Photo courtesy of ARED
South Africa
Our Business Affordability model was adopted through the world wide affordable access initiative developed by Microsoft (AAI) and as a means to develop entreprenuers and developers, we have also developed access points for developers in Centurion and hatfield that gives 45GB of data out monthly.
In the coming monhs we would be teaming up with more data distributors to develop a mobile access hub that would assist students, business people and geeks in pretoria to get more access to internet access and exclusive development informations.
USA
In support from Microsoft’s Affordable Access Initiative Grant Fund, African Renewable Energy Distributor (ARED) is further developing the SHIRIKI hub, a mobile solar kiosk that provides Wi-Fi connectivity as well as phone charging and other mobile services to rural communities in Rwanda. ARED also fosters gender equality and entrepreneurship by requiring at least 30 percent of its franchisees to be women. An ARED employee is shown explaining how the SHIRIKI hub works.
In 2015, United Nations member states adopted a new sustainable development agenda that specifically calls for universal and affordable access to the internet by 2020. Yet nearly 4 billion people still lack internet access, and time is running out to meet the U.N.’s target date, writes Paul Garnett, director of the Affordable Access Initiative for Microsoft.
A new report authored by SSG Advisors, the United States Agency for International Development and the Digital Impact Alliance identifies actions the private and public sectors can take to close the access gap more quickly, Garnett says.
“No one agency or company can achieve this alone, but we each can contribute to the cumulative impact,” he writes. Microsoft’s Affordable Access Initiative (AAI) “seeks to support, grow and scale innovative businesses that are developing technologies and business models that have the potential to help billions more people get online affordably.”
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