Comments on: Is There Technology Arbitrage in Africa? http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/ Where Africa and Technology Collide! Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:20:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: JD http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-158840 JD Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:44:17 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-158840 I think this is a great argument! and I do believe that countries with more driven, knowledgable governments could make technologies more accessible to their people. My only question is do you really think government is completely &always going to be accountable for the lack of technological support in a country? I mean I'm sure there is some area they fell short in at some point, but I think there are other factors that inhibit growth in these areas sometimes (like lack of investors, or technology dumping). I think this is a great argument! and I do believe that countries with more driven, knowledgable governments could make technologies more accessible to their people.
My only question is do you really think government is completely &always going to be accountable for the lack of technological support in a country? I mean I’m sure there is some area they fell short in at some point, but I think there are other factors that inhibit growth in these areas sometimes (like lack of investors, or technology dumping).

]]> By: Louis http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-156931 Louis Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:44:20 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-156931 i'm not to clear on what you mean by technology arbitrage - but what i do now is that there is significant opportunity for arbitrage for various web services that are available online but due to payment lack of local payment solutions and local alternatives - from online shopping, to simple services as online storage and hosting - im sure many hosting solutions are mainly wrappers around international hosting services. same goes with services such as amazons EC2 and S3 -all this are opportunities for local arbitrage. Over time i'm sure more advanced services will be come available such as content caching and CDNs . i’m not to clear on what you mean by technology arbitrage – but what i do now is that there is significant opportunity for arbitrage for various web services that are available online but due to payment lack of local payment solutions and local alternatives – from online shopping, to simple services as online storage and hosting – im sure many hosting solutions are mainly wrappers around international hosting services. same goes with services such as amazons EC2 and S3 -all this are opportunities for local arbitrage. Over time i’m sure more advanced services will be come available such as content caching and CDNs .

]]> By: Chikwe http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-156808 Chikwe Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:28:52 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-156808 Interesting concept! My take is that while there is significant uptake on the use of technology, in places like Nigeria, it is still used be an extremely small proportion of its 150 million people, and when used at all for the simplest of tasks - email, reading newspapers (and increasingly blogs). The lag in governance is glaring, but the complete abscense of an online present by most arms of government is just as glaring. This morning the Nigerian Police reports that there is a fake Nigerian Police website out there...! I rest my case! Read end of this article http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=154872 With increase in bandwidth there is a huge opportunity for good and evil...who get in there first? Interesting concept!

My take is that while there is significant uptake on the use of technology, in places like Nigeria, it is still used be an extremely small proportion of its 150 million people, and when used at all for the simplest of tasks – email, reading newspapers (and increasingly blogs).

The lag in governance is glaring, but the complete abscense of an online present by most arms of government is just as glaring. This morning the Nigerian Police reports that there is a fake Nigerian Police website out there…! I rest my case!

Read end of this article http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=154872

With increase in bandwidth there is a huge opportunity for good and evil…who get in there first?

]]> By: Is There Technology Arbitrage in Africa? — WhiteAfrican « New Emerging Technologies for Netbook Mobile Phones Laptops Gadget and Gizmos http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-156636 Is There Technology Arbitrage in Africa? — WhiteAfrican « New Emerging Technologies for Netbook Mobile Phones Laptops Gadget and Gizmos Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:31:14 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-156636 [...] [...] [...] [...]

]]> By: Wayan @ Inveneo http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-156455 Wayan @ Inveneo Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:31:57 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-156455 Of course there is opportunity where government policy does not keep up with technology. Here is one I noticed when I was lost in Abuja backstreets: <a href="http://www.ictworks.org/news/2009/08/06/arbitrage-nigerian-telcom-commercialize-question-box" rel="nofollow">Arbitrage Nigerian Telecom Rates: Commercialize Question Box</a> Of course there is opportunity where government policy does not keep up with technology. Here is one I noticed when I was lost in Abuja backstreets: Arbitrage Nigerian Telecom Rates: Commercialize Question Box

]]> By: Daily Brief (Part 1): “Technology Arbitrage” in Africa - Marco Puccia : Business and Development http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-156426 Daily Brief (Part 1): “Technology Arbitrage” in Africa - Marco Puccia : Business and Development Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:55:00 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-156426 [...] Is There Technology Arbitrage in Africa? (via WhiteAfrican) – Erik Hersman posted an article on his blog where he pondered the role of “arbitrage” in filling the “technology gap” between Africa and the West, or the gap between technologies and the laws that govern them. He seems to focus on the latter, where my attention in drawn by the former. I’m interested in this idea that rather than seeing Africa’s disconnectivity or lack of tech. infrastructure as an impediment, it should be viewed as an opportunity. [...] [...] Is There Technology Arbitrage in Africa? (via WhiteAfrican) – Erik Hersman posted an article on his blog where he pondered the role of “arbitrage” in filling the “technology gap” between Africa and the West, or the gap between technologies and the laws that govern them. He seems to focus on the latter, where my attention in drawn by the former. I’m interested in this idea that rather than seeing Africa’s disconnectivity or lack of tech. infrastructure as an impediment, it should be viewed as an opportunity. [...]

]]> By: Sean http://whiteafrican.com/2009/09/17/is-there-technology-arbitrage-in-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-156389 Sean Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:52:49 +0000 http://whiteafrican.com/?p=2894#comment-156389 I think 'technology arbitrage' is a great articulation and agree that it almost certainly represents a tremendous opportunity. I think ‘technology arbitrage’ is a great articulation and agree that it almost certainly represents a tremendous opportunity.

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