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Firms Take IT to the Poor
BY CNN'S CHARLES HODSON
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The Internet revolution has yet to reach 98 percent of the world's population
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ACCRA, Ghana (CNN) -- People live on little more than a dollar a day in Ghana, west Africa, putting them squarely on the have-not side of a growing digital divide.
Fewer than 5 percent of world's Internet-linked computers are in the developing world.
But some technology companies are stepping in to spread the benefits of the information age.
Internet equipment maker Cisco Systems is putting its muscle into education.
"The digital divide is really a reflection of the education divide, and education is also often influenced by economics," Cisco Chairman John Morgridge said.
Internet cafes are springing up across Africa
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In three years, Cisco has opened 6,200 networking academies in more than 100 countries. Each one offers students a course in creating computer networks.
Online curriculum, developed and upgraded by Cisco, is provided free to communities and schools. Cisco also provides routers, testing and 24-hour support.
Investment in the program has so far cost Cisco $100 million. The local communities provide trainers, computers and classroom space. The fee charged is decided locally.
One such class in Accra, the capital of Ghana, is free. The goal is to have 660 trained technicians by the end of the year.
"It's good for the economy to have more skilled people because we are on the verge of networking all of our institutions and organisations," Cisco academy administrator Mohammed-Sani Abulai said.
This is the first step in a larger plan to wire Africa.
For the average African, there is no computer at home -- and even if there were, telephone charges would make the Internet unaffordable.
Instead, people flock to Internet cafes that are springing up all over Africa, where they pay three to six cents a minute to log on.
Most of the cafes are set up by local entrepreneurs. Africa Online, a leading Internet service provider, has set up 750 cafes in five countries.
"Having done our research we know they have a communications need. If you provide them with a means to access the Internet, they actually come and pay for it," said Africa Online CEO Ayisi Makatiani.
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Africa Online has more than 700 Internet cafes in five countries
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Nearly half of Africa Online's 60,000 subscribers log on from Internet cafes, where they can spend a third of a day's wage in about five minutes.
Critical requirement
Nii Quaynor, CEO of Network Computer Systems and Ghana.com, was one of the first to see information and communications technology (ICT) as critical to Africa's future.
"The market is hungry, but the market needs to be stimulated," he said. "Too often we are asked, do you want water or do you want ICT? But the answer is, we want both."
Quaynor says Western firms could help by outsourcing mundane computing work.
"The best help is really not aid. Give us work to do. We should be challenged with so much work that we're able to train more people, employ more people and then be able to provide services."
Another hand reaching out from Silicon Valley is Geekcorps -- the non-profit brainchild of Ethan Zuckerman, an early U.S. Internet millionaire.
Cisco has started more than 6,000 networking academies in 100-plus countries
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"Geekcorps is a digital volunteer corps. We make it possible for people from the high-tech industry in the U.S. and Europe to come overseas to work with small businesses in developing nations to help them use information technology to expand their businesses," Zuckerman said.
Africa, he says, is on the "cusp of an information revolution. If they get the proper investment and the proper skill set, they'll be able to be part of a world economy using IT."
However, some say the rush to bring technology to the developing world is misguided.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said there are "other things those people need," such as health and literacy.
"For the price of one laptop, you could vaccinate 2,000 children against the six killer diseases that claim so many lives in Africa," said Adrian Lovett, director of Drop the Debt.
But others argue that access to information will enhance both literacy and health.
Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is a fierce advocate of bridging the digital divide.
HP has committed $1 billion to its E-inclusion program, which supports local technology partnerships in poor nations.
"It's absolutely true that people need food and shelter, but I think it is also undeniably true that information technology can, in real and immediate ways, improve people's standard of living," Fiorina said.
Problems back home
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Morgridge believes Cisco's investment will pay dividends for the company
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Even as the U.S. exports high-tech expertise to developing nations, a growing digital divide is emerging in its own back yard.
Without high-tech job skills, the homeless of Silicon Valley can no longer afford the high cost of housing.
In towns like San Jose, California, Cisco networking academies prepare the homeless to re-enter the work force.
With 800,000 unfilled technical jobs across the United States, many call Cisco's investment in the academy program a shrewd move.
"We ultimately are solving a problem that is in part our problem. That is, a lack of trained technicians. So it is self-serving, and we hope to get a dividend from it," said Cisco chairman Morgridge.
For motivated students like Erik Espinoza, the program offers an immediate dividend. He is from a poor neighbourhood and received his Cisco certification through a special class for at-risk students.
At age 20, he now earns $60,000 a year as a network administrator -- enough, he says, to help out at home and save for college.
"The access that I got from school was really important," he said, "because I didn't have the money to get my own equipment at home."
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Firms Take IT to the Poor
People live on little more than a dollar a day in Ghana, west Africa, putting them squarely on the have-not side of a growing digital divide
Helping People to Help Themselves
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