UN Kicks off "Connect Africa" Initiative

UN Alliance Works to Bring Internet Access to All Africans
By Margaret BesheerNew York19 September 2007
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-09-19-voa72.cfm


A new U.N.-sponsored initiative is being launched to bridge the “digital divide” and connect African countries with each other and the rest of the world. VOA’s Margaret Besheer reports from U.N. headquarters in New York, where the world body, governments and the private sector are working to bring Africa’s 900 million inhabitants online.

The African continent is the fastest-growing cellular phone market of any region over the last five years, but has not been able to replicate that success with the Internet. Fewer than four out of every 100 Africans have access to the worldwide web.

Experts say upgrading Internet access, or what they call ICT for Information & Communication Technology, will enhance development and enable Africans to compete more effectively in the global marketplace.
Mohsen Khalil of the World Bank says the “Connect Africa” initiative, which aims to make Internet connectivity widely and cheaply accessible, will create an information revolution in Africa. “When you give access to a human being you unleash the power of human innovation and entrepreneurship. It is really so powerful all they need is access,” he said.

International Telecommunication Union President Hamadoun Touré says the “e” in “electronic” will also stand for “economy,” because improving Africa’s Internet connectivity will increase its wealth. “ICT [Information & Communication Technology] today is a catalyst, is an enabler, is a tool for all sectors of economy: be it education - “e-education,” be it government - “e-government,” be it business - “e-business,” or health - “e-health,” every sector will have the ‘e’ component in it,” he said.

The average monthly cost for broadband service in Africa is three times higher than in Asia. The initiative’s creators say marketplace competition and private sector investment will lower the cost of Internet connectivity. They are also trying to model their strategies in Africa after successful ones in China, India and other countries.

Organized under the U.N.’s Global Alliance for ICT and Development, the “Connect Africa” initiative kicks off next month at a summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

Expectations of Nigeria communities on Information and Communication Technologies

One of the major development challenges confronting Nigeria is to develop the capacities, strategies, and mechanisms necessary to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by ICTs for development. Given the potential for ICTs to induce changes, many development analysts believe that these instruments can play an important role in the development process. In Nigeria, development theorists anticipate significant changes, particularly within the fabric of communities. These expectations are generally based only on changes observed in economically more advanced societies, but are not generally supported by facts.

Expectations expressed by individuals

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) give rise to many expectations among the communities surveyed. The hope suggests that an awareness of the role that ICT instruments can play in economic and social development is emerging. The effects or changes that individuals expect from ICTs are quite varied. In general, individuals plan to apply ICTs to their main areas of activity for their own development. As a rule, users (actual or potential) expect the use of ICTs to make positive changes in their jobs, education, health, agriculture, and environment. In some communities, the inhabitants were mostly active in agriculture, small businesses, and the service sector, and the effects they expected from ICTs revolved mainly around these activities.

Production activities

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) should facilitate business development through improved access to information on product prices (inputs and outputs), on markets, and on various other resources. Therefore, in agriculture, Nigeria farmers expect ICTs to facilitate access to: high-yielding varieties at competitive prices; input suppliers; credit institutions; and information on how to improve their farming practices to increase yield. For example, farmers in the Western region of Nigeria expect ICTs to provide access to new knowledge on irrigation techniques and rice varieties for irrigated farming because they would like to shift to cash crops, which earn better economic returns.

Trade

With regard to time management, ICTs can facilitate communication and reduce the time needed for transactions. This aspect is much talked about in the rural areas. In the main production areas, producers, in the absence of any information on prices and potential outlets (notably, on the local markets), are often at the mercy of intermediaries (who generally do not add any significant value to the production chain). Some entrepreneurs hope to meet new business partners with whom they could set up large-scale farming and gain new markets for their produce. This would help them overcome constraints related to the narrowness of the local market in their farming area. Women entrepreneurs in the Lagos and Delta regions of Nigeria hoped that ICTs would give them access to information that would help them improve the financial position of their businesses.

Education and research

In education, students and teachers expected ICTs to improve their learning and teaching methods. They also hoped that they would have access to information that would help them enhance their classes and facilitate preparations for school exams. ICTs can boost research and assist in acquiring new knowledge. In Nigeria, this potential raised great expectations among the educationists, and agriculture extension service workers, who settled in the rural areas to train farmers. So far, ICTs have not been used much as a way of acquiring new knowledge. The inadequacy of local content and limited access to ICTs constitute very serious problems.

Health

ICTs should make it possible to have access to information that would help improve preventive health education. This expectation is anticipated by health workers, notably in the region rural areas, which are land-locked and are often affected by recurrent epidemics of flu, malaria, and diarrhea. The use of a computer warning system based on systematic data collection might be able to sharply reduce both mother and child mortality rates.

Social communication

As a facilitator of communication, ICTs could be able to contribute to bringing scattered members of the same family closer together (the creation and maintenance of a virtual community). The people believe that ICTs (email and telephone) can contribute to minimizing transport costs, facilitating communication, and improving social life. This aspect is very important in the specific case of poor communities with relatively low incomes and high communication needs.

Women

Women seem to be less able to express the effects they want from ICTs. The majority feel that these “instruments are not made for them.” A few women surveyed in Nigeria seek information related to health, land ownership, and easy access to credit.

Youth

Young people were very active in cultural and sports associations and most of them expressed the need to have access to support structures for their association. For example, they were looking for ways to reinforce their capacity for intervention and to obtain information on ways to cooperate with other groups. Students wanted access to pedagogic resources and information on scholarships, school exams, competitions, and vocational opportunities.

Expectations of community organizations

Apart from the effects expected at the individual level, community organizations also had their own expectations.

Facilitating communication

Community organizations would use ICTs to facilitate communication processes and to mobilize their members through the establishment of reliable, real-time communication systems, combining email, in particular, with traditional community communication systems. These organizations also expect the use of ICTs to improve management and to facilitate planning and organization of their activities. For community organizations, access to useful and relevant information for their members (e.g., economic, cultural, and sports activities) constituted a major concern. This information would be used to help members make better and more rapid decisions in their various activities. Generally, ICTs can improve the capacities of grassroots organizations to communicate and make their voices heard through the roles they play in their communities.

Establishing networks

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be used as a medium to establish networks between community members or with the outside world to improve the institutional context of these communities. In the rural communities, ICTs, particularly Internet technologies, are expected to allow access to new communication tools and to provide a medium for discussion and exchange among different community organizations. These organizations expect to enhance their knowledge about the environment and development. These communities also expect ICTs to lead to the creation of new organizations and to the development of active partnerships between these organizations and other institutions. They also hope to influence development policies and encourage the changes needed to ensure improved natural resource management in communities, which are increasingly affected by ecological problems. In Nigeria, ICTs are considered as development tools to facilitate access to information and to make recent information available to expand the knowledge base of local populations.

Establishing modern communication systems

Community organizations expect ICTs to provide modern, reliable, and fast communication systems that can be combined with traditional community communication systems (e.g., weekly markets and traditional drum systems).

Improving working conditions

Recurrently, the populations expect ICTs to improve working conditions within community organizations, particularly through improved time and resource management. This is important to these organizations because most of the community actors are voluntary workers. In remote and land-locked regions, ICTs are expected to reduce the isolating effects of distance and allow effective participation of scattered actors in community life.

Increasing external contacts and diversifying partners

Entrepreneurs expect to gain more external contacts and thus increase the prospects of diversification of their economic partners. ICTs are also expected to contribute to employment generation through the creation of new jobs.

Conclusion

In general, community expectations directly correspond to the theoretical effects described in the literature on ICT. They reflect the level of understanding that communities have of the relationship between ICTs and the improvement of their living conditions.

The positive attitude of communities toward ICTs is also remarkable: very few respondents are concerned with the potential negative effects of ICTs. This attitude is very important and can be construed as a preference to adopt ICTs, or at least as non-rejection of these tools by the communities. This attitude also suggests that the transforming potential of ICTs can be exploited to enhance development efforts.

With regard to how projects on the introduction of ICTs can be effective, the people suggest that there probably cannot be a single strategy. Basic studies that seek to highlight the diverse needs and expectations of people must be systematically conducted. Furthermore, these expressed expectations can be used as reference points for future investigations designed to measure specific changes over time due to the use of ICTs.

Expectations of Nigeria communities on Information and Communication Technologies by Victor Oluremi Adedoyin

Economic prospects, challenges of globalisation

Things have changed a great deal since Michel Camdessus visited the Philippines as Managing Director of the Fund in 1994. Our relationship with your government is now that of a "friendly advisor," and we also look to the Philippines as a source of advice and inspiration for other emerging economies.

I would like to share with you the International Monetary Fund's latest thinking on the state of the global economy and especially on recent developments and prospects for Asia and the Philippines. I will also discuss some risks to the global economy, some challenges posed by globalisation, and some policy responses that can help governments to contain these risks and meet these challenges.

We are now in the fifth year of a strong global economic expansion. Recently, the Fund updated its World Economic Outlook, and we now project that growth in 2007 will exceed five percent, which is higher than we thought just a few months ago. One striking development this year is a shift in the sources of growth. In 2006, the United States was the main engine of growth, accounting for almost a quarter of global growth. We do not expect this to be the case this year. Growth in the United States will fall to about two per cent. Even at this lower growth rate, because of the size of its economy, the United States remains very important: it will account for about 15 percent of global growth. But for the first time, the largest contribution to global growth will now be made by China. Also, the euro area countries, which have been benefiting from structural reforms, will make a contribution about equal to that of the United States.

Looking ahead, we expect to see this pattern of growth to continue. We expect the U.S. economy to regain momentum gradually as the drag from the current housing correction and softness in the business sector dissipates. Prospects in Europe and in Japan remain good. And we expect China and-increasingly-India to continue to grow in importance as engines of global growth. We believe that growth in China is likely to be over 11 per cent and growth in India around nine percent in 2007, and we project that growth in both countries will be almost as high again next year. Other economies in emerging Asia are showing similar strength. We expect the Philippines to grow at rates close to six per cent in 2007 and 2008, and growth in the ASEAN{five member nations} together-Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam-to average about the same in each year. Inflation is projected to remain low in most Asian countries, including the Philippines. External current account positions are likely to remain in substantial surplus.

Net capital inflows are expected to continue. To sum up, the outlook for the global economy is generally good, and the economic prospects of most countries in emerging Asia are also good, notwithstanding some adverse effects on the region from low growth in the United States. The questions then are, what are the risks to this good outlook, and what are the policies needed to contain these risks? I want to bring to your attention three aspects of the current situation where I think there are important risks. The first is the situation in the global oil market. The second is risks in financial markets, especially those affecting emerging markets. The third is the potential for a backlash against globalisation. Let me take each in turn.

The market for oil is exceptionally tight. So far, the global economy has shrugged off high oil prices in part because the high prices are themselves largely the product of economic growth which has led to rising demand for oil. But there are also considerable vulnerabilities on the supply side, with respect to both production and refining, and a supply shock could be much more damaging to global growth. With regard to oil production, geopolitical concerns call into question the reliability of supply in some countries. In others, underinvestment has constrained capacity. In refining, uncertainties about long-term demand for gasoline in an industry where investments have only long-term payoffs have also led to persistent underinvestment, which is only gradually being reversed.

In the light of this market tightness, policies to curtail demand and improve energy efficiency become very important. There is consensus that governments should encourage energy efficiency. Last week, the U.S. National Petroleum Council joined calls for a rapid increase in vehicle fuel economy standards in the United States. And around the world, private companies are already adopting policies designed to conserve energy in the face of rising costs. Governments can also reduce subsidies and tax exemptions for energy, and replace them with targeted assistance to citizens most affected by high energy prices. This was done with considerable success by Indonesia last year. There is also an important example of a similar policy initiative in the Philippines, which I will return to in a few minutes. More generally, the danger posed by climate change underlines the importance of curtailing demand for energy products over the long term, either through higher carbon taxes or the introduction of a broad system of tradable emissions permits. And here in Asia, limiting the growth of energy consumption would not only be good for the environment but also for many energy importing countries' balance of payments.

Influence of globalisation on world economies

Let me now turn to the risks stemming from financial globalisation. The growth and dynamism of capital markets have contributed greatly to the prosperity of recent years. The combination of new technology and the development of new financial instruments has led to an upsurge in productivity in the financial sectors of many countries. The global economy has also become substantially more integrated, through financial globalisation. This had many good effects. It has given global savers a wider pool of investments to choose from. It has given borrowers access to a much broader market for savings and so lowered their cost of capital.

In some cases, it has encouraged development of local capital markets and financial sectors. And especially when flows have taken the form of foreign direct investment, it has accelerated technology transfer, improved productivity, and provided employment opportunities.

However, there are also risks associated with financial globalisation, and I am concerned that these are still not fully appreciated. We have already seen this phenomenon play out in the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States. Both mortgage borrowers and investors in these markets appear to have been so confident that housing prices would continue rising that they ignored the consequences of a downturn and the attendant credit risks. These developments suggest a need to take a fresh look at lenders' underwriting standards and also to educate borrowers in the risks that they are taking. I also see grounds for concern in the recent dramatic growth in large private equity buyouts, which are being financed by a rising proportion of debt. If some of these deals were to turn sour, it could trigger a reappraisal of risk which would curtail market access more broadly. This in turn could adversely affect investment and growth prospects, not just in the countries where the problems occur but worldwide. I would urge regulators to remain vigilant about these deals, and pay especially close attention to deals whose failure could have systemic implications.

Another concern is potential instability from capital inflows. Capital inflows are in many ways a good thing. Asian emerging economies, including the Philippines, have been among the major beneficiaries from the lower capital costs, increased investment, and rapid technological transfer that I listed earlier among the benefits of financial globalisation. But very substantial flows also complicate macroeconomic management and expose the countries that receive them to an abrupt reversal of flows when sudden shocks occur.

Emerging economies can best respond to such capital flows with a twofold response: sound macroeconomic management and financial sector deepening. The best macroeconomic policy response is to pursue exchange rate flexibility with limited intervention aimed at smoothing volatility in the exchange markets. In some cases, fiscal tightening is also appropriate. In addition to reducing inflationary pressures, this can reduce vulnerabilities by limiting debt accumulation. Improving the domestic financial sector framework is important because countries receiving capital inflows are least likely to experience instability if their financial infrastructures are strong. The Philippines authorities have already taken some useful steps. For example, they have been quite successful in encouraging banks to strengthen their balance sheets. Further development of the financial sector should be an important priority in the next few years.

The third area that I want to focus on today is the danger of a backlash against globalisation in countries in many different positions. One of the paradoxes of recent global prosperity has been that while in many countries economic performance has been very good, people's satisfaction with that performance has not been so high. To some extent this may be attributable to the fact that the gains from economic growth, and more generally from changes associated with globalization, have been distributed quite unequally.

In many advanced economies, GDP growth has proceeded at a rapid pace for the last several years, but median real incomes have not increased by nearly as much. In virtually all of the advanced economies, the share of income accruing to labor has declined over the last 25 years as a share of total national income. In many emerging economies, including in Asia, inequality has also increased. Over the last decade, inequality has increased in 13 out of 18 Asian countries for which data is available, including the Philippines.

And in both emerging and developing economies, absolute poverty remains stubbornly high. The National Statistical Coordination Board estimated that 30 percent of people lived in poverty in the Philippines in 2003. These developments are leading people around the world to question the benefits of globalisation. Some are tempted to yield to protectionist pressures and to give up on orthodox economic policies and structural reforms. I think it is important to resist both of these temptations. Trade has brought many more benefits than costs all around the world. And growth continues to hold out the greatest promise for lifting the poor out of poverty and providing better opportunities to the disadvantaged.

But we also need to make sure that the fruits of growth are widely shared and that the poorest people are protected from the costs of adjustment. Let me conclude by suggesting a few policies which can promote these good outcomes, some of which are already being put into practice here in the Philippines. The first is an increase in investment in education and technology. Research from all around the world suggests that the main reason why inequality has increased in recent years is that the benefits of improved technology have accrued disproportionately to the richest countries and to the richest and best-educated people in all countries. The way to address this source of inequality is not to turn our backs on new technology but to widen access to it, and to education in technology. In the Philippines, building up telecommunications infrastructure and reducing the cost of international calls has stimulated growth in information and communications technology. As a result, employment in the sector-and access to its benefits-has increased massively over the last six years.

Development of other aspects of infrastructure can also be helpful. The lack of access of many poor people-especially in rural areas-to roads and electricity contributes to their isolation. I am pleased that President Arroyo emphasised development of physical infrastructure as well as human capital in her State of the Nation Address last week. Financial sector development can help. Market failures and the absence of banking in rural areas adds to inequality. Addressing market failures and promoting microcredit would give the poor more opportunity to invest in themselves. Improving services to customers and financial education will also be important, as more people become consumers of financial products.

Finally, governments can take direct aim at inequality by replacing non-targeted tax exemptions and subsidies, for example for petroleum products and electricity, with targeted social assistance. Again, the Philippines provides an example. As you know, in November 2005, the Philippines government extended VAT to energy products previously exempted, and in January 2006 it raised the VAT rate on all taxable products, including energy, from 10 percent to 12 percent. Because most energy is consumed by wealthier people, and because the government used part of the proceeds from VAT reform to reduce excises on kerosene and to increase spending on infrastructure and social services, the effect on the poor was offset. The distributional effects could have been improved further if more of the compensation had been devoted to transfers targeted to poor villagers, such as those who benefit from the government's KALAHI program. But it remains a successful and impressive reform.

Let me conclude by returning to a point I made at the outset. The global economy is in a good condition. Governments can keep the global economy growing strongly by continuing good policies and by acting to contain key risks in energy and financial markets. They can also increase support for globalisation and help their own poorest citizens by taking steps to address inequality. In several of these areas the Philippines is leading the way. The government and central bank have steadfastly pursued sound macroeconomic policies, and leaders in the Philippines are acting with imagination and innovation to improve the position of the Philippines' poorest citizens.

Economic prospects, challenges of globalisation
By Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, IMF

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: How to help Africa? Do business there

TED June 04, 2007

Negative images of Africa dominate the news: famine and disease, conflict and corruption. But Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Finance Minister of Nigeria, says there's a less-told story unfolding in many African nations: one of reform, economic growth and business opportunity.
Cracking down on corruption -- and the perception of corruption -- will be the key to its success
She tells how high-ranking Nigerian officials taking money illicitly have been jailed, and how citizens and prospective business partners are getting at least a partial picture now of where money flows.

Click link below to watch

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/127

Guide to Flawless Consulting

Some of us do dream of the consultant's lifestyle, setting your own hours, being your own boss, living where you want, and accepting only projects that interest you.

In no doubt, working as an independent consultant can be as risky as it is rewarding, but it's not as hard as you might think. If you're creative, organized, and have a wide range of skills, consulting could be just the profession for you. And if you plan it right the first time, you can succeed where others have failed.

Whether you're contemplating a move into the consulting field or you're currently an independent consultant looking for some expert advice, here are some useful information for you about running your own consultancy -- from securing clients and managing time to branding your company and expanding your business.

What is really like to be a consultant: If you've ever wished you could run your own business, with the freedom to choose your clients, projects, and hours, you might be ready for the consulting life. To learn more about the industry and how you might fit in, read on. The skills you need to be a successful consultant: Becoming a successful consultant is less about specific expertise than about having the right skills and personality for the job. Learn how to evaluate your professional and personal skills, focus your expectations, and you're on your way.

Fear: It’s the biggest obstruction to starting your own business: Many people dream of leading a consultant's life, but few take the leap. Overcome your fear by examining the key considerations for starting your own consultancy.

Clients: How to get them: Like most other businesses, consultancies require a steady stream of clients -- so how do you go about securing them? The answer lies in diversification, flexibility, and quality of service. Overcome negative perceptions: As a consultant, you fight negative perceptions about your job on a daily basis. By establishing yourself as trustworthy, efficient, and credible, you not only build your own reputation, but that of the industry as well.

Settings rates: How high should you go? Setting your consulting fees is a touchy process; if they're too high, you lose business, and if they're too low, you lose money and credibility. Factors to consider when setting your rates include the type of work you perform, the services your client demands, and the timelines for projects.

Proposal writing: The key to getting business: If written correctly, proposals don't have to be time-consuming, but they can be the secret to securing clients. Following these tips, you can develop effective proposals that target clients' needs with language that will make them sit up and listen. The consulting agreement: What each party expects: The consulting agreement is the marriage contract between consultant and client. Understanding each party's expectations allows you to spell out the process and goals in the agreement so that you can develop a mutually satisfactory relationship.

Time management: Your business depends on it: While being your own boss can have distinct advantages, it also means that you have to run every aspect of the business yourself. Because your duties are so varied, time management and prioritization are essential to your survival and success. How to work with a consultant: If you think that you'll never have to work with other consultants, you're wrong. Eventually you're going to have to subcontract some work, so be sure to find the right party.

How to get paid: Collecting payment from clients can sometimes be a hassle. Follow these tips and you'll get your hard-earned money when it's due.

Retirement strategies for consultants: To some, the flexibility of consulting can be a blessing, but you must also learn to plan for the future. Here are some key considerations and resources for planning your retirement.

Tools of the trade: To effectively run your own consulting business, you need to have the right tools. To do so, you're going to have to figure out which ones are essential to your trade and then learn how to balance performance and cost.

Staying one step ahead of the client: An important aspect of successful consulting is having a deep understanding of your industry. Research techniques and resources are essential to both your personal knowledge and the work that you perform for clients.

How to grow your consulting business: Another way to develop your consulting business is by entering into partnerships with other consultants. But you must prepare yourself; a partnership in the business world is equivalent to marriage, so take all of the necessary precautions before you commit.

Building your own company: Growing your independent consulting business into a full-fledged company can be a logical transition, but in order to succeed you must be aware of the pitfalls. Learn the necessary steps to build your own company and find out what new hats you'll have to wear as a company manager.

Use these techniques to earn your client’s trust: Maintaining client trust can be tricky business for consultants, and if you're not paying attention, it can be easy to take a wrong step. But there are ways to sidestep conflicts of interest and manage sensitive data so that you can divulge information without breaching client trust.

Career tip: Investigate medical savings accounts: A frequent downside to self-employment is that individual health coverage rates don't measure up to those offered for large companies. Few people know about medical savings accounts, which save you big money by using pretax dollars to fund medical expenses.

How to brand your consulting business: Through careful market positioning and branding, you can control how the industry and potential clients perceive you. By following these key steps to branding your business, you can move ahead of the pack.

Know when to say no to consulting projects: Even though rejecting proposals seems antithetical to your professional instincts, every successful consultant faces the challenge of too much work. Learn how to establish a game plan, prioritize projects, set deadlines, and turn down unwanted projects.

Why people do not like consultants: Some consultants engage in unprofessional behavior, giving the entire industry a bad name.

I work with a lot of other consultants, and I am sometimes shocked by the things they do -- things that not only undermine their own businesses but give other consultants a bad name. People tend to be suspicious of consultants as it is, so it is essential to avoid bad manners and rude behavior in all your dealings, whether with clients or peers.

The area that really steams me is when people don't do what they said they were going to do. I recently worked on a project with another consultant, not by choice but by circumstance. This person made repeated promises to call back with particular information and to do certain tasks, almost none of which he did. That resulted in my coming close to canceling the whole project, as critical deadlines loomed without necessary work being done; work that only he could do. Needless to say, I vowed never to have any dealings with this person again. I would have completely understood if he simply told me that he was too busy or needed help. But he ignored my calls and emails -- behavior that crosses the line of plain rudeness. Even if he was giving other clients higher priority, he was still undermining his business by alienating me. How could I refer work or give a reference to this person?

The rules are simple: Get back to people in a reasonable length of time, don't ignore their calls or emails, and don't say you will do something if you can't or won't. And if you run into trouble with a commitment, talk with your clients or partners to work out alternatives. Don't those rules apply to all jobs? Sure, but in a full-time position, a person can be rude and still manage to get a regular paycheck. In consulting, your lifeblood is a steady stream of business, business that won't materialize unless you have a reputation for meeting your commitments and for being easy to work with. For that reason, I respond to every single email or voice message, however irrelevant it may be to my current tasks. A number of times, annoying little queries have materialized into large consulting projects.

There are other areas to consider, such as over promising to get a job. That can include overstating your qualifications or misrepresenting your available time. The net result is that you are unable to deliver against expectations, which will surely make your client unhappy. I've been there, anxious to obtain work, but it's not worth it. Not only can you forget about repeat business, but you damage all prospects for word-of-mouth referrals, not to mention the stress you will experience. That doesn't mean you should only accept slam-dunks. I regularly challenge myself with my commitments, but I almost always deliver what I promise, one way or another.

A final area is misleading clients about who is actually going to do the job. That area has generated a lot of ill will against consulting organizations. Senior consultants will meet with the client to define the job and do some of the initial work, but then assign junior consultants to do the bulk of the work, often resulting in the client effectively paying for on-the-job training and less than satisfactory results. A similar situation is a consultant who outsources or subcontracts the work without informing the client in advance. Those actions are not only rude but also a serious breach of implied commitments. If you intend others to do the work, make it clear to the client (and yourself) how you will manage the process to ensure success.

It's really very simple: Just treat your clients or partners the way you would like to be treated.

The downsides of consulting: There are many benefits to being a consultant, such as having the satisfaction of running your own business, controlling your destiny, and enjoying flexible work hours. But there are also numerous downsides. Anybody thinking about a career in consulting should think twice.

How to get known: As a consultant, the more exposure you have, the more successful your business will be. Exposure translates to more clients, better credibility, and a market position that allows you to charge the rates you deserve.

Nigeria: Nigcomsat-1 Goes Into Orbit

Nigeria made history yesterday in faraway China when she launched her communication satellite, aptly called Nigerian Communication Satellite, (NIGCOMSAT-1) as the 20-transponder mass successfully went on the 20-30 minutes trip into orbit.

First in the continent of Africa , the satellite launch, which was witnessed by top Nigerian officials, has been described as an impressive feat by President Olusegun Obasanjo, according to a statement by Mr. Felix Ale, Head of Corporate Affairs and Media at the National Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA).

The technology is expected to provide reliable communication satellite services to subscribers in Nigeria and the continent, including those in the Diaspora.

Ale described the excitement at the launch site as 'electrifying', noting that the Director-General of NASRDA, Professor Robert Ajayi Boroffice, had immediately informed Obasanjo of the success of the event.

According to him, "Boroffice has also called Obasanjo to inform him of the success of the launch. The President was impressed and full of praise for NASRDA.

Ale said that the NASRDA boss described the launch as a monumental technological leap and victory for Africa .
"With the successful launch of NIGCOMSAT-1, technological revolution in Africa has started as nobody can stop it."

Among Nigerian officials present at the launch were the country's Ambassador to China , Ambassador J.O Coker.

He also reported that his Boroffice thanked Obasanjo for the confidence reposed in the Agency to embark on the project.

The NigcomSat-1 was launched into geosynchronous orbit from the Xichang satellite launch centre.

The NASRDA also said in a statement that the technology is a super hybrid geo-stationary satellite designed to operate in C, KU, KA and L bands and wholly owned by Nigeria .

NigcomSat-1 has Africa, part of Middle East and Southern Europe as its footprint, the release explained.

This Day Newspaper (Lagos)
Posted to the web 14 May 2007

Crude Oil and Corruption

Deep in the bush of the Niger Delta is the small community of Ibaa. It is reached by packed reddish-dirt tracks that wind through the scrub and palm trees covering the low-lying alluvial plain. Ibaa is the site of a manifold—a connector for intersecting oil pipelines—controlled by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), the country’s dominant oil and gas company. The remote manifold was once enclosed by a retangular solid cinder-block wall some three meters high, but one whole side of it has been destroyed by the township’s residents. The townspeople were enraged by Shell’s placement of armed military personnel at the site during maintenance work. They responded by leveling roughly 20 meters of the wall while armed with nothing more than shovels, picks, and clubs.
Community anger at being cut out of the riches pulled from the ground in the Niger Delta by foreign oil companies is at the heart of the current chaos engulfing Africa’s most populous country. Insurgents attack oil facilities to pressure the multinationals and the government to let some of the crude windfall trickle down into the community; there has been a rash of kidnappings, bombings, pipeline shutdowns, and lost crude production.
“It’s like a war,” says Sekobe Afohron, a team leader on Shell’s pipeline right-of-way (ROW) surveillance squad.
Compounding the malignant situation is the constant theft of crude from secluded sections of the pipeline network, and the usual upheaval associated with presidential elections and their aftermath. These multiple threats create a challenging security environment for the oil companies doing business there.
Along with intensified security measures to protect personnel in dodgy places such as Port Harcourt and Lagos, Shell is stepping up efforts to guard its pipeline network against attacks and “bunkering,” or the robbery of oil directly from pipes. The company is running a pilot program that features a community relations push, the installation of surveillance technology, and human intelligence to try to mitigate losses and sooth the turbulence currently gripping its business environment. To understand the context of those efforts, it helps first to understand the region’s historical and cultural background.

Big Scale, Big Trouble
Tucked into the crook of West Africa before the continent juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, Nigeria is a wide expanse of low-hilled savanna, mangrove swamp, and a sandy coastline. It is one of Africa’s most controversial countries: Neighbors deride its volatile and chaotic nature, and it consistently ranks among the most corrupt nations in the world, according to Transparency International.
Nevertheless, Nigeria is a heavyweight on the continent and abroad. It makes up one-sixth of Africa’s total population with more than 130 million people who are a potpourri of ethnicities including Arab, West African, Central African, Touareg, and others. Rich in cultural traditions such as textiles, woodworking, and music, Nigerians are also generally well-educated and possess barracuda business instincts that expand their sphere of influence in Africa and beyond.
The country flexes the most muscle with its oilfields. As a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude producer, and the industry yields roughly 65 percent of the country’s budgetary revenues and 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings. It is the eighth-largest oil exporter in the world, and the fifth largest provider to the United States.
Nigeria “has no diversified industry to speak of—the only driver is oil,” says Drew Weir, head of pipeline availability for SPDC. If that doesn’t change by the time the crude runs out, “the country will go back to the bush,” he says.
The local oil industry was born when Anglo-Dutch behemoth Shell hit pay dirt with a successful well at Oloibiri in 1956. SPDC’s operations now make up about half of the oil market footprint in the West African country. Its pipeline network is by far the largest in the country, with more than 6,000 kilometers (roughly 3,728 miles) of ducts that spread across the delta like the splintered lines of a shattered windshield; this network is fed by more than 1,000 producing wells.
Nigeria is part of Shell’s bread and butter, and the company is indelibly linked to the country, but its local dominance is a double-edged sword. “Most of the problems we have are always multiplied because we are so big and our footprint is larger” than other oil companies in Nigeria, says Vincent Okwechime, part of Corporate Security Strategy Planning and Capability Management for SPDC.
Shell has the capacity to pump 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in Nigeria. Because of shutdowns due to rebel attacks, and to bunkerers, it only achieves about half that, losing billions in revenue at a time when oil prices are at record highs.

Not on the MEND
Besides Shell, Nigeria is host to U.S. oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron, Italy’s Agip, and several others. The foreign oil companies account for nearly all of the country’s 1.9-million-barrel daily output. But a cool 25 percent of potential production is lopped off by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a shadowy, well-armed group that says it fights for less-privileged Nigerians cut out of the country’s oil spoils.
Clad in camouflage fatigues and black hoods, MEND guerillas in speedboats stalk the country’s backyard of Delta rivers and creeks, disrupting the flow of oil at various junctures of the pipeline. The group has since graduated to land-based operations as well, as evidenced by the car bomb set off in a military barracks at Port Harcourt in early 2006.
MEND runs an effective operation with apparently good intelligence. “They know exactly where we are and what we have there. They know exactly where the major connections are and where to do the most damage,” says Weir.
What’s more, members have the support of local communities, who appreciate that they stand for them against the government and that they redistribute resources seen as exploited by big business. “When they are banging on our manifolds, our risers, and our stations, they are making a statement to the government,” says Weir.
“MEND has a raison d’etre, they’re very well organized, they have strict discipline, and they have cash,” adds Weir.
The threat the group presents is real and growing. Their attacks on pipelines have even sent shivers through world crude markets and are a factor in the gyrating price of oil.
During the five years leading up to 2006, oil companies reported 32 attacks against their installations in Nigeria, and the tide of assaults shows no sign of slowing, says Gabriel Ekim, security manager for ConocoPhillips. By this February, kidnappings and shootings of oil workers had become weekly occurrences.
In addition to the populace’s exclusion from oil profits, Ekim says that the backlash stems from impoverishment—more than half the population falls below the poverty line of $1 a day—along with a dearth of employment opportunities, environmental degradation wrought by the oil industry, a lack of infrastructure and government presence, and a bitter sense that the money that comes from the riches beneath the ground makes its way into relatively few pockets
The Niger Delta has been neglected for many decades. The problems won’t stop until development is put in place and people see it,” says Ekim, a retired police commissioner who is originally from the Delta area. Schools, hospitals, community centers, potable water, good roads, and other infrastructure are needed for the zone’s 70 million people, he says.

Bunkered Down
A morning’s drive to the northeast of Port Harcourt, and far into the swampy interior is the headquarters for SPDC’s Egbema pumping district. Coordinator Tim Kalio shepherds six production stations separated by two-hour drives over potholed roads. The total output of the stations is potentially 35,000 barrels per day, but when I visited Kalio’s office, production had been shut down for two days—a great loss at a time when oil was selling for $76 per barrel on the international market.
The shutdown was caused by damage to a main trunk line by bunkerers. In this case, the thieves found a secluded stretch of trunk line, dug down a few feet, connected a pipe and valve using a “hot-tap” method of applying acid and welding, then siphoned off oil.
When the company discovers such illegal taps, it must completely shut off the section to prevent leaks and subsequent environmental hazards. The time needed to repair the line depends partly on the weather. “Lightning here is terrible—you can’t just go right into an open field [during a storm],” says Kalio.
Repair lag time also depends on the terrain. Some of the pipelines go through dense, watery sections of the mangrove swamp. The lines crisscrossing the Egbema district are predominantly buried in reddish soil that has been cleared on either side, cutting a swath some 25 meters wide through the bush. Boys are seen cropping the grass with scythes. “It’s important to keep the right-of-way clear so thieves can’t disappear into the bush,” says Afohron.
Security experts and company officials estimate that about 50,000 barrels of crude are bunkered in Nigeria each day. Part of the oil is sold to fund MEND’s activities, while the rest flows into international syndicates that have tankers parked offshore. Dennis Amachree, a former security official for oil services group Halliburton, says the tankers loiter in the Gulf of Guinea before being met by barges laden with pilfered oil. “The clients take it to their countries and sell it there. It’s an elaborate operation with a lot of money involved,” says Amachree.
Local security experts say the bunkerers include Lebanese, Serbians, Montenegrins, and Chinese, among other nationalities.

Corruption
Corruption adds to the problems companies face. As a sign of how far local corruption goes, it is strongly suspected that in 2006 Nigeria’s vice president was one of the country’s prime bunkerers. Guard forces and oil company employees also get in on the action.
“It’s lucrative to steal. They become millionaires instantly. For one or two deals, they make a lot of money,” says Amachree. “It is public knowledge; it’s a hush-hush open secret.”
Security experts in Nigeria note that, by law, the multinational companies must employ a majority of Nigerians in their ranks, increasing the likelihood of coruption and inside jobs.
Proprietary information is at risk along with the physical assets. A consultant for ExxonMobil, who often works in Nigeria, told of visiting a tribal chief’s home and being proudly shown an entire bid proposal for one of the oil major’s projects. “It was supposed to be completely confidential,” he says.
Corruption haunts all transactions. At the border with Benin, a dusty barren spot with roadside shantytowns and makeshift markets, I faced a gauntlet of seven desks behind which men sat—some in military dress—ready to collect their informal border tax. “Do you have something for me?” they asked.
“Everyone is on the take. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you are, or where you are, you’re on the take,” says Weir. And the stakes can be high. Kickbacks of up to $1 million are not unheard of.
One driver of this corruption is Nigerian cultural tradition, which dictates that men are under enormous pressure to take care of friends and family in their townships and cities. Whoever scores the big job is obligated to bring others on board and to maximize profit.
Corruption is also an issue within the government security forces (GSF), which consist of a few thousand men who are supposed to help SPDC and other oil companies protect their installations. Ostensibly the force is part of the return SPDC gets for the government’s 55 percent ownership of its production. The company receives 30 percent, and the rest is a joint venture. But it’s unclear sometimes which side of the law the forces are on.
Higher-ups in the GSF have been removed from their posts for engaging in bunkering, and others in the ranks are known to partake in the spoils—leaving them without incentive to halt oil theft when they have the opportunity.
Even if they wanted to do the job well, the government forces would have a difficult time of it, given their shoddy resources. They have only nine boats at their disposal to patrol the endless lagoons and mangrove swamp. “The GSF are completely ineffectual, ill-equipped, underpaid, poorly led, and not up to the task,” says a manager for one of the leading foreign security companies in Nigeria.
To make matters worse, anyone who gets caught is unlikely to pay dear consequences. “There is no commitment from the court systems to actually prosecute these guys, because the policeman is probably in on it as well,” says Weir.

Wrong Target
SPDC officials and private security experts blame the government for shortchanging local communities and sparking anger against the oil companies. “The reality is that providing for communities economically and socially is the business of the government,” says Okwechime. But the companies are visible targets that are seen to be taking resources, so they have become a lightning rod for resentment.

Seeking Solutions
Whether or not security is the government’s responsibility, oil companies are coming to the realization that they must provide their own solutions.
To fend off corrupt practices, head off bunkerers, and assuage MEND, Shell has developed a three-pronged strategy of intelligence, public relations, and technology that will be funded up to $1 million over the next couple of years.
In Shell’s security strategy, the human element trumps the technology component. “The hardware is the second-line of defense—the first is good community relations and a good intelligence information system, as in people seeing, hearing, and talking,” says pipeline system manager Ir W. R. Vranckx.
The backbone of the plan is outreach to communities, which Shell insiders say have had a “sour” rapport with the oil behemoth for the last 50 years. “With anything you do here, if you don’t get the buy-in of the communities, you have a problem,” says Okwechime.

Human intelligence. SPDC has about 2,500 private security force members of its own, including investigators, personnel protectors, and guards. About a thousand of them are at the main facility in Port Harcourt, while others are in far-flung locations guarding against bunkering at particularly vulnerable and oft-attacked manifolds.
But security cannot be achieved with an outside guard force alone. The greatest goal is to gain the trust and aid of the thousands of communities along the pipeline, residents of which are hired by SPDC as contractors to guard the line and right-of-ways. Along with the government forces and SPDC’s security, these workers are supposed to serve as the key human intelligence aspect of pipeline protection.
To enlist their aid, SPDC deals with a lead local serving as head contractor—perhaps the village chief—who hires workers to cut grass and maintain the area along the line. In addition to their routine duties, these agents in flip-flops are remunerated for spotting and reporting suspicious activities or pipeline breaches along their path.
Weir says the current program is “disorganized,” and payment is not consistent, but now Shell wants to compensate contractors for their operating costs, plus offer regular pay and bonuses of up to 70 percent that can be hiked after three months if they do a solid job. “We want them to own their share of the pipeline,” says Weir.
Steve Casteel, senior vice president for international business at Vance International, says a similar system has been employed in spots like Iraq. Tribes living along the network are paid a base fee by oil companies based on the percentage of the pipeline in areas where they hold jurisdiction. In addition, they receive bonus money as the number of pipeline incidents in their area decreases.
Hiring people for these programs is not easy because contractors historically have paid workers poorly, if at all.
It is also tricky to find workers in the increasingly fractious communities. “It’s very hard to find cohesive communities where you still have a sense of order. There’s all kinds of disagreements and in-fighting,” says Okwechime.
Among its complexities, Nigeria is a land of intense tribal rivalries: in the southeast are the Ijaw and the Ibgo; in the north are the Hausa; in the southwest there are the Yoruba ethnicities. All are clamoring for representation, and the heat rises during election time.
“Oil is the only resource, and everyone now wants a part of it,” says Okwechime. Disgruntled surveillance guards will simply turn a blind eye to illicit activities and take a cut themselves, he says.

Public relations. Contractual surveillance work does help solve a major community dilemma: employment. SPDC has a Sustainable Committee for Development to help communities and create positive publicity.
The company’s good deeds in the past have included building schools, clinics, hospitals, and water projects, and funding scholarships. The idea is to “create a structure in this community, like roads and electricity, for companies to begin to want to invest and create employment opportunities,” says Okwechime.
“The community development department is constantly trying to reinvent things and show there is some level of benefit that people derive from us,” he adds.

Technology. As a part of the three-pronged approach, SPDC is testing the extent to which security systems can help it achieve the objectives. Among the systems being tested are access controls, CCTV, and motion sensors.
Weir says that a complete communication network with effective video coverage would require more than 1,000 CCTV cameras. Initially, surveillance cameras will be situated at only a portion of the network’s 87 flow stations, specifically those located in the 80 kilometer stretch between Ibaa and Asa. “We will put them high up on communications towers so people can’t steal them or tamper with them,” says Sekobe.
Geoseismic sensing cables will run underground along the same 80-kilometer stretch of pipeline. The sensors can differentiate between the weight of a goat and a human. In this case, the alarms they set off would go to a response center in Port Harcourt, and a team would be sent out to the site.
Many of the manifolds and flow stations currently have double chain-link fencing or cinder-block walls around them. Still, ingenious thieves manage to skirt some of the barriers and make off with such items as solar panels.
Some oil company employees and security experts I talked with were skeptical of whether the security systems would prove effective. They pointed to thievery and a lack of maintenance, technological know-how, and proper response. Cameras will be stolen, says one private security country manager, and even if equipment is not removed, it likely won’t withstand the blustery wet weather or be properly maintained, says Weir.
And those charged with monitoring the feeds are as likely to be sleeping at their desk as watching the images, says the other manager. But, Weir says, “we will try it.”
The sensors will get a test run, but unless they are watched vigilantly by the surveillance teams, they are too easily sabotaged, Weir says. “If they know it’s there, all they do is dig it up and cut it, and you’ve lost your cable,” he explains.
And if the system works, questions remain about the response teams’ effectiveness. “The real problem with pipeline protection in Nigeria is not so much based on identifying when a pipeline has been breached, but rather what is the appropriate response,” says the private security country manager.
Overall, the pilot project will be monitored for up to three years to gauge its effectiveness. “If all this works, a lot of our problems will be solved. But it has to be a combination of technology, community empowerment, and company action,” says Okwechime.

Future Prospects
Many oil drillers in the Delta region are now keen to set up more deepwater rigs. In the open sea, they stand less chance of interdiction by rebels on the prowl, the piracy threat is declining, and they can pump crude with minimal interference.
Onshore, security officials agree that to cut down on pipeline attacks and bunkering, officials must improve reparations to communities in exchange for protection of the oil ducts. The money has to flow generously into the right hands and go toward infrastructure, schools, and a better quality of life.
The effectiveness of government security forces also must be addressed. Shell officials are pushing for the government to establish forward operating bases in different strategic locations in the Niger region. The country’s major Navy base is now in Port Harcourt, making it difficult to respond to incidents deep within the Delta .
There is also the need to edge the rebels out of the spotlight. Currently, the militants are popular and not afraid to engage the GSF. “They very much purport to being latter-day Robin Hoods, and they are getting press, empathy, and sympathy,” says the private security manager. Until that changes, “the problem of bunkering and pipeline attacks is not going to go away.”

Article By Robert Elliot, Former Assistant Editor of Security Management Magazine.

Mavericks Wireless: 60-Mile Wi-Fi - a good way to go for emerging regions.

Eric Brewer has a cheap and convenient answer for connecting the world's poorest villages.
By Michael Zhao, 04/09/07 Forbes Magazine

Eric Brewer was made a tenured professor of computer science at UC, Berkeley when he was only 32. He co-wrote the world's most widely used search algorithm, at least before the Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) guys got started. And for a little while back in the late 1990s Internet bubble, Brewer was a billionaire.

His wealth is now well shy of $1 billion, but the world should be thankful that Brewer gave up trying to claw his way back to the top of the Internet industry. For the past several years the 40-year-old has been burrowing away at some engineering problems whose solution would make life more livable in the Third World.

"I don't want to impact just ten people, I want to impact a billion people," says Brewer.
Brewer and his graduate students at Berkeley have concocted a wireless networking scheme called Wildnet (Wild is short for "Wi-Fi over long distance"). Two Wildnet transmitters can shuttle 5 million bits per second, as much as a cable modem, over distances of up to 60 miles. A relay station is needed if the antennas aren't in direct line of sight. Wildnet takes Wi-Fi technology and extends its range 100 times farther than an airport hot spot.

Wildnet is cheap to deploy, using the publicly available radio spectrum and the free Linux operating system on an inexpensive Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) computer board with off-the-shelf Wi-Fi radio chips. One router costs less than $400 and sips only 8 watts of power. A solar panel can run it.
Small Wildnets have been built in the Philippines and Ghana to promote rural Internet penetration and in Guinea-Bissau for community radio stations to share content. Communities in rural Virginia and a few Indian reservations also expressed interest in getting their own Wildnets.

Wildnet's most dramatic impact to date has been in southern India, where the high-speed links are bringing better eye care to poor villagers. Parvathi Shanmugam, a 45-year-old mother in Andipatti, a small village in the state of Tamil Nadu, used to dread taking her daughter on the 10-mile trip to the eye clinic in Theni, a bigger city to the west. Her family had to take two buses, which took about an hour, and often waited two more hours for a doctor. A year ago Andipatti opened its own eye clinic connected to Theni's Aravind Eye Hospital with a Wildnet link. The clinic now conducts real-time eye exams with doctors in Theni, over a direct connection 150 times as fast as its old dial-up modem, which used to cost $200 a year. The Wildnet link, installed at a cost of $1,800, is practically free to operate.

Shanmugam, who makes $1.50 a day, went to the Andipatti clinic three times last September to see about her watering right eye and photophobia, or excessive sensitivity to light. She got eyedrops and a schedule of Webcam follow-ups. Cost per visit is 5 rupees, or 13 cents, one-sixth the price charged in Theni. "I didn't find it different than seeing a doctor," says Shanmugam.

Aravind Eye Hospitals treat 1,400 new patients a month at its five remote vision centers. R.D. Thulasiraj, Aravind's executive director, expects to double his remote patient volume in the next 12 months and add 20 more clinics to the network by the middle of 2008. Soon 1 million people in the state of Tamil Nadu will have access to low-cost eye care.

This is the kind of impact Eric Brewer is talking about. The Aravind project and the Wildnet technology are now a big chunk of Brewer's work at the Intel Research Berkeley Lab, which he took over as director in 2005 to transform the developing world through information technology.

"The existing Western technologies are rarely a good fit," says Brewer. "They're either too expensive or too complex" to work in poorer countries, especially in low-density rural areas. Wildnet is cheaper and faster than satellite dishes, which can cost $10,000, way out of reach to all but the wealthy. The new WiMax standard championed by Brewer's patron, Intel, is faster but it also can cost $10,000 for a base station.
Wildnet isn't going to kill off satellite, cellular broadband, Wi-Fi or WiMax. Brewer says his technology is more of a complement to these, a "grass-roots solution" for rural areas. Unlike a Wi-Fi antenna, which is omnidirectional and sends out one packet of data only after receiving an acknowledgement from a recipient, the Wildnet antenna is narrowly aimed at its mate miles away and can transmit and receive many packets at once without waiting for acknowledgements.

A Wildnet would couple well with conventional Wi-Fi hot spots to create an island of connectivity in places without telephone poles. The ultimate goal is "improving the quality of life, health care and education in the developing world," says Brewer. "It's not something that my little group could achieve, but I can't imagine doing anything else that could be more impactful than this."

Brewer had very different plans 13 years ago. In 1994, the year he started teaching computer science at UC, Berkeley, Brewer set out a goal with his then graduate student Paul Gauthier to make Web-searching a part of everyday life. Their work led to the formation of Inktomi, which raised $27 million in venture capital, went public in June 1998, and reached a peak market value of $13 billion. Inktomi's software ran searches for HotBot, Yahoo (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) and MSN.

Starting in 1997 Brewer began to travel extensively, running the company's operations in China, India, Japan, Korea and Europe. He came into contact with young leaders from developing countries, who told him of the poor applicability of Western wireless technology

His work with the Clinton White House in 2000 to make federal documents searchable, at firstgov.gov and now usa.gov, fed his passion to make a bigger impact elsewhere, not just at home. And Sept. 11 inspired Brewer to think of ways to use technology beyond just spotting terrorists. "I don't have a problem with the U.S. government focused on security and terrorism," he says, but the real path to peace "is to find an option for the developing world to increase its hope."

Inktomi crashed hard in the tech collapse, and the company was sold to Yahoo for $235 million in 2003, as Google was beginning to steal the search show. Brewer calls his brainchild "one of the greatest companies" of the Internet era. "I believed in the Internet when few even knew what it was," he says .

By the time Inktomi was sold, Brewer had returned to teaching at UC, Berkeley, where he created a project called Technology & Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER). One of its first projects was the development of the Wildnet system. TIER, now sponsored by the Intel Berkeley Research Lab, has drawn help from 12 graduate students and a few Intel staffers. "Eric is a naturally optimistic guy," says Sonesh Surana, a Ph.D. student who came to TIER in the fall of 2004. He's spent many months making Wildnet work in India.
Brewer's next ambition is to provide data processing help for microlenders in poor countries. He is inspired by the work of 2006 Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. "If you want to do loans in India, you have to keep records, and prove that you are making are making reasonable loans," says Brewer. He thinks it's possible to keep records using cell phones or low-cost PCs. Possible, and practical.

more on Eric Brewer Projects....

tier: technology and infrastructure for emerging regions

TIER is a research group at the University of California at Berkeley, investigating the design and deployment of new technologies for emerging regions.

The aim of the TIER project is to address the challenges in bringing the Information Technology revolution to the masses of the developing regions of the world. Historically, most projects that aim to do this rely on technology that was developed for the affluent world, but these imported technologies fail to address key challenges in cost, deployment, power consumption, and support for semi- and illiterate users.

TIER focuses on developing a hardware/software infrastructure explicitly designed for the physical, political and economic realities of developing areas. It will build on existing research at Berkeley and elsewhere, but also face a number of new technical and organizational challenges. This project addresses these challenges with novel technology, while validating the impact of through real-world deployments. Finally this project also aims to provide set of guidelines and techniques that can be then used by corporations or the government to enable solutions that are currently intractable.

Retail Banking Strategies Whitepapers

High Tech Keys to Small Business Banking: Upgrading the Online Channel After fits and starts since the late 1990s, online small business banking is coming into its own and is no longer overshadowed by online retail banking.

The Banking Channel Popularity Contest Forrester Research examined the channels that consumers prefer to use when interacting with banks and found that these preferences the branch and Web are most popular for buying while the Internet is most popular for banking.

Something for Everyone: Online Account Opening Delivers the Goods A new report from Aite Group states that the potential savings from online account opening is compelling.

High Tech Keys to Small Business Banking: Upgrading the Online Channel In this new report, Celent compares the range of solutions available to financial institutions of all sizes looking to purchase a new online small business banking solution or upgrade an existing one.

International Fraud Could Be Slowed By Data Sharing, Study Shows

Fraud experts are calling for greater global cooperation in the fight against fraud, according to a recent bank fraud study from First Data Corp (Greenwood Village, Colo.). The respondents, who hailed from 52 banks across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, acknowledge, however, that there are significant barriers that stand in the way of such collaboration.
Ninety-six percent of the respondents to First Data's study believe that fraud is perpetrated on a global stage, learned and passed from one part of the world to another. According to First Data, this means that the industry has the opportunity to anticipate how those involved in fraud will strike next and take preventative action in advance of a potential attack.
"The fraud experts participating in our study clearly recognize that fraud is a global phenomenon demanding global response," says Jackie Barwell, director of fraud management, Europe, Middle East and Africa, First Data International. "At the same time, it is a sensitive subject for banks concerned with reputation, competitiveness and profitability. Banks acknowledge the importance of working together and with other agencies to combat fraud, but they are not yet sharing data at a level that will make a real difference to the struggle."
According to one study respondent, "Organizations are secretive of fraud losses and that inhibits our ability to work together."
"The sharing of intelligence is key to being able to take advantage of the predictability of fraud," First Data's Barwell continues. "Banks are sitting on valuable data that, if analyzed innovatively, could provide fraud intelligence worth sharing. One major bank has shown that if their internal client databases across business lines and geographies are analyzed using sophisticated link analysis tools, spurious networks of accounts can be uncovered and, when fully investigated, could uncover organized networks of first-party fraud accounts."
Barwell adds that several U.S. banks have expressed interest in taking the "quantum leap" to true data sharing.

The International Language of Fraud
"In the last eight to 10 years, fraud has really gone international," says Steve Baker, director of the Midwest region of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC maintains a Consumer Sentinel database that includes more than 3.5 million consumer fraud complaints and is accessible to more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies internationally. In 2006, 22 percent of the reported fraud was cross border.
Banks should encourage consumers to complain when they have been the victim of fraud, Baker says, noting that only 8 percent of victims of fraud file complaints. "We need those complaints because we are looking for patterns," he says.