Opensource trend in africa - fossa2011

Opensource trend in Africa
"Let us all contribute to reducing the digital divide in Africa"

Together Let's live

Your
Project

SUMMARY

Presentation of Live Projects

Preamble

Several preconceptions ...

Opensource in Africa: Myth or Reality?

Several good Opensource initiatives in Africa

Opensource projects already in production and that are working ...

Investment possibilities: interesting possibilities to be explored for companies looking to invest in OSS projects in
Africa ...

Conclusion

© LIVE PROJECTS, Opensource trend in Africa - fOSSa 2011

About Live Projects

LIVE PROJECTS is an engineering consultancy, present throughout the French territory and
internationally, whose activity is centred around 4 trades:

Information Systems

Industry

Consultancy

Training

Several indicators:

Workforce 2011 - 2012: 42 people

Turnover 2011-2012: 1.6 million € (of which 46% will come from African projects)

Offices in France (Paris, Lille), Dakar (Senegal) and Bujumbura (Burundi)

Several references: Bombardier, GE Energy, Geodis, Lohr Industries, Dassault Aviation, Société Générale, CMS
(Sénégal), UJENGE (Rwanda), Howden BC, Ministries in Burundi (Finance, Agriculture, Interior, Health), Burundi
National Army (National Defence Forces), etc.


Our solutions

The African associates of LIVE PROJECTS propose high added value solutions destined for the IT
decision makers in Africa:

Monitoring solutions for IT and Telecom infrastructure

Services for software validation and performance tests

Solutions for e-government (based on Opensource) for the National Police, Security Services, staff,
ministries, etc.

Infrastructure projects; V-Sat, Fibre Optic (FFTH), LAN network, inter-site links MAN/WAN

Cloud Projects: V-Block solutions for Virtualization of the data centre (from a consortium of Cisco, EMC2, VM
Ware, Ionix)

Maintenance, surveillance/supervision of on-board processors, etc.


Preamble

Opensource has today become an essential in Africa, for several reasons:

Even if open doesn't necessarily mean free, it is clear that it is an undeniable attribute for countries that don't
necessarily have the means to invest in onerous property licences.

They are not frozen and are easily adapted to the African situation: the major software producers propose tools
having numerous functions, often underused that don't correspond to the real needs of Africans.

Thanks to fibre optics and the arrival of very high speed connections, the procedure for adopting
Opensource has also been accelerated and has lead to the appearance of new solutions based on
new technological concepts that until now were non-existent in Africa (such as Cloud Computing,
SOA, etc).
Several OSS projects are actually in production in numerous African countries to the great
delight of their users:

CRM and ERP software, based on OSS

Medical solutions

Free Virtual Environments (VLE) are more and more widespread

The OSS is today a reality in Africa to such a point that we should ask if its strong uptake will not
be a formidable lever in reducing the digital divide on the continent?


Several prejudgements ...

We often hear it said that:
Africa is poor, and consequently, there is nothing to be done there?

In Africa there are only continuing wars and famine?

It's impossible to find the competences necessary to master ICT?

Etc.

But let's be OPTIMISTIC and don't forget to emphasise that:

Africa is the continent the least affected by the world crisis (the actual recession) ==> Certain countries have known
unprecedented growth rates during the last 5 years (South Africa, Morocco, Botswana, Ghana, Angola, Algeria, etc.)

The number of conflicts (wars) has dropped considerably

Major ICT infrastructure projects are already in place or under construction: installation of the under-sea fibre optic cables on
both the East and West coasts of Africa (SAT-3/WASC, EASSY projects), that have facilitated the acquisition of very high speed
connections for certain countries (Senegal, Ghana, Marocco, Rwanda, Kenya, and soon, many more other countries…) =>
Immediate consequence: progression of BtoB, BtoC applications (e-banking, MtoM, and above all the emergence of
Opensource solutions …)

Initiative for implanting polytechnic schools, IT schools, are multiplying on the continent!

Specialist ITC companies exist and certain have a turnover in excess of a billion dollars (Dimension Data, SeaCom, Microsoft
Africa, etc…)


Opensource in Africa: Myth or reality?
Opensource is no longer Utopia in Africa but reality ...
One of the factors favouring the adoption of Opensource is
the arrival of very high speed connections thanks to fibre
optics.
Numerous countries on the East & West coasts are preparing to connect
to the under-sea cables SAT-3/WASC/SAFE and EASSY (see diagram
on the left)
The initiative of "digital availability" financed by the World Bank
(and other lenders) has lead to a reduction in the digital divide in
Infrastructure Management numerous countries thanks to high speed connections.

(telecom networks) The immediate consequence of the arrival of fibre optics in
numerous African countries:
Healthy progression of the professional open source solutions market
(solutions for electronic commerce, e-banking, Mobile Payment,
KEY:
telemedecine in Senegal, Mali, Niger, etc.). Tools such as Alfresco,
The SAT-3/WASC/SAFE project: Inaugurated 17 May 2002, the under-sea cable Pantaho, Linux solutions (Ubuntu, Debian, etc.) are well and truly
SAT-3/WASC (West Africa Submarine Cable)/SAFE (South Africa Far East ).
The WASC cable measures 14 350 km at a cost of 254 million $ and connects present in African companies.
Portugal to South Africa, running down the Atlantic coast, and the SAFE cable from
South Africa to Asia (13 500 km for a cost of 415 million dollars ). This cable Emergence of government initiatives: creation of ICT ministries, and
supplies Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and
South Africa.
implementation of national ICT policies aimed at encouraging free
software (as in Tunisia, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya,
The EASSY project (East Africa Submarine System) : a cable measuring 9,900
Rwanda, etc.).
km at a cost of 230 million $ which connects South Africa, Ethiopia, Madagascar,
the Seychelles, the Comores, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, the Sudan, Increase in the number of communities and open source tools: the
Kenya, Isle Maurice, Djibouti, and Eritrea, to be finally connected to other cables. number of host sites for open projects as well as companies specialising in
Its departure point is at Mtunzini (South Africa) and its arrival point Port
Sudan in the Sudan. open source solutions, have strongly developed these last few years ...


Several good initiatives

The initiatives (OSS communities, companies, NGO) are multiplying in Africa to promote open source, and to
favour the adoption of Opensource within African companies:
Ubuntu: Operating system based on Debian distribution that functions with 100% free software installations and whose
source code is made public (very popular system, already adopted by the Brazilian, Chinese, Spanish, Indian, Malaysian and
German governments and some large European companies, etc.).
Jokkolabs: Leading co-working space in West Africa (very active community that organises techlabs - technical workshops
around free tools)
CHALA: Club des Hommes et femmes d'Affaires du Libre en Afrique (Free Club for African business men and women)
FOSSFA : Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa
Infrastructure Management
IICD (International Institute for Communication and Development): Very active organisation in Africa that promotes IT
(telecom networks)
projects on the continent and in particular solutions based on Opensource.
APRELIA: Association pour la Promotion des Ressources Éducatives Libres @fricaines (Association for the Promotion of
Free Educational @frican Resources)
AFRINIC: African Regional Register of IP addresses (African Registry of Internet Number)
AAUL: Association Africaine des Utilisateurs Logiciels Libres (African Association of Free Software Users)

IT program of the CEDEAO: accentuate the reinforcement of capabilities and develop elementary knowledge
InWent ICT@Innovation: Programs for developing entrepreneurial direction (training, tutorials, mentors for post graduate
studies)
Several African SSLL (Service Companies in Free Software): OpenAfriki, 2SI, Net-Tn, Luniweb, VLP, etc.


Projects that are working ...

Several Opensource projects are deployed in African countries and are appreciated by their beneficiaries:
RIF: Francophone Internet Resources (sites for downloading free software)
OPEN YALIM project: application for telemedecine allowing transmission of medical imagery ( areas of interest: radiology,
cytology, cardiology, oncology, etc.).
Project for the promotion of REL (Free Educational Resources) in Africa (initiated by the APRELIA association)
ORANGE LABS project Opensource multimedia infrastructure
EA-Monitor project: (initiated by Live Projects): agricultural control tool in developing countries

(telecom networks)


RIF project– Francophone Internet Resources

Mirror sites for free software initiated in 2001 by the IFN, Digital Francophone Institute, in collaboration with the
Montpellier IRD (Institute for Research and Development) and the national associations of free software users.
Objective: facilitate downloading free software and setting up nearby mirror sites in the southern francophone countries.
Five francophone African countries
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon,
Ivory Coast
Madagascar
Mali
Storage in local memories of data (storage in local servers that avoids having to connect to international host centres)
(telecom networks)


OPEN YALIM project:

Observation: The medical imagery specialists are in the major cities - it is therefore necessary to propose a telemedecine
application to reduce the gap between towns and rural areas
The tele-radiology software program "IKON" based on the OSS system "Open Yalim" has seen the light of day:
this allows rural hospitals who do not have on-site radiology facilities to ask for advice and diagnosis of a radiologist in
Bamako
Since 2006, from regional hospitals in Timbouktu, Mopti and Sikasso, more than 900 x-rays have been sent to
radiologists at the Point G hospital in Bamako, and treated by them within 24 hours.
The main objectives of the OSS project Open Yalim are:
To offer a free telemedecine platform allowing medical imagery to be transmitted and adapted to the context of the
developing Infrastructure Management
countries.
To offer a suitable environment for the development of a tele-health network
(telecom networks)
To make available an integrated tool for online e-health easily configured and adapted to the needs of
telemedecine projects
To make available a technical back-up to telemedecine projects 24 hours a day
Other projects based on Open Yalim have been deployed:
In Mali: Creation of networks for both telecardiology and telecytology (Point G hospital /Gao/IIDC/Mali/ICD).
In Togo: Deployment of an e-health network based in part on the Togo Open Yalim (IIDC project Togo/Togo
Telecom).


REL project (Open Educational Resources)
The main objective is awareness of the importance of the African REL productions and the pedagogic innovations:

initial and continuous training of teachers,
reinforcement of their capacity,
educational and reconciliation reforms of the African education systems in progress ,
presence of African languages and culture

Other objectives:
Favour the development and coordination of partnerships and networks, in particular for the collaborative creation of
resources
Create a space for information, for dialogue, exchange, mutual support and aid, to facilitate readability, coherence
and the synergy of initiatives on the African REL.
Support or implement pilot projects for the use of, or production of African REL.
(telecom networks)
Amongst the REL available and made available to African students:
The digital manual SESame (Digital manual of economic science available on-line to African students
The REL entry point for the African virtual university: The entry point is available in 142 countries, well beyond
the African continent, with a majority of access coming from Brazil and the United States.
The site, launched in January 2011, is designed to accept free and open content, developed in partnership with 10
African countries and adapted to the needs of African students.
In September 2011, it gained first prize in the category Best Emergent Initiative from the Education-Portal
site in the USA.


ORANGE LABS project

Orange Labs has 3 principal objectives:
Supply a full OpenSource Multimedia IP infrastructure to its associates in PVD and in connecting the infrastructure to the
local telecom production network
Stimulate the creation of micro telecom services connecting the GSM worlds (voice, SMS, USSD) and the Web world with
local innovative partners
Work together to construct a library of trades applications under an open licence and generate local content

(telecom networks)


EA-Monitor project : Issues and objectives
Observation: Burundi is a country whose economy is largely based on agriculture and rearing (according to a recent survey: contributes up
to 47% to the national economy):
In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the NGO, Live projects has initiated the project "EA-Monitor" the objective of which
is to create a database identifying:
Farmers
Breeders
National production (Size? Budget? Comparison with reference to the national average?) :
Animal production:
Production of each type of animal
Production of each breed (each type is made up of several different breeds)
Type of animal production to follow: meat, milk, eggs, skins, manure, etc.
Agricultural production:
• production of each species (and within each species, know the production of each variety and/or sub-variety)

Diseases (plants and animals)
The agricultural zones
Agronomy
Production seasons
Different types of climate
Different agricultural soil types (e.g. Limestone, clay, humus, sandy, etc.) ==> Data very important as knowing the land well,
allows better adaptation or improvements to be made to benefit the plantations.

The objective being that the database so created is able to be consulted by the civil servants in the Ministry of Agriculture (abbreviated to
MINAGRIE), the agents from the DPAE (provincial directorate of agriculture and breeding), as well as the NGO (FAO, FIDA, etc.).


AE – Monitor project: Architecture


EA-Monitor project : Useful indicators
The EA-Monitor project aims to coordinate the actions of the DPEA and those of the ministry of Agriculture, by making
available to them a data entry interface allowing consolidation of all data in the database (farmers, breeders, production,
diseases, agronomy, etc.).
Each DPEA will be able to enter the data collected (farmers, breeders, production, etc.).
A central database will be held at the MINAGRIE and be available for consultation by:
Each DPEA
The funding agencies (FIDA, FAO, ONUDI, etc.)
The Minister for Agriculture and Breeding: a report may be generated and sent to the President or Vice-presidents.
Possibility to report the following indicators:
Production by farmer, by season (A,B,C) and by region:
Production by breeder, by agricultural region
Comparison of the production between species and breeds (or varieties) of the same species:
At the agricultural production level: For example, is it possible to compare cereal production with vegetables? Comparison of the
production between the varieties of root vegetables (potato production versus coco yams?)
At the animal production level: meat production between cattle and goats?
Statistics for both mortality and birth rate of animals: breed with highest mortality or the most productive?
Diseases responsible for deaths? In which region? And in which season? etc. ==> Possibility to do the same for
different vegetable varieties…
Thanks to the integration of a SIG ( Geographic Integration System): it will be possible to click on an agricultural
zone (ex.: Imbo, Buyogoma, Kumoso, Mugamba, etc.) and follow the production status
Quantity of pesticides used per agronomist and by agricultural zone (send a warning if tolerance threshold
exceeded)
Top 5 or Top 10 of the agricultural or animal diseases
Comparison of production over 10, 15, 50 years (history stretching to 50 years)
Which plants are able to grow in which type of soil/climate? Type that occurs in which agricultural region? Incidence
on production? Etc.


Investment possibilities

There exists investment opportunities in Africa for companies specialising in Opensource solutions:

Electronic administration (e-Government solutions) :
e-learning solutions for training the country`s civil servants
Telemedicine
Solution for measuring government policies concerning the fight against chronic illnesses: as of today there are not many
solutions, but there are solutions capable of giving indicators concerning chronic diseases (such as AIDs, Diabetes, Syphilis,
Poliomyelitis, Malaria, etc.)
Solution for measuring criminality (Solution of the type “Crime Analysis”) coupled to Geographic Information
Systems).
Solutions in the agricultural domain (which constitutes the 1st source of income in more than half the African countries)
Telecoms : solutions “ free” from infrastructure monitoring (fibre optic, telecom equipment). All the solutions sold today in this
domain, have property rights and cost too much.
GED solutions ( Electronic Document Management) : certain companies begin to think about dematerialisation and certain major
projects have been initiated by major African companies. For example: banks (such as BECEAO, ATTIJARI WAFA, BEAC, BGFI), the
administration (Customs and Excise in Senegal) have undertaken digitisation work, then integration of the documents in the GED
systems. Unable to find SSLL specialists in this domain, these companies have put into place solutions that are too onerous and less
flexible (Documentum, LiveLink, etc.)
Cooperation between European R&D centres and the Universities and Companies in Africa, must
be reinforced to favour sharing experience.


Conclusion

Despite the numerous magicians and sorcerers in Africa, adoption of Opensource will only be successful if the
infrastructure follows: despite the arrival of fibre optics, it is obvious that the capacity is still not enough to be able to
attract certain investments: (for example, companies who have Cloud projects will only be able to operate if the
internet speed is sufficient).
Opensource has become a reality in Africa because numerous projects and communities exist already and others are in
the period of gestation ….

We want everybody to come and invest in Opensource projects in Africa, before the `Big Boys` arrive and
saturate the market with solutions that are too expensive and out of phase with the real needs of African
companies …

For those who still hesitate there is an African proverb that speaks volumes:
QUAND ON PREND LE CHEMIN DE JE M’EN FOUS ON SE RETROUVE AU VILLAGE DE SI JA
SAVAIS…
(literal translation: when we take things too lightly, we often regret it afterwards…).

SO, DON`T WAIT TO ADD YOUR BRICK TO THE WALL!!!


Murakoze

Ibibazo???

Contact :

Oscar NIYONKURU, Co-founder Live Projects, Operational Manager
noscar@live-projects.fr
+336 464 732 35


Opensource trend in africa - fossa2011

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