ICTworks by Inveneo

It was a normal day by Accra standards. I walked out of the house ready to make my way to the center of town for an interview with a homegrown tech company; Esoko. I hailed a taxi and started haggling with the driver, once we had settled on a price, we were off on the traffic-ridden roads into central Accra. An average of 3-15 street vendors would emerge at the larger intersections and red traffic lights trying to sell us anything from fruits, jewelry, books, to shoes (don't ask me how/who would try on shoes while driving!).

Thanks to our zealous vendors, the market played out right outside the taxi windows accompanied by the sounds coming from the taxi radio speakers: Ghanaian Hiplife music and commentary on everything and anything on life in Accra. In those moments, I was immersed in the familiarity and novelty of the experience, completely unaware how my perspective on the market, media and communications in Ghana was about to change in the next few hours.

Below I detail what I learned from Sarah Bartlett (Communications Director) and Andrea Biardi (Technical Manager) who graciously sat with me and described the ins and outs of Esoko (Electronic Market, Soko = Market in Swahili), it's role in Information and Communication Technology for Development and why it could be changing markets in Africa in unprecedented ways.

How did Esoko begin?

A decade ago Mark Davies, a Welsh-South African, fresh from the dot com boom made plans to travel across West Africa on his motorcycle. During this trip he interacted with both rural and urban communities and he kept thinking how life would be different for the people he was meeting if they had basic technology and infrastructure like stable power, printing services and internet; basically, services that people in the west took for granted. What kind of opportunities and innovation would arise from that consistent access to technology? Thus BusyInternet was born; initially an Internet Café, Internet Service Provider and a business incubator run in partnership with the World Bank.

BusyInternet provides basic technology services to the public and has grown into a successful technology hub located in Accra amongst the hustle and bustle of the Kwame Nkrumah circle. As it grew into the largest technology center in West Africa, Mark immersed himself in a new challenge. With mobile phones spreading rapidly and with so much data that needed to be collected and shared, especially in rural areas dominated by agriculture, it seemed the missing link was a technical platform that could facilitate information sharing.

The idea of using mobile phones as that platform was obvious, as in Ghana the penetration rate for mobiles was upwards of 85% in city centers and averaging at 60% across the country. And it has continued to grow since: the International Telecommunication Union reported at the end of 2010 cellular penetration reached 75.4% across Ghana.

So in 2005, Mark and a few software developers started a new R&D company focused on local solutions to local problems using new technologies. Mobile phones played a key role. They created a plan to facilitate agricultural e-commerce under an endeavor they called ‘TradeNet’. Their first product became an application that enabled the dissemination and collection of price information for market commodities like grains and vegetables using simple SMS.

This information was accessible to anyone through the Internet but what made the tools from Esoko powerful and innovative was that you did not need a computer or the Internet to interact with the wealth of pricing information housed on the web server. With the simplest mobile phone, using basic SMS text you can access a world of pricing information. With the click of your mobile’s keypad or through auto-alerts customized for your needs the information would appear on your phone on a periodic feed. You therefore have access to the most up-to-date price information for the commodities of your choice be it coffee, cassava or wheat, at the tip of your fingers.

Mistowa and TradeNet: Before Esoko

In 2006 a partnership was formed between TradeNet and Mistowa, a regional program funded by USAID that aimed to remove trade obstacles in West African markets. Through this partnership, TradeNet emerged to provide an electronic agribusiness information exchange platform that enabled peer-to-peer trading. The initiative was able to offer access to real-time market information including commodity prices, offers to buy and sell between farmers, merchants and traders as well as business contacts on more than 300 products, from over 500 markets throughout West Africa.

TradeNet's work with Mistowa brought to light the kinds of applications that would fulfill the needs of the agribusiness sector. And with 60% of Africans earning their living from working in agriculture, a sector so underserved in terms of technology solutions, it made sense for TradeNet to continue in that area. TradeNet started hiring more software developers, and the applications started getting more interesting.

By this time, there was a growing global trend in using mobiles/ICT to exchange information in a new way, shorten supply chains and get people better money for their crops. It had become resource-consuming to obtain information through the classical methods - collecting forms, using landlines, travelling to locations etc. Many projects and businesses were trying to create electronic systems to solve supply chain problems but were not technology experts or developers themselves.

Around this time, TradeNet re-branded itself as ‘Esoko’ or Electronic Markets (Soko is the Swahilli word for market) and became one of the pioneers in this growing field of African mobile innovation joining the likes of Ushahidi, Frontline SMS and SlimTrader, companies that are creating innovative mobile solutions specifically for the African customer. Esoko focuses on tools for market and agricultural information and is expanding its efforts into other realms whereas other companies in the sector focus on m-money, m-banking, crowd-sourcing disaster/phenomena data and so on. In a continent with such growing demand for mobile technology, it is encouraging to see the variety and growing number of such technology companies creating solutions for the specific needs of the African customer.

Development Work, Local Interests and Sustainability

Several development projects have used the platform and Esoko hopes they will continue to do so in the future; it’s an ideal fit for projects that have a central mandate to integrate information and communication technologies into their projects. Esoko can serve as an ‘out of the box’ market information platform while providing training and support. This means that while Esoko is not part of the core structure that is built for any specific project, organizations can bring in Esoko as an outside expert for the tools they need rather than re-inventing the technology wheel each time.

Many donor-funded development projects have similar challenges surrounding sustainability. Typically, when a project closes down, Esoko looks for a new partner in a new location. In many cases, these new partners have a different value chain or mandate and may be working with different end-users e.g. traders versus farmers.

In other scenarios somebody has to take over and continue to provide the services the community has grown accustomed to instead of a completely dismantling and scrapping many months and years of work. In a new model, the project starts with government or donor funding and then transitions into a business; a franchise that can grow into a sustainable company. The first franchise launched in Ghana in January, 2011, will be a good model to pilot this potential solution toward sustainability.

Local businesses in Ghana are now using Esoko; utilizing some of their apps and services the same way that larger projects do. This kind of local interest also gives credence to the franchise model as there is demand in local markets for the products. Esoko has set up a shortcode across all mobile operator services in Ghana on the phone line ‘1900’.; shortcodes in other countries have also been set up. Franchises in Nigeria and Mozambique have secured funding and are well on their way to launching. The USAID funded Market Linkage Initiative in Malawi is also working to develop a franchise as a part of its efforts.

In other countries, government entities like the Ministry of Agriculture in North Sudan and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Nigeria have tried to integrate the Esoko platform into their own methods. This will undoubtedly contribute to a sustainable presence of these services as they continue to evolve and integrate into how communities do business.

Sustainability through Best Practices and Failure

Over time, Esoko’s driving principle has evolved into actively seeking feedback from users and stakeholders to drive improvements and new product development. This 'innovation driven' approach allows the company and its products to stay relevant as it continues to bring real value to its customers. This ultimately leads to better sustainability and profitability.

This approach introduces a different accountability schema than is common in the development sector because as a business, Esoko is accountable to its bottom line - profit. This is very different from being accountable to the interests and discretion of donors who regulate the access and flow of steady funds. For this reason, Esoko would want to tell its stories of failure along with success so it can understand its own pitfalls and evolve more rapidly to meet customer demand.

User feedback from one partner to better the platform for their specific needs oftentimes ends up benefiting multiple partners. This is true for some of Esoko’s main offerings (the stock tracking application was initially designed and created for Esoko’s Sudanese partners) as well as small enhancements to the platform, like adding tagging and comment boxes to the price upload page. These comment boxes ended up transforming the tool into a sophisticated aspect of the price information product; introducing comments about quantitative price data took the product from a simple system to access price data to something that was stand-out from anything that was available in the market and can inform the user about markets in a multi-dimensional way. The product was simple enough to use, but also very powerful for its ability to provide qualitative price data such as explanations about price hikes and other price-related occurrences. Enhancements like this are continuous and Esoko’s partners are the driving force behind them.

Presence across the Continent: Esoko in Africa

The network is available across Africa with public data being available to all users. When Esoko representatives are out in communities doing training and in meetings, most users express their excitement about the technology; their reactions show the technology to be something they have long been waiting for. Once the technology is deployed, Esoko works closely to help local partners customize to the specific needs and cultural idiosyncrasies of that community.

Monitoring and Evaluation for Mobile Tech in Development

In November 2010 a survey of 62 farmers in Northern Ghana who have been receiving price alerts for one year confirmed that they have benefited from the service, with an average improvement of 40% on reported deals and revenue. 68% said they would be willing to pay around $1.30 a month, with another 29% suggesting they would consider it, and only 3% saying they would not. The users of the products have been able to make more informed decisions about negotiating better prices, selling farther away, selling as a collective and sending products to Accra on a mass scale. These findings and others about mobile usage have been building momentum for mobile tech and its role in development helping Esoko realize the importance and power of M&E data in telling the story of mobile tech in Africa to the world.

To go beyond anecdotal reports, Esoko has invited researchers to design third party evaluations for these SMS tools. The surveys would obtain quantitative data for M&E that could be useful in showing how the tools are changing people's lives as well as the supply chain. CIRAD, a French organization, did 600 surveys; 300 people who have been using Esoko tools for two years and 300 that have not but live in a similar community and similar conditions. Those results will be out at the end of 2011. In July of 2011 NYU’s CTED in Abu Dhabi began a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the SMS-based market, taking three years to evaluate the impact of using Esoko tools on farm-gate prices and livelihoods (household assets and children in school), farmer marketing behavior (search behavior, bargaining power and market contracts) as well as the trust of other market players, especially traders. They will also gather data to find out how information spillovers and technology adoption occur among rural farmers in Africa.

Mobile Tech is a field replete with opportunities for research. There are many questions that would help understand the technology landscape, its impact and inform approaches when designing new mobile technology interventions in African markets. What is the correlation between mobile technology and development? How does the introduction of mobile technology affect communities and market systems? These questions are of interest to the larger global community as well as to local communities. Two research evaluations already done in India and Niger show that the introduction of mobile technology (voice-only) increased revenues to actors along the supply chain. These findings are cited countless times and have driven innovation as well as policies. New research about data-focused technology can lead to findings with similar implications.

Made in Africa by Africans

Esoko's employees are mainly Ghanaian and West African, with 3 African diaspora employees and 4 US/European expats. Visiting employees typically come for 6 months to bring in knowledge about the latest technology. Currently there is a group of 60 young professionals at Esoko building and supporting the technology. The truly exciting thing about the work Esoko is doing is that it is coming from Africa, and that it is complex technology. Esoko today has a solid user interface, a strong API to communicate with all the different mobile providers to get data from the field processed and then sent out via SMS to end users, and a complete setup of staff and developers comparable to a tech company anywhere in the world.

Impact: Business for Profit & Social Value – Disrupting the Market

According to Esoko, it is a company for profit and for social good because the two come hand in hand. The company has the intention of enabling better transparency, heightening efficiency across value chains and spreading information as well as helping organizations, businesses and individuals get to their bottom lines faster.

As far as innovative technology, the products are designed not to completely reinvent the market, but to make markets more efficient through the presence of the right tools. These tools and solutions are enablers that let people access information more quickly, easily and cheaply. This will likely affect the way people do things, however, it is difficult to say how exactly it will change the market.

For businesses, this means tools so they can do business better; source goods locally, tighten supply chains, and make real time decisions based on quickly sourced field information. For individual farmers who have begun using Esoko, the tools have started skewing the market in ways that are easy to recognize because there is a high level of isolation typically experienced by rural producers. If a farmer has pricing information for regions more than two markets away she might forgo selling her products through several middle-men traders that would buy from her and sell at a different market. With the information at hand she could make a cost-benefit analysis to decide if it is best for her to sell her commodities far away herself or to trade with the middle-men. This decision might eliminate her need to work with middle-men who could take her product and sell it for a larger margin of profit or exploit her for their benefit. Armed with the correct pricing information, she can also negotiate a better price with the middleman. This would likely disrupt the market in unprecedented ways because none of the tools are designed to manipulate the market in any specific ways. The tools are simply enabling access to information that would put the power for decision back in the hands of the customer.

Cultural Considerations

Each country may have specific user interaction needs, which translate into Esoko helping both projects and businesses deploy properly in their markets. For example Ghana has market queens for each commodity where merchants work under the main queen. Enumerators, who collect price data from markets on a regular basis, go into each large market and approach the queens. The queens then have to be ‘courted’ and shown how they can also benefit from allowing Esoko in the market; the goal being that the queen would give approval and Esoko can become operational in that market. The enumerators continue to visit the queen and the markets enabling Esoko to culturally integrate with the market.

In one instance that illuminates the cultural elements and the benefit of 'design for the customer' approach, Kumasi’s market queen was putting high taxes for importing onion from Burkina Faso leading to the creation of a renegade onion trade happening on the streets to forgo the market. While the queens have the power to slightly fix the price in Ghanaian markets, Esoko is able to use features like comments on pricing data to describe the dynamics that play into the fluctuation of prices. This qualitative data helps makes sense of the quantitative price data as well as the cultural and socio-economic context of events in the market.

Esoko is a new inventive breed of African technology company. As the demand for cellular technology continues to grow rapidly, the relevance and impact of mobile innovators will also grow for the African market. With a projection of 170% growth for mobile phone usage (85% growth in smart phone use and 150% in non-smart phones) across Africa in the coming 5 years, technology innovators have the opportunity to impact the market in unprecedented ways that increase transparency, simplify supply chains and maximize benefit to the users. It is becoming increasingly hard to imagine that this kind of technology would not have a significant impact on Africa's development.

As the Information and Communications Technology sector booms in Africa, it is interesting to see the progress of organizations that got started at the inception of the boom. Web4Africa.net is one such organization based out of Ghana. About 8 years ago, before websites and the internet took off as key venues for information for a majority of the population, Oluniyi saw the challenges faced in trying to create websites based out of Ghana and Nigeria.

ICTWorks Interview with Web4Africa's Oluniyi Ajao from Tse on Vimeo

As he details in the video, to get a website hosted, you had to either have a friend in the West, have traveled to a country in the west or some other such means to be able to pay for web-hosting as there were no Africa-based web-hosting and domain name registration companies. Web4Africa is one of the first web hosting and domain name registration services started in Ghana.

During my trip to Ghana, I was able to sit down with him in 'downtown' Accra in Osu. We talked about his take on the role of Information and Communication Technology in Africa and development, the website business in Ghana and Nigeria, smartphones, mobile-compatible websites, doing business in Ghana and more.

1Village Group is making strides in bringing technology solutions to under-resourced communities in the developing world to promote rapid socio-economic development. I had the opportunity to interview Kafui A. Prebbie, CEO of 1ViLLAGE and hear about his lessons learned while bringing ICT solutions to remote areas in Ghana. I trust this interview will be highly educational for others in the field.

What does 1ViLLAGE do?

The 1ViLLAGE Group is a team of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) professionals conducting training, installation, and research for appropriate eLearning, eGovernance and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Systems including SMS/Mobile, Low Power or Virtual Computing, Networking and Power.

We work with development organizations, companies, governments, other ICT4D enterprises and individuals who desire to introduce Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) components into their projects, as well as, on self-initiated research and technological projects. Our experience designing, developing, and implementing ICT solutions in harsh rural conditions, and our knowledge of the challenges in such areas, has made us a critical technology partner.

What is your personal favorite aspect of working with 1Village?

Training the rural population on the use of technology for education and development.

What is your ICT story? What inspired you to start working in your field?

My brother had an old PC at home and I used to play with it when he was at work. Over time, I realized the entrepreneurial potential of using computers so I looked for opportunities where I could get involved in consulting on new technologies. I am passionate about new technology which is why I keep doing what I do.

Tell us about a project you have worked on that inspired you the most.

Students Bridging the Information Gap (SBIG), a US-based NGO that aims to improve technology and literary skills among students in less developed countries, had hired us to design and install the computer, power, and internet systems needed to run a 18-seat lab that would provide orphans and students from the Good Shepherd Orphanage (GSO), in less developed Northern Ghana.

We secured computers from Inveneo that had lower power demands due to fewer moving parts. This meant no AC units were required and the money saved went toward more reliable and robust power and inverter systems which helped stabilize the power supply. To get a connection, we needed access to a mast owned by a major mobile telecom operator located 100km away. From setting up the actual computers to attaching the wireless router on the pole 10 kilometers away, our team worked day and night. And finally, GSO was equipped with 18 low-voltage Inveneo desktop computers, two laptop computers, a laser printer, LCD projector, a battery pack and inverter, furniture, books provided by SIBG and more.

Currently, six GSO classes use the lab on a bi-weekly basis, with an average of 25 students per class. Overall, more than 200 students from GSO and the surrounding areas use the computers directly and benefit from this unprecedented access to the web.

Solomon Amuzu is a student in Junior High who volunteers to clean the lab daily. After some observation, he has taught himself to open and use his own email and Facebook accounts. Even students from Primary 4 who are 11 years old are creating emails after just one term of exposure.

Who are the team players in 1Village, locals? Expats?

A majority of the 1Village team is local.

Which technologies are the top priorities and why? Which technologies are received well in rural areas in Ghana?

Computing, Internet and Power technologies. The combination of these technologies ensure that access to global and local information is possible and sustained over a long period of time.

What have been the challenges for 1Village and how did you address them?

The primary challenge has been garnering global visibility as a young organization. But we are currently using social media: Facebook and twitter to reach out and we are seeing good results, we plan to improve our online outreach efforts in the near future.

People in rural areas may have every day life challenges such as securing food, shelter and water, what is the importance of ICT to their lives?

We are received very warmly but not always the first time. Through the local symposia and forums we organize, many have come to understand the need for ICTs as enablers for community development. A lot of times this role is seen to be through access to timely and correct information. The impact of technology in improving lives is very obvious to many rural community dwellers, typically, from seeing the impacts of mobile phones and the radio on their lives.

What are the key obstacles you regularly face (access to software? funds? power outages?)

What delays implementation of projects is often funding on the part of the client – the school, NGO, etc. However, once the funds are secured by the client for the ICT project we sail smoothly through the installation process. Where power is an issue we mitigate it with an appropriate solar and battery backup installation.

What are the effective ways an ICT company can integrate technologies into communities to get the best impact?

At 1ViLLAGE we believe technology deployments should always be preceded by a vigorous and detailed community dialogue or field assessment process. This ensures full community participation and that the facility is demand driven and not supply driven. Ignoring this aspect of community ICT initiatives has a significant negative impact on project outcomes.

We have worked in several districts in Ghana and our experiences support the fact that field assessments are an essential part of the process. Many rural areas have heard of and seen the need for ICTs but are lost as to how to initiate effective utilization. Our experiences have revealed the need for systems specifically engineered for the rural towns and training sessions that follow each deployment.

Mobile companies are completely saturating Accra and other touristy locations (above 85% penetration), but it is reported that Ghana only has 48% mobile penetration and even lower internet penetration, what are your thoughts on this disparity?

It has always been the case – companies migrate towards locations where there is not only demand, but ability to pay. However, the liberalization of the telcom market by the National Communications Authority (NCA) has brought about competition and a reduction in prices – and it is likely we will see a rapid rate of mobile penetration in the next 5 years, if not less.

This void in the mobile markets should be the direction in which lead organizations interested in introducing ICTs to Ghana's low-resource communities should look to make impact. Organizations and individuals should partner with ICT4D-oriented organizations and social enterprises to collaborate for deployment of ICTs to address community needs. Adopting mobile and low-power consuming / green technologies will be the remedy toward effective and accessible technologies in this era.

The country/government seems receptive to ICT4D work, how is the policy-making or interaction you have with the government been like?

Like many governments in Africa, they appreciate our work but have very little or no funds to contribute towards the efforts. Notwithstanding, the Ghana government through the NCA, has provided an enabling environment for ICT business growth. We have not formally had government interaction but we have contributed to the policies and agendas through government-funded ICT projects we have undertaken.

How do you think sustainability is achieved for ICT projects?

Sustainability of ICT projects is a direct function of the systems engineering – the design used for both the ICT hardware and software. It also involves the socio-economic considerations during the design process.

For instance, in our 20-seater Inveneo Low-Power Computing lab in Asesewa, Eastern Region of Ghana, we used computing solutions that consume just 12 Volts and 16 Watts. This low electricity usage means low monthly utility bills, making the approach cost effective.

We also engineered the systems to self-clean at every restart thus ensuring that we curb the incidence of virus-related malfunctions. Clean or stable power was supplied to the ICT systems through a sensitive inverter that filters the grid power and a battery bank that ensures continuous power for 8 – 12 hours in the absence of grid power. These guarantee the prolonged use of the set up for several years at very low cost.

The social dimensions of the ICT Centers' sustainability involved an open dialogue with all stakeholders and users. We identified and secured revenue sources for maintaining the facility at the least cost possible – especially when the facility is located in a rural area with low-income earners.

Do you utilize open source technologies (such as Linux OS, Open Office etc) and if you do not why?

1Village utilizes open source technologies. Every computing system we deploy or install in an ICT facility has the Open Office software as part of 30 piece software bundle installed on the systems. The bundle includes other open source software like Foxit (PDF Reader), Audacity (Audio Recorder), etc. Also, the servers we install (Inveneo R3 & R4 Hub Servers) run on Linux OS and provide quality network and resource management experience with its superior security features.

What do you see ICT4D’s role in development? What is the impact of access to ICT thus far on the people?

From our experiences in 1ViLLAGE, technology is a vehicle and catalyst for development. What needs to be done in most cases is undertaking an effective field/needs assessment and subsequently designing the solutions that will address the specific development needs of the community. A carefully designed ICT system and training program is a catalyst for development by unleashing the strengths of education, science, justice and health amongst others.

What is your suggestion for organizations interested in integrating ICT4D approaches into their projects and missions?
It is a worthwhile decision to take such an approach in the current information age. Society today is driven by technology innovations. The appropriate technologies can drive higher impact, efficiency and quality output.

How do you think they should go about deciding what role they can play in bringing ICT solutions to communities?
Each individual or organization can assess their capacity. Companies could get involved through technology research or deployments – especially in areas where there is the greatest need. Organizations can also take the role of introducing and supporting technology-related entrepreneurial programs in rural communities.

Could you speak to the ICT4D field in Ghana specifically? Is there a community/chamber of such companies where you can exchange information?
There are a number of institutions that work on ICT4D in Ghana; foundations, privates companies and government-assisted agencies like the National information Technology Agency (NITA) and the Kofi Annan Advanced Information Technology Institute. Information amongst ICT4D players in the industry is shared via mailing lists and groups. One prominent group is GINKS –Ghana Information and Knowledge Sharing.

Any competitors or organizations providing similar services in Ghana?

There are three other Inveneo Certified ICT Partners (ICIPs) in Ghana who are our competitors. However, what makes 1Village unique is our ability to provide affordable and complete ICT solutions (that includes Power/Solar, Wireless Network, Computing, Internet and SMS technology) with quality designs, standards, with prompt installations and technical support.

What are some of the lessons learned in your work so far with 1Village?

Rural areas still need investment in technology and the mobile platform has the potential to be leveraged for community needs in different spheres including health, education, politics, etc. There are some development organizations that require total sustainable ICT solutions (computing, power, wireless, sms/mobile, etc.) and have toiled in vain to find ICT solution providers like us – ICIPs. We and other ICIPs are key partners in facilitating rural ICT access in Africa due to our understanding of the conditions and our commitment to providing ICT supplies to meet the specific needs and demands of each community.

Anything else you would like to add?

In Ghana, there is a growing demand not just for technologies, but appropriate and affordable sustainable technologies. These are user friendly, customer-need driven, low power consuming mobile technologies that combine the capabilities of the laptop and mobile phones. Opportunities exist for customization of existing technologies by social enterprises/ventures and the development of hardware and software that are affordable and reliable – especially for rural populations.

I am an Ethiopian that has not been back in Africa in 4 years and so I am counting down to my very first trip to Ghana and I am excited. Ghana is arguably one of the main hubs for ICT in Africa.

With 5 mobile providers operating in country it has highly dynamic mobile markets that are still growing. Ghana is also a place with strong wireless internet infrastructure. Ghana Telecom, currently owned by Vodaphone, owns a majority of the telecommunication infrastructure, however, the National Communications Authority has granted licenses to many ISPs to operate their own international satellite gateways as well.

Most interestingly for ICT4D, the Ghanaian government has embraced the idea that the ICT can be key a tool for sustainable development in their Ghana ICT4D National Policy:

The information and communication technology for accelerated development (ICT4AD) Policy is the result of a three phased process to develop an ICT-driven socio-economic development policy and plan that aims to aid Ghana’s developmental effort and facilitate the process of becoming a knowledge based information society and economy in the shortest possible time.

This makes it exciting for an ICT4D enthusiast like me to venture into a country where there is a homegrown ICT university the "Ghana Telecom University." that draws students from across West Africa and where Microsoft is planning to open a training site. Even Google wants in on this party, having recently launched Google Maps in Ghana. The only other Sub-Saharan African countries with this utility are Kenya and South Africa.

So from one enthusiast to another, I would love to hear from those of you that have experience working with ICT4D in Ghana or have any ideas about things I should look for, ICT4D things to do, people I should talk with etc. If you yourself are in Ghana and would like to connect, that would be great as well!

Though at this moment, my biggest question after rummaging across Washington DC to get the visa, packing and related travel rituals covered has to do with ICT. So I went searching on the twitterverse and Facebook for an answer to this question:

How does one go about using an iPhone4 in Ghana given the smaller simcard used for IPhone4's?

The good news is, according to most accounts, the innovation on the ground has developed to a point where there are sim-cutters and sim cards abound and very affordable from all service providers. But I still would love your advice about ICT in Accra.

Thanks and see you in Accra!