October 30, 2000

African Entrepreneurs in US to Bring Computer Savvy Back Home

(Bloomberg) -- African computer entrepreneurs who have gained success in the U.S. are banding together to bring Internet service and computer savvy to high-tech laggard Africa. 

The new group, whose formation was announced today at the opening of a World Bank-sponsored Africa investment seminar, will follow the example of Indian computer professionals who have taken the money they made in the U.S. and invested back home. India's software companies are now among the fastest growing in the world. 

``What we're trying to do is help bridge the technological gap,'' said Rebecca Enonchong, the chief executive of Bethesda, Maryland- based AppsTech., a closely held computer consulting firm. 

One example of that gap: For every internet user in Africa there are 54 in the U.S. 

Enonchong, a native of Cameroon, and others plan to organize meetings for native Africans to interest them in investments back home. The group, called the Africa Technology Forum, will push African nations to make policy changes to spur high-tech investments, Enonchong said. ``We can act as an important pressure group,'' she said. 

Without Computers 
The group says it will channel donations from U.S. computer firms to African universities. Unlike India, Africa's once-proud university system has become decrepit, overcome by poor pay for professors, overcrowded classes and the violent conflicts that have plagued many countries. Computer science students in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, say they get their 
university degree without ever sitting down at a computer.

This private effort follows a similar effort by World Bank President James Wolfensohn to bridge the digital divide. 

Bringing cellular telephones and computer technology to Africa will allow countries there to overcome many of their current problems, from poor government performance to a lack of phone lines, Wolfensohn has said. 
The World Bank has provided $4.5 billion in loans to support 60 telecommunications and information technology projects, according to the bank. 

Early next year, Wolfensohn and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler will visit Africa in part to push their plans to spur these high-tech developments. 

``Africa must continue its integration with the global economy in order to benefit from expanded world trade,'' Koehler said at today's investment seminar. 

``We should not think that Africa is lost,'' he said. ``It needs to face up to its homemade problems. At the same time, Africa deserves better, deeper, faster international support.''