During a practical period in '84 in Kenya communication was mostly done by post. Thelephone landlines were scarce, expensive and the quality unreliable. If we had to call from Naivasha to the capital Nairobi we were still switched through a operated switch board at the post office. If the personal was having their break, no connection was possible.
Things have changes since then and it is known that Africa has skipped the situation for a good coverage of landlines directly to a good mobile network. Nowadays you can get simcards everywhere and call from almost each part of the continent.
So far it was only for calling. Last week I travelled through West Africa and when I passed the border of Burkina Faso to Ghana I switched my sim card to the MTN network and my PDA was directly downloading all my mail on my PDA from my E-mail account in The Netherlands! In a bus from Kumasi to Accra I did some bank transfers on our bank account through the local internet services on the mobile net.
From a terrace in Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana we had a conference call with Germany to discuss options to use mobile and ICT technology to improve the logistics and finance management in the supply of cashew farmers to the local processing industry. The use of ICT will give the farmers more info on the pricing and the options to sell. For buyers it will create the opportunity to make the collection and the use of working capital more efficient. In the midterm we should be able to start using the system as well for training...
In this continent the developments are really moving fast and ICT will increase the opportunities for development at a faster speed than we ever could have imagined....
Inspired by the movements on the continent I returned to Europe realizing our perception of the continent is single issue oriented and completely outdated... Africa is already completely connected...
zondag 15 november 2009
woensdag 16 september 2009
Inbound services for co-ops in the Pacific: solar led lights
FMS is one of the founding partners of the Pacific Growers Export Partnership. A joint initiative of teamleaders in 5 Pacific Islands; PNG, Bougainville, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji. These teamleaders are the liason between the farmers and the traders and organize the trade locally. Major trading partner in this set up is African Pacific, a Sydney based company with a very innovative trade orientation.
First challenge was to organize trade out of the Islands but last year we started the first inbound services as well; a pilot was set up with the company Barefoot to introduce solar fed led lights into the islands. About 1000 led lights were sold in no time. Prices of the lights were about two months of kerosine costs and with a two year life expectancy the lights were sold in no time.
By doing this people safe money, their environment becomes less polluted and the system is much safer!
This year a new trade is being started to get more lights to the Islands! It learns that a co-op structure can be used for various ways!
First challenge was to organize trade out of the Islands but last year we started the first inbound services as well; a pilot was set up with the company Barefoot to introduce solar fed led lights into the islands. About 1000 led lights were sold in no time. Prices of the lights were about two months of kerosine costs and with a two year life expectancy the lights were sold in no time.
By doing this people safe money, their environment becomes less polluted and the system is much safer!
This year a new trade is being started to get more lights to the Islands! It learns that a co-op structure can be used for various ways!
maandag 7 september 2009
African cashew on the move!
Just returned from the annual meeting of the African Cashew Alliance in Abidjan. What started as a small group of like minded four years ago has grown tremendously with more than 160 congress participants out of more all African producing countries. This year even official delegations where present from the of major countries; India, Vietnam and Brasil. The global cashew is starting to take the African Cashew sector seriously!
Major issues were discussed; like the financing of the processing industry, improvement of the production, marketing etc.
The event was used as well to discuss the progress of the start of the African Cashew Initiative (ACI). This is unique collaboration between the private sector, implementing agencies like GTZ, Technoserve, ACA, FairMatch Support and major Funding Agencies like the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. The ACI is a four year joint project to give an extra boost to the African cashew industry in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin and Mozambique. FairMatch Support has to develop 'specialty markets' for cashew producers. This means organizing farmers, link them processors, get them certified organic or fair trade and find final markets. A real challenge!
We used the week as well for internal planning for our implementing team from Mozambique, Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso and discussed the implementing strategies. It was great to have the whole team in one room; a lot of expertise with input from various angles.
On the flight back I realized we moved fast since we started this project 2,5 years ago. A lot has to be done to make it successful but some key elements are there to make it a real success.
Major issues were discussed; like the financing of the processing industry, improvement of the production, marketing etc.
The event was used as well to discuss the progress of the start of the African Cashew Initiative (ACI). This is unique collaboration between the private sector, implementing agencies like GTZ, Technoserve, ACA, FairMatch Support and major Funding Agencies like the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. The ACI is a four year joint project to give an extra boost to the African cashew industry in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin and Mozambique. FairMatch Support has to develop 'specialty markets' for cashew producers. This means organizing farmers, link them processors, get them certified organic or fair trade and find final markets. A real challenge!
We used the week as well for internal planning for our implementing team from Mozambique, Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso and discussed the implementing strategies. It was great to have the whole team in one room; a lot of expertise with input from various angles.
On the flight back I realized we moved fast since we started this project 2,5 years ago. A lot has to be done to make it successful but some key elements are there to make it a real success.
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