Non-Profit Sends Tech Skills to Africa

Feb. 9 -- Many dot-com workers may be worrying about their own job prospects, but there's a group of geeks who are focusing on the less fortunate.

GeekCorps, a year-old volunteer effort that sends tech workers to build up the Internet sector in poor countries, has just sent its second batch of eight volunteers to Ghana, where they're settling in to help small businesses such as a radio station, a design firm and an ISP ramp up their Net presence.

The organization, fledged during the boom times of the Net bubble, are hoping it can still attract volunteers and donors now that the bubble has burst. The non-profit group is now taking applications for its next third three-month tour, and looking at moving into a second country — if it can find the funding.

"It turns out to be a really easy and efficient way to do private sector economic development," said 27-year-old co-founder Ethan Zuckerman, who made his millions when he sold off free Web page provider Tripod to Lycos in 1998. An Internet industry requires some basic infrastructure, such as power, phones and an ISP, but it doesn't require huge industrial machinery and can be supported by small companies, he said.

Going to Ghana

Ghana's a third-world country, with an average monthly income of $160, a dodgy electricity supply, and farm animals running in the streets of its capital Accra. But the country is a leader in West Africa. It's peaceful, democratic, and has a strong educational tradition and a deregulated telecommunications sector, according to Charles Kenny, an economist for the World Bank. (See sidebar for more on the Internet in Africa.)

"It's a poor African country, yet it's one which already has a number of good ISPs," he said.

Promoting the Net may not be the obvious development step in countries where essentials like water and electricity are often scant. But building up the tech sector facilitates all kinds of economic development, Zuckerman said.

GeekCorps isn't the only group jumping into the African Internet arena. Both the Peace Corps and the British Volunteer Service Organization have information technology development efforts. In the for-profit sector, a South African firm called M-Web Africa is pushing content portals across the continent.