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Universal Communications Access Fund godsend for SMEs
2006-05-31 07:27:48
By Mireny john
It is not about fiction, but existing realities of the modern world of business. Way back in March 2004, a Jamaican woman baker, Astrida, managed to strike a deal that raised her to the category of women who matter.
It did not come up as a game of chance. The woman had for long built up her reputation as a classic weeding cake maker in her home town. Every weekend, tenders would flood her small bakery seeking for the model wedding cakes.
One day, a friend passed over an idea to her. She candidly advised her to launch a website that would list and detail all of her bakery products, including the experience and the national goodwill of her firm.
Astrida was a staunch believer in Ethiopian proverbs; one saying good ideas are like a baby crying in the church, they must be attended to immediately.
The cost of getting online in Jamaica is high and computers and software are expensive. However, as a small entrepreneur, she borrowed money to host a web.
In less than a month, she received an order from a Sicilian tycoon who wanted an exceptional wedding cake to colour the ceremony of his elder son. She sent out a quotation totaling USD 100,000 for the special cake.
The tycoon never complained.
To-date, Astrida no longer belong to SMEs’investment category, but to one of Jamaican big tax payers.
This example shows how small businesses can effectively use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance their internal operations and tap into new markets.
Fortunately, Tanzania pioneered the use of fiscal policy as in instrument for facilitating access to ICTs by SMEs. Tariffs on hard and softwares were abolished five years ago.
In urban areas, access and awareness in the use of ICT for organizational efficiency and financial controls are increasingly catching up the momentum.
However, striking difference is discernible in rural areas where the high cost of bandwidth, lack of electricity and technical support has become stumbling blocks to ICT adoption.
The importance of rural connectivity was evidently clear in 2002 when cotton prices drastically went down in the world market, to the worrying extent that farmers in Tanzania’s Lake Zone might not be able to salvage even their production costs.
Through the government sponsored telecentre at Serengema in Mwanza Region, an unusual and money-spinning market was discovered in Vietnam through surfing on the web. Undoubtedly, cotton farmers partly addressed their income poverty concerns.
Now, the government’s intentions to establish a Universal Communications Access Fund (UCAF) is a superb proposal, and of the best pro-active model of spending public resources.
If and when well implemented judiciously, it will facilitate provision of ICT infrastructure services at affordable costs, much so in the rural areas.
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