Bringing the Web to Rwanda - Another flash in the pan?

The Spiegel online reports about an initiative by some American millionaire who wants to bring the Web to all Rwandans and who hopes that everything else will then fall into place. The Rwandan government meantime dreams of Rwanda becoming something like an African counterpart to India's Bangalore. Perhaps; but more likely, not.

Already before the IT-boom Bangalore was a thriving city with excellent research insttitutes and universities, such as the IIM Bangalore; it is home to several engineering colleges. India has a culture of education which is rivalled by few countries outside Asia. Bangalore has a population of about 6 million and a 52 billion $ economy.

Rwanda, according to the CIA World Factbook 2006, is "a poor rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture". Rwanda has a population of 8.6 million and it is a 12.5 billion$ economy. The country's adult literacy rate is about 70 percent.

Leapfrogging may occasionally succeed; but few frogs perform miracles.

RAEM