ICTworks by Inveneo

Building on last month's amazing Skype Chat on Nigerian Internet Business Opportunities we're now going to look beyond any one country, and investigate business opportunity in East and West Africa:

1. How might Internet business opportunity and entrepreneurship be different in East Africa versus West Africa?
2. What could each region learn from the other?
3. And what can we do now to improve cross-Africa collaboration?

These are the questions we'll discuss in the next ICTworks Twitter Chat - a freewheeling conversation around our central questions on the Twitter platform.

We'll start at 14:00 GMT (your timezone) on April 22nd with introductions, then move into the discussion, using the #ICT4D hashtag in Twitter. Be sure to RSVP here.

You may want to use TweetChat as your Twitter client for this chat - we've found it to be worthy.

Our hope is to learn from each other and find ways we can increase Internet business opportunity and entrepreneurship across Africa.

Be sure to follow ICTworks on Twitter and RSVP today!

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Last month, we had an amazing Skype Chat on Nigerian Internet Business Opportunities - over 40 entrepreneurs and netcitizens joined in a lively debate on new business models and enabling factors to bring Nigeria to the forefront of online business innovation.

But what about East Africa? Kenya surely has the same level of Internet-based buzz as Nigeria. And Uganda isn't far behind. So this brings forth a few questions we should examine:

1. How might Internet business opportunity and entrepreneurship be different in East Africa versus West Africa?
2. What could each region learn from the other?
3. And what can we do now to improve cross-Africa collaboration?

These are the questions we'll discuss in the next ICTworks Twitter Chat - a freewheeling conversation around our central questions on the Twitter platform.

We'll start at 14:00 GMT (your timezone) on April 22nd with introductions, then move into the discussion, using the #ICT4D hashtag in Twitter. Be sure to RSVP here.

• Handy Re-Tweet
  :Internet Business: East + West Africa -
  #ICT4D Tweet Chat 4/22 @ 14:00GMT -
  RSVP: http://bit.ly/april-chat

Our hope is to learn from each other and find ways we can increase Internet business opportunity and entrepreneurship across Africa.

Be sure to follow ICTworks on Twitter and RSVP today!

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"The East African blogosphere has thousands of active bloggers who cover almost every conceivable topic within a local content context. "

This is the declaration by Moses Kemibaro in his East African Standard article, We have the demand for local content, why not upload it? I think I have to disagree.

There may be thousands of bloggers, but most are writing about personal events only interesting to them, or sports events that excite football followers. I don't see our hear that many East Africans writing about the intersection of ICT and business.

Where are the voices on technology? The commentary on its business impact? Who is an expert in ICT4D? These are the bloggers I am looking for and I've only found a few in East Africa.

1. Appfrica
2. White African
3. Wanjiku's Take
4. Kenya Entrepreneur
5. Moses Kemibaro

Now according to Moses, there must be more bloggers than this in East Africa - I sure hope so as well. Who are they?

East Africa’s enterprises and innovators have a unique opportunity on their doorsteps to learn new techniques in web content development at the East African Local Content Innovation Summit to be held in Nairobi over 7-8 August.

The Summit is being hosted by Ignite Consulting and AITEC Africa in response to the urgent need for development of locally relevant content that is responsive to the interests and needs within the region about to link to the world via undersea fibre cables that will deliver much faster and cheaper Internet connections.

http://www.aitecafrica.com/news/view/86

If all goes according to plan, next Thursday July 23, 2009, when the Seacom cable is switched on, Internet bandwidth should pour forth from Mombassa all the way to Kampala, quenching the thrust of starved computer users in Kenyan and Uganda. Shortly afterwards, Kigali and Bujumbura will also share in this bandwidth bonanza, all thanks to Altech Stream East Africa.

No more need for these

Altech Stream East Africa is a partnership between Kenya Data Networks (an Inveneo partner), Infocom in Uganda and Altech Stream Rwanda, which has invested in a fiber optic cable from the Seacom landing point in Kenya all the way to Burundi, via Uganda and Rwanda. And the two quotes that Balancing Act Africa captured from the original East African Standard, have me doubly excited:

"It has got a capacity of 10,000 Mbps with a ping return time of seven milliseconds to Nairobi and 14 to Mombasa," said Infocom’s Chief Executive Officer Hans Haerdtle.

"The price for the service will be the same wherever you will be either in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda or Burundi," said KDN chief executive officer, Kai Wulf

Imagine that - serious bandwidth at dirt-cheap rates all across East Africa. Not since the opening of the railroads or the invention of air travel will so much imagination and creativity be unleashed from the minds of East Africans. I can't wait to be surprised at the content that will sprout and grow!