The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Kemo Chama
24 September 2008
The worldwide professed $100 laptop project is on its way to The Gambia, thanks to a potential partnership between the Department of State for Communication, Information and Information Technology, and the founder and CEO of Green WiFi, Bruce Baikie.
Mr Baikie, who is in the country on a two-day study visit told the Daily Observer that the purpose of his visit to the country is two-fold; one being to explore the possibility of replicating the one-laptop-per-student project in The Gambia, which he said was already in progress in neighbouring Senegal; the other reason being to assess the possibility of establishing a plant for the assemblage of the solar panels which power the WiFi connection. The project for schools is intended to upgrade the education sector and, according to the founder of the initiative, it also seeks to provide low cost laptops for African children.
The profit making side of Mr Bruce's intervention in The Gambia's business sector seeks to compare the country and two others as to their suitability for the establishment of the assembly firm. Although The Gambia was the first of three countries, Mr Bruce disclosed that he was already impressed with the prospects he had seen in the country, describing them as encouraging. He cited the difficulties they had faced when they first went to Senegal, as compared to the speedy attention they got from the authorities in The Gambia. He also praised the efforts of the other officials he had already met since his arrival in the country.
Bruce Baikei, founder and CEO of the Green WiFi, which is an all volunteer organization, is a member of Sun Microsystems' telecom industry team, responsible for developing the company's global telecom strategies and strategic alliances, with an emphasis on wireless services and platform infrastructure. His areas of expertise include wireless architecture, mobile service delivery environments and next generation wireless and broadband services.
His visit to The Gambia was facilitated by two young Gambians, Momodou Jatta and Adama Sillah, both of whom students were at the University of The Gambia, who had met with Mr Baikei in Egypt during an international conference on telecommunications.
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