<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/126462b0-5d46-40eb-9508-b9d348fe8301/9740B6FB-8977-4A8B-B5A6-92DCD971B8D9/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps" href="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps" style="font-size: 11px;">www.nextbillion.net</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps"><DIV>All over Africa, there is a significant realization that tech is the wave of the future.  African government ministers are traveling around the world – from <A href="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/04/18/guest-post-africas-ict-wave-reaches-san-francisco-bay">San Francisco</A> to the UAE to Bangladesh – pitching opportunities for new investors and building deals.  Technology has also quickly become a major item on the development agenda, thanks in large part to Africa's new tech champions and a blooming tech sector.  </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps">This, of course, is not completely new news.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps">However, in today’s emerging markets ICT world, especially in Africa, two things are different:</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps">The second difference is the increasingly <STRONG>active private sector</STRONG>, and its willingness to work with Government and civil society on all manner of partnerships.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/05/23/guest-post-lets-build-an-africa-techcorps">The first difference is <STRONG>leadership</STRONG>.  African leaders, including presidents like <A href="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/01/31/guest-post-on-africas-development-compass-all-arrows-point-toward-rwanda">Kagame</A>, Kufuor and Johnson-Sirleaf, are more ICT-focused than their predecessors, offering high-level support to projects and policies that will really (not just rhetorically) help the spread of ICT.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/9740B6FB-8977-4A8B-B5A6-92DCD971B8D9/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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