Dotcoza`s end is nigh

By Basheera Khan, UK correspondent, ITWeb

Johannesburg, 05 Jun 2000

The e-commerce project run by Andersen Consulting for the past three months is almost over. Scheduled to end at midnight on 6 June, the project has followed a 23-year-old human guinea pig`s exploits in e-commerce, as a test of the South African e-commerce market.

Despite the project`s hastening to a close, Dotcoza is still awaiting delivery of several items, including a tennis racquet bought from the Slazenger international site. "It`ll be here on Monday - but I won`t be able to try it out, because there`ll be a marquee on the tennis court for the closing party on Tuesday."

Dotcoza has spent his last hours sorting out his e-mails, and working with the research team to summarise the project`s findings, specifically in relation to delivery and fulfilment. In the last three months, the project has tested the online offerings of the financial services, travel, healthcare, automotive and education industries, to name a few.

Everything he has purchased in the name of research will be auctioned online, with the proceeds going to the charity organisation, The Kids` Haven.

Where to from here? "I still don`t know what I want to be when I grow up," he says. "I will be looking for a job, but I don`t know in which sector - ideally, I`d like to find something that marries business, technology and journalism."

As to his "coming out" of the cyberhouse, Dotcoza says: "I`ll probably just... leave. Southern Sun has sponsored a room for me for the night of the 6^th. After that, I`ll have to do some wrap-up interviews here, and then go back to Cape Town. I`m speaking at a UUNet conference on the 13th, and I`ll be back in Jo`burg after that, for a second speaking engagement. My contract with Andersen Consulting expires on the 15^th.

"I`ve got mixed feelings about leaving; I`ve had a fantastic time. It`s been hectic, but great fun. But I`m looking forward to doing commonplace things again - like driving, for example."

Dotcoza`s first real world purchases, in no specific order, will be a hamburger, a Lotto ticket and a chunky Kit-Kat.