more than more IXP. Ghana launched its IXP called GIXP on Tuesday 18th October 2005 at the Ghana India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence. The GIX is run and operated by the Ghana Internet eXchange Association (GIXA www.gixa.org.gh), an independent non-profit corporation establish by the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA, www.gispa.org.gh) and other stakeholders interested in joining and growing the GIX.

• Regional Carriers have been selected by the African ISP association, AfrISPA, in response to its Request for Service for data transport between the different ISP members of local Internet Exchange Points. Transtel, a division of Transnet Limited and Africa Online/SkyVision are the two bidders that successfully met the Request For Service (RFS) criteria to provide an African Regional Internet Traffic solution. The peering point design can be extended to allow additional Internet Exchanges to join the network with ease at any time in the future.
  

Step 2 – Create Digital Arteries to carry the traffic

Regional and International Fibre optic Infrastructure. The existing SAT3/WASC/SAFE able is fast running out of bandwidth to support access and several new initiatives have arisen.

o Teams (The East African Marine System): Kenya has awarded an $82m undersea internet c able project to the French-American company Alcatel-Lu cent.

Teams will be owned by the Kenya Government (up to 40%), while Etilsat of the United Arab Emirates will hold a 20% stake. Private investors - yet to be secured - will hold 40%. The cable will run from Fujairah in the UAE to Mombasa, Kenya.

o EASSY (The East African Submarine Cable System): This is an initiative of various telecom companies in eastern and southern Africa

o The SEACOM marine cable system: The planned 13,000 km undersea fiber optic network will provide connectivity between South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India and Europe. Owned by the American Heracles Telecom, SAECOM’s planned commissioning date is the first quarter of 2009.

o The NEPAP Broadband Initiative Network is also currently underway after it broke away from the ESSAY initiative

In conclusion, unfair and unjust arrangements for upstream connectivity to the internet which made end-user costs in Africa high, have spurred great innovation and cooperation between the private and public sector to obtain our own internet backbones, this in the long-term is more beneficial. It must however be noted that most of these projects have been delayed due to differences in opinion on the business model to be used for operation and lack of ratification by all the possible participant countries. Politicians will always be Politicians.