E-gov Forum calls for ICT investments

Despite remarkable growth in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in Africa, more investments in the sector are needed for improved and sustainable services, states All Africa.com.

This was highlighted at the start of the three-day third annual African e-government Forum 2009 taking place in Kigali this week. Delegates at the conference maintained that the use of telecommunications is progressing on the African continent but called for more initiatives to promote it.

"Challenges remain regarding acquiring skills that are needed in using and managing ICT infrastructure," says Rwanda's prime minister, Bernard Makuza. He called for an improved national ICT network and strong regulation mechanisms to ensure good services.

Model Metrics, a cloud computing technology firm and premier partner of salesforce.com, has designed a new donation management system for the One Acre Fund built on the Force.com platform, reports PR Web.

The new solution automates One Acre Fund's donation process, saving hours of time for its lean staff. One Acre Fund is a non-profit organisation that works to end hunger in Africa and provides farm training, seed, fertiliser and market access to the chronically hungry on the continent.

In addition to leveraging the Force.com platform, the new donation management system also utilises complementary cloud computing technologies from vendors including Authorise.net to manage payment, billing and receipt provisioning for donors.

Lenovo has started its new organisational structure with the creation of two new business units - one focusing on customers in mature markets, and the other focusing on customers in emerging markets, says FoxBusiness.

The Emerging Markets organisation will include Africa, Asia-Pacific, China, Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Middle East, Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey.

"This realignment enables Lenovo to better leverage synergies that exist between similar markets that may be separated geographically but share market dynamics that impact our customers, what products we sell and how we go to market," says Yang Yuanqing, CEO, Lenovo.