Black empowerment investment firm Khuselo Investments has bought a 75% stake in the ImpiLinux open source project.
The now registered company, ImpiLinux, will move forward as a black-owned company and will tackle the African market after it beds down its local operations.
Headed by MD, Gary Fortuin, the ImpiLinux board will include two of the three owners of Khuselo Investments. SABC chairman, Eddie Funde, and Johannesburg City Parks chairman, Pumla Radebe, will assume non-executive positions, with Radebe coming in as chairman of the new board.
"As founding president of the South African Communications Forum, Funde has a wealth of knowledge and expertise to offer the company. We are also excited by the opportunity our involvement with ImpiLinux will afford Khuselo Investments. We believe our involvement will enhance and broaden our scope in the ICT industry," says Radebe.
The ImpiLinux project was conceived in 2001 and says its 51 community contributors make it the largest open source initiative in Africa. It has over 5 000 local users.
"The current government support for the open source platform is very encouraging and, together with our new team, we aim to make healthy inroads in both the public and private sectors," says Fortuin.
"The fact that we have an entirely home-grown solution gives us a significant advantage in the local market which responds well to local initiatives. However, we have also identified an enormous market in the rest of Africa and it won`t be long before we make an aggressive foray into the continent," says Radebe.
ImpiLinux 1 was released in December 2003, with distribution upgrade, ImpiLinux 2, debuting in October last year.
Andre Coetzee, COO and founding member of the ImpiLinux project, says the appeal of ImpiLinux2 is its power and ease of use.
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