Future of IT in Africa

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• African E-commerce

• 
  Joseph Abandoh-Sam    Group moderator

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  11 Apr 2005, 3:20 pm

  African E-commerce

  Since the dawn of time when man began trading using the barter trade system, competition, has been in the fore front of business advancement. Since the beginning businesses have competed among themselves for market. In this age where information technology is becoming the back bone of economies, businesses are also moving into the area of e-business. The main target area is e-commerce which is online transactions between suppliers, producers and consumers. This area has developed from basic transaction to a full blown business center.
  
  The world is now a global village where there is a need for businesses to interact with other businesses as well as their consumers in other parts of the globe. This has set in a race to develop e-business strategies for organizations. According to a worldwide research by Forrester, e-commerce will reach 6.8 trillion dollars by the year 2004. This projection includes business to business and business to consumer. The next generation of e-commerce is moving from intermediate transactions to a highly advance online market place. For a business to compete with its competitors in the 21st century and in the next generation, then it must change its business strategy to accommodate electronic commerce. Shifting to e-business helps improve relations between business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C).
  
  Strategizing an organization for e-business helps the organization to meet the next generation’s challenges. There are various processes involved in strategizing the organization for e-business. According to an IBM e-commerce solution white paper, instead of creating a discrete set of functions separate from the rest of your business, e-business concepts and functions must be embedded in your overall business strategy and execution. Estimating the growth pattern of your e-business helps to determine what e-business solutions will gain the fastest return on your investment. By effectively addressing your market and financial requirements, you can map a solid plan for implementing your e-commerce solution.
  
  There are various e-business models available in the market today. An example of these e-commerce models include WebSphere commerce developed by IBM.
  
  The implementation of the e-commerce models like WbSphere in developing countries may not be successful. Even though, WebSphere has a success story to tell, its model will be costly and less effective to implement in Africa. This is because most of the countries in Africa are either developing or under developed. Tools like credit cards, visa cards, etc are not widely used here. For an organization in Ghana to be able to successfully implement e-commerce then it must develop another model that involves other means of purchasing and ordering online, or else find its customers from outside Ghana or Africa.
  
  So for e-commerce to be successful in developing countries like Ghana, a new model of e-commerce must be developed. For B2B e-commerce, it will not generate much of a problem. The problem will be in B2C e-commerce where the vast population knows little about the internet let alone do purchasing and ordering over the internet.
  
  The vast majority of Africans are not aware of this new form of commerce and the few who do, do not know very much about it. For there to be a success story of an organization’s implementation of e-commerce in a country like Ghana, will take some time and the revolution of commerce in that country.
  
  Joseph Abandoh-Sam wrote: > Since the dawn of time when man began trading using the barter trade > system, competition, has been in the fore front of business > advancement. Since the beginning businesses have competed among > themselves for market. In this age where information technology is > becoming the back bone of economies, businesses are also moving into > the area of e-business. The main target area is e-commerce which is > online transactions between suppliers, producers and consumers. This > area has developed from basic transaction to a full blown business > center. > > The world is now a global village where there is a need for > businesses to interact with other businesses as well as their > consumers in other parts of the globe. This has set in a race to > develop e-business strategies for organizations. According to a > worldwide research by Forrester, e-commerce will reach 6.8 trillion > dollars by the year 2004. This projection includes business to > business and business to consumer. The next generation of e-commerce > is moving from intermediate transactions to a highly advance online > market place. For a business to compete with its competitors in the > 21st century and in the next generation, then it must change its > business strategy to accommodate electronic commerce. Shifting to > e-business helps improve relations between business to business (B2B) > and business to consumer (B2C). > > Strategizing an organization for e-business helps the organization to > meet the next generation’s challenges. There are various processes > involved in strategizing the organization for e-business. According > to an IBM e-commerce solution white paper, instead of creating a > discrete set of functions separate from the rest of your business, > e-business concepts and functions must be embedded in your overall > business strategy and execution. Estimating the growth pattern of > your e-business helps to determine what e-business solutions will > gain the fastest return on your investment. By effectively addressing > your market and financial requirements, you can map a solid plan for > implementing your e-commerce solution. > > There are various e-business models available in the market today. > An example of these e-commerce models include WebSphere commerce > developed by IBM. > > The implementation of the e-commerce models like WbSphere in > developing countries may not be successful. Even though, WebSphere > has a success story to tell, its model will be costly and less > effective to implement in Africa. This is because most of the > countries in Africa are either developing or under developed. Tools > like credit cards, visa cards, etc are not widely used here. For an > organization in Ghana to be able to successfully implement e-commerce > then it must develop another model that involves other means of > purchasing and ordering online, or else find its customers from > outside Ghana or Africa. > > So for e-commerce to be successful in developing countries like > Ghana, a new model of e-commerce must be developed. For B2B > e-commerce, it will not generate much of a problem. The problem will > be in B2C e-commerce where the vast population knows little about the > internet let alone do purchasing and ordering over the internet. > > The vast majority of Africans are not aware of this new form of > commerce and the few who do, do not know very much about it. For > there to be a success story of an organization’s implementation of > e-commerce in a country like Ghana, will take some time and the > revolution of commerce in that country.
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• 
  Joseph Abandoh-Sam    Group moderator

  The company name is only visible to registered members.

  15 May 2005, 10:56 pm

  Re^2: African E-commerce

  I will get my facts right then get back to you. All the information I have are just assumptions.
  
  Ghana Telecom the main telecom operator in Ghana has set up another department called internet Ghana which will provide broadband access to the general public. Its currently restricted to a small area. I will get my facts and post more information here.
  
  But currently in Ghana, the main medium of communication between relatives in Ghana and relatives outside Ghana is through email and instant messengers. Because of this there a lot of internet cafes in Ghana (mainly in the southern part of Ghana).
  
  
  On 13/05/2005, 11:19 am, Rainer Weiß wrote:
  So for e-commerce to be successful in developing countries like Ghana, a new model of e-commerce must be developed. For B2B e-commerce, it will not generate much of a problem. The problem will be in B2C e-commerce where the vast population knows little about the internet let alone do purchasing and ordering over the internet.
   
  It would be interesting to know how many people of the population have access to the internet and what kind of access (phone/broadband). Relatives from South Africa told me that they are mainly using (a restricted) access at work. Internet access from home is via phone and of course it is slow and costly. And when talking about B2C e-commerce: How many people in Africa use online banking?
  
  Joseph Abandoh-Sam wrote: > I will get my facts right then get back to you. All the information I > have are just assumptions. > > Ghana Telecom the main telecom operator in Ghana has set up another > department called internet Ghana which will provide broadband access > to the general public. Its currently restricted to a small area. I > will get my facts and post more information here. > > But currently in Ghana, the main medium of communication between > relatives in Ghana and relatives outside Ghana is through email and > instant messengers. Because of this there a lot of internet cafes in > Ghana (mainly in the southern part of Ghana). > > > On 13/05/2005, 11:19 am, Rainer Weiß wrote: > > > So for e-commerce to be successful in developing countries like > > > Ghana, a new model of e-commerce must be developed. For B2B > > > e-commerce, it will not generate much of a problem. The problem will > > > be in B2C e-commerce where the vast population knows little about the > > > internet let alone do purchasing and ordering over the internet. > > > > It would be interesting to know how many people of the population > > have access to the internet and what kind of access > > (phone/broadband). Relatives from South Africa told me that they are > > mainly using (a restricted) access at work. Internet access from home > > is via phone and of course it is slow and costly. And when talking > > about B2C e-commerce: How many people in Africa use online banking?
• 
  Joseph Abandoh-Sam    Group moderator

  The company name is only visible to registered members.

  21 Jul 2005, 04:31 am

  Re^3: African E-commerce

  A thousand appologies for the long period of silence. I am currently in the United States participating in a cultural exchange programme.
  
  According to internet world stats,
  "http:// http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm ",
  13,468,600 out of the 900,465,411 populace in Africa Use the internet. And the usage growth from the year 2000 to the year 2005 is 198.3 % almost 200% as compared to 145.5 % of the rest of the world. This alone show the rate at which africans are beginning to use the internet. The highest user growth rate in Africa belongs to Somalia with a growth rate of 44,400.0 %. The country with the highest percentage of users in Africa is South Africa with a user percentage of 26.2%.
  
  In Ghana the internet usage growth rate according to internet world stats website is 466.7 %. the number of internet users as at 2000 was 30,000 currently they are about 170,000.
  
  According to http://www.phrasebase.com/countries/Ghana.html, there are currently 12 internet service providers, the main medium for the internet users is dialup, but broad band is rapidly over taking dialups. One of the measures the main telecommunication agency in Ghana took to ensure this was to increase the phone rate tariffs and also provide the broad band feature which is still in its inception stage.
  
  I will continue in my next article. But for further reading you can check these sites:
  
  1. http://www.budde.com.au/Reports/Contents/Ghana-Telecoms-Mark...
  
  2. http://www.internetghana.com
  
  3. http://www.itu.int/africainternet2000/countryreports/gha_e.h... - 9k
  
  Any comments is deeply appreciated
  
  Joseph Abandoh-Sam wrote: > A thousand appologies for the long period of silence. I am currently > in the United States participating in a cultural exchange programme. > > According to internet world stats, > "http:// www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm ", > 13,468,600 out of the 900,465,411 populace in Africa Use the > internet. And the usage growth from the year 2000 to the year 2005 is > 198.3 % almost 200% as compared to 145.5 % of the rest of the world. > This alone show the rate at which africans are beginning to use the > internet. The highest user growth rate in Africa belongs to Somalia > with a growth rate of 44,400.0 %. The country with the highest > percentage of users in Africa is South Africa with a user percentage > of 26.2%. > > In Ghana the internet usage growth rate according to internet world > stats website is 466.7 %. the number of internet users as at 2000 was > 30,000 currently they are about 170,000. > > According to http://www.phrasebase.com/countries/Ghana.html, there > are currently 12 internet service providers, the main medium for the > internet users is dialup, but broad band is rapidly over taking > dialups. One of the measures the main telecommunication agency in > Ghana took to ensure this was to increase the phone rate tariffs and > also provide the broad band feature which is still in its inception > stage. > > I will continue in my next article. But for further reading you can > check these sites: > > 1. > http://www.budde.com.au/Reports/Contents/Ghana-Telecoms-Market-Overvie > w-Statistics-1035.html > > 2. http://www.internetghana.com > > 3. www.itu.int/africainternet2000/countryreports/gha_e.htm - 9k > > Any comments is deeply appreciated
• 
  Michael Trup

  The company name is only visible to registered members.

  23 Nov 2005, 12:22 pm

  Re^4: African E-commerce

  We have just launched http://www.afrotalk.biz a free online business networking site for African projects. We have seen the internet usage growth rates which probabluy underestimate the numbers because of the wide spread use internet cafe's.
  
  The use of prepaid credit cards is one way to overcome some of the problems of e-commerce in Africa or it may be that with mobile telephony so widespread that 3G actually allows a leap over broadband. The other possibility is satellite TV internet enablement.
  
  Michael Trup wrote: > We have just launched www.afrotalk.biz a free online business > networking site for African projects. We have seen the internet usage > growth rates which probabluy underestimate the numbers because of the > wide spread use internet cafe's. > > The use of prepaid credit cards is one way to overcome some of the > problems of e-commerce in Africa or it may be that with mobile > telephony so widespread that 3G actually allows a leap over > broadband. The other possibility is satellite TV internet enablement.