ICTworks by Inveneo

TechMasai deleted republished this post, but I think its still worthy, so I'm republishing it here. Be sure to also check out the original.

The Negative Effects of All The Used Exported PCs From Europe Which Are Coming To Africa

Used computers from Europe, or from African corporate companies are what Africans have and are starting to use as a way to get on the technological bandwagon. It is not totally clear how old used computers get to Africa, but what is clear is that they are here to stay.

The general consensus is computers are either transported by European officials to Africa to get dumped, or they are imported conscious by a middleman to sell back home.

Once in Africa, the PCs are sold through normal distribution models to the public, at a tenth of the price of a new model. The most prevalent models of CPUs support windows 1995 to Windows XP. The computer monitors most popular is the big screen retro one made famous by windows 1995.

The use of antique computers is not the best solution but is extremely practical. In a population where the average GDP is about 100 dollars, cheap affordable computing is a definitive plus. This is not to say they are no consequences to cheap computers in Africa.

The availability of cheap imported computers in effect strangle a location population of innovators and developers from trying to develop hardware solutions and products to cater for their very own local market. The flood of cheap old laptops gives revenue to the people who sell them to us, but actually hinder innovation and growth in our countries by taking away market share.

In the short term old laptops being sold in Africa have advantages, like

* Cheap affordable hardware to a growing computer literate population
* Revenue and employment to those who work in the industry
* Growing computer proficiency for the local population

In the long term though Africa faces the greatest threat to innovation and development. The continued presence of old reused computers is practical in the short term, but if Africa ever wants to develop our own hardware and provide electronic solutions to a world market, eventually the market will have to be closely monitored.

This article ignored the environmental pollution caused by old reused laptops dumped in Africa. For that is the embedded video

While the Great Recession may be shrinking the appetite for business risk in the developed world, I was struck by the long list of African technology startups compiled by TechMasai. Even better are the comments, where readers take exception that this list of 56 companies is the complete list of startups.

New business even online

They have a good point. This list is only of the startups that TechMasai has heard of. I am sure there are 2-3x as many operating under the radar, and enjoying good profits before others notice their lucrative business models and compete against them.

But its not just little guys who are making moves into the African ICT community. Even massive stalwarts like IBM are now realizing that Africa is a real IT market, with their cloud-computing enabled netbook software partnership with Ubuntu.

I agree with Theresa Carpenter Sondjo that Africa may not be ready for the cloud-computing IBM is thinking of - the connectivity isn't there yet - but I disagree with her about netbooks. These small and cheap laptops are a real alternative to regular computers and the 4P Computing revolution will change the way Africans approach technology.

And its time we all approached African technologists - as partners and employees. Find both at Zebrajobs.com, the first Africa-wide Virtual Job Fair that opens on September 30th 2009. While it too relies on broadband Internet that can be rare or expensive in Africa, its online location is still cheaper and easier to reach than a physical job fair.

See ya there!