AITEC Extras

Experts points way forward
How to create a fairer ground for all players on
Ghana’s burgeoning IT sector and take IT services to
areas that are still un-served were some of the issues
addressed by experts at the just ended 8th West Africa
ICT conference and Exhibition (AITEC 2004) in Accra.
But there were also bigger issues for the industry
leaders that converged at the International Conference
Centre (ICC), venue of the four days event, many of
whom includd CEOs of start-ups challenged by a mix of
socio-economic and political crises facing the entire
West African sub-region.
These issues include human capacity development in a
sub-region of more than 200 million people, how to
engage ICT tools to wake up an economy in comatose
with a GPI of less than $300, get more private-sector
participation in an environment considered as unstable
by prospective off-shore investors and accelerate
regional economic integration to get indigenous
entrepreneurs of the region more involved in the
development of their common market without unnecessary
hindrances.
The experts included those from the United Nation
Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the
Ghana-India Kofi Anann Centre of Excellence. Others
were policy makers from the Ghana Ministry of
Communications and Technology and the National
Communications Authority. There were also speakers
from exhibitors including CWG (Ghana) Limited and Soft
Tribe.
For the experts, despite several policy affirmations
made by leaders of the sub-region, there are still
avoidable obstacles entrenched in the political
systems and economic practice of virtually all ECOWAS
members that scare off prospective investors from one
member-state from the other. While there has been a
good mix between the small time entrepreneurs
consisting of local traders in the informal sector
across borders, the formal sector has not been able to
enjoy any significant measures of integration.
“We have to rise above the challenges of artificial
boundaries to face the more serious challenges of
building common ICT infrastructures improved
sub-regional cohesion and help develop the economy of
Africa’s most populated sub-region,” one resource
speaker told IT Edge at the event in Accra.
Another observer remarked that countries in the
sub-region need to work harder at breaking up vestiges
of monopoly that still exist. For in stance in Ghana,
while regulatory changes have helped to open up the
sector and ushered in new players, incumbents tended
to be unduly shielded from the emerging competition.
Ghana’s situation is not too different from that of
Nigeria or any other Ecowas country. There is still a
protectionist policy in place that put undue advantage
in public telco against newly licensed players.
The AITEC event is a yearly one geared at
facilitating a knowledge and information sharing
platform on the future of ICT in West Africa. AITEC
2004 was declared open by the Minister of
Communications and Technology who was represented by
his deputy. Part of the four day programme also
included a training session on IT for journalists
drawn from Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire.

Exhibitors include IP Planet, BusyInternet, Gilat
Satcom, NAS Inter-global Network, Techno Systems Ghana
(TSG), Persol System, TechyKidz, Cutting Edge, STL
(Ghana), ACCPAC Modular Resource, and CWG (Ghana).

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BusyInternet unwrap news portal
The AITEC event also saw the formal announcement
towards the launch of www.itafrica.org, a web news
portal to serve as the continent’s primary source of
information on ICT businesses, professionals, careers,
events and projects.
The portal is resulting from partnership between AITEC
Africa and BusyInternet, one of Africa’s most
successful Internet developers. Announcing the launch
at the ICC, Mark Davies, chairman of BusyInternet,
said: “We have been working on the development of this
portal at BusyLab for over two years and it is now
ready to serve Africa’s ICT community as a source of
up-to-date information and as a contact exchange
point.
“By partnering with AITEC we are confident that
itafrica.org will have a major impact as we develop it
across a wide range of countries through AITEC’s
extensive network of offices and partners.”
Welcoming the partnership with BusyInternet, Sean
Moroney, Chairman of the AITEC group, called on
members of Africa’s ICT community to make use of the
portal as their first port of call when seeking
information on companies, individuals, development
partners and projects in the sector.
“Too many African professionals and organizations work
in isolation. We want itafrica.org to act as a
catalyst to promote collaboration, develop
partnerships and help accelerate rapid growth in the
ICT sector.”

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