Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog: Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog

In the near future when I drive up to a village in Africa, although the roads may be bumpy and dusty, I will see a woman using a tablet PC powered by the latest renewable energy source and connected to the internet giving her information on sustainable and locally proven farming techniques and providing immediate access to market prices for her products. The same tablet will be used by her children to download the latest curricula and other educational content to help them with their homework. This is a vision of Technology and Development that Dr. Raj Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) painted last week during an inspiring talk in Seattle.

Organized by Global Washington, the theme of the panel discussion was Technology’s Impact on Global Development. Attended by over 400 people at St. Mark’s Cathedral – a wonderful venue in the Capital Hill neighborhood - panelists included Congressmen Jim McDermott, Congressmen Adam Smith, Professor Prema Arasu from Washington State University, Dr. Chris Elias with PATH, and myself. Moderated by Sylvia Matthews Burwell from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a recurring theme was how do we continue to support global development activities in the current economic climate?

The panelists shared thoughts on the importance of global aid and development and posited that technology does have a role to play to drive effective adoption and spur new innovations. There was broad agreement that we must find new ways of working on the development of innovative models to reach the poor as we continue to figure out the best way to achieve the vision that Dr. Shah so vividly painted. Clearly we all also understood that technology is not a panacea, noting that while a woman in the most remote village may have a cell phone to make a call, if there is no one at the other end to take the call and provide the needed services, the phone becomes useless. This was the point Dr. Elias made to highlight the importance of effective delivery systems combined with content, services and other infrastructure that are local in nature and support local development.

We at Microsoft believe in the power of technology to drive social innovation and change and we have seen this demonstrated in many ways around the world. However we also recognize that unless we have local solutions to local problems no amount of technology will truly benefit the poor. Therefore we work in partnership with effective local organizations, global NGOs and development agencies such as USAID to ensure we have the right partnership model to drive local innovation with the power to scale outside of the immediate local context.

As much as we should be cautious of technology playing too dominant a role in solutions we also should not be afraid of technology and must put processes in place that help drive local innovation. To bring about meaningful and long lasting change that lifts people out of poverty and addresses the fundamental factors that lead new generations into poverty, we have to rethink our approach to go beyond investing in transactional efforts to those that can become transformational. This will mean taking risks and learning from failures and I personally applaud the new approaches proposed by USAID to truly assess the impact of their programs and share successes as well as failures. As Congressmen Jim McDermott reminded us in his concluding remarks; it is easy to see a glass half empty – but when you see the glass half full, you focus on the potential to fill up that glass. Right now we must collectively invest in realizing this potential and appropriate recognize the positive impact of technology in that effort.

The second session at our recent Accelerator Summit was a panel discussion I hosted that looked at the role technology can play in helping NGOs to have an even greater impact in our society.

We were delighted to have a great line-up including Daniel Ben-Horin, Founder and Co-CEO, TechSoup, Vida Durant, Chief Information Officer, CARE USA and Ed Granger-Happ, Chairman and Director, NetHope.  We also had Claire Bonilla, Senior Director of Disaster Management at Microsoft who shared with us how technology is supporting ongoing relief efforts in Haiti.

You can view the video from the first session on how technology and partnerships can help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues here.

This week at the African Union Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa leaders from the continent are meeting on the theme of: “Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: challenges and prospects for development.” Growing out of an increased recognition that technology is a critical element in supporting regional economic growth and competitiveness, the aim is to determine concrete action for the establishment of an Africa-wide information society.

The Heads of State will discuss the development of a harmonized policy framework for the ICT sector, and the development of national ICT promotion plans. It is expected that this will result in commitments to create an enabling environment for ICT development in order to promote investment in the sector and build infrastructure.
Microsoft has been a long time believer in the power of ICT to help regions develop internally and through sustainable means, especially by supporting local entrepreneurship and the growth of a local software economy.

Dr. Cheick Diarra, Microsoft Chairman for Africa, attended the opening session of the Summit. In September 2009 he co-chaired the EU-Africa Business Forum, also attended by many of the same African leaders, which provided recommendations on how ICT can be leveraged as a critical backbone of economic development and regional integration—among other factors like trade, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and energy. 

African Union Heads of State Summit - UNECA Signing
 

Left to right: Richard Kiplagat, Microsoft,
BDM Africa, Global Strategic Accounts;
Mr. Abdoulie  Janne, UNECA Executive–
Secretary; Dr. Cheick M. Diarra, Chairman
of Africa, Microsoft; Frank McCosker,
Microsoft, GM, Global Strategic Accounts

In Dr. Diarra’s own words:

“We are at the cusp of a transformation here in Africa. We are witnessing how investment, development and technology are helping to harness Africa’s abundant human capital, and helping create an environment in which rural and urban communities can realize their potential.
But to realize the potential of the broad range of technologies – mobile phones, computers, software and the Internet – resources must be matched by resourcefulness. The most constructive applications of technology will be the ones that are combined with initiatives by public-private partnerships, government leaders, educators and entrepreneurs.”
On the sidelines of the event, Microsoft signed new partnership agreements with three inter-governmental organizations to support the promotion of ICT and ICT policy in Africa: the World Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the East African Community (EAC). More information on these announcements is available here.

African Union Heads of State Summit - EAC Signing
 

Left to right: Hon. Beatrice Kiraso, Deputy
Secretary General, EAC; Cheick Diarra,
Microsoft Chairman for Africa

The current moment is a particularly challenging one for the continent of Africa. Following in line with the global economic crisis, growth in Africa is now expected to be only 2.8 percent in 2009, following five years of consecutive growth above 5.5 percent. Yet no time is more important than now to bolster Africa’s investments in technology that can boost regional economic growth.

On September 28-29, nearly 300 business leaders and government officials gathered in Nairobi for the Third EU-Africa Business Forum to discuss a positive way forward towards improving the economic climate in Africa. The event, themed “Africa and Europe: On the Road to New Win-Win Partnerships,” discussed the issue of increasing regional integration and the notion of creating an EU-like entity “to achieve prosperity, well-being of the people, and development in the African region.”

In keynotes and discussions, a particular emphasis was given to the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a critical backbone of economic growth and regional integration—among other factors like trade, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and energy. Expressed through our Unlimited Potential initiative, Microsoft has long believed that the power of ICT to encourage regional economic development is critical in the 21st century, so this topic was particularly encouraging to witness being addressed at such a substantial level among key African stakeholders.

Representing Microsoft’s viewpoint at the Forum, as well as serving as its Co-Chair, was Dr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, the company’s Chairman for Africa. Dr. Diarra explained how an economic climate of scarcity and challenge can actually benefit the use of ICT as a solution: “A lot of people still don’t realize that in fact when you are called upon to be more productive, to be more effective, more efficient, especially during this time of crisis, that is the best time actually to call on ICT to help you actually meet those challenges.”

(You can see coverage from the event, including quotes from Cheick Diarra, in a CNBC Europe World Business report here).

Broad support for the topics discussed during the Forum has been extremely encouraging—the EC has pledged €5 billion in funding, out of which €1.5 billion is designated for regional integration. Further, the European Commission is calling on private companies to contribute expertise for ICT applications and interconnectivity.

As always, it’s our hope that the ongoing progress of events like the EU-Africa forum that bring together stakeholders from across the world to help solve regional and global issues, including the furthering of ICT, will continue to make a positive impact for communities, governments, and people across Africa and the globe.