USAID/Guinea: USAID Introduces Internet to Woman Entrepreneurs in Guinea

NOVEMBER 26, 2003

USAID Introduces Internet to Woman Entrepreneurs in Guinea

The USAID West Africa Regional Program, in cooperation with the African Businesswomen's Information Service brought Guinean women entrepreneurs into a cyber café to learn the basics of computer use, and how to access the Internet to enhance their businesses; many of these dynamic entrepreneurs are using a computer for the very first time.

Guinean entrepreneur Hadja Mariama Bah is sitting next to her daughter, businesswoman Kadiatou Diallo, as she faces the computer screen for the first time in her life. Mrs. Bah is a clotheseller, and hopes to use the Internet to facilitate her business contacts. “I’m very happy to have this training. I have always conducted business by giving my contacts my business card, but it only had my name and a P.O. box address. Now I can put on my new email address, and contact them by email. Up until now I’ve been spending money on travel, phone calls, and so on to maintain those contacts. Using the Internet is going to save me a lot of money.”

a mother and her daughter, both Guinean entrepreneurs, learn about the Internet in a USAID-sponsored program for West African businesswomen.

Hadja Mariama Bah and her daughter, Kadiatou Diallo are together learning the basics of computer use and Internet navigation.

Mrs. Bah, like many of the savvy Guinean women entrepreneurs, is learning the basics of computer use, email and the Internet during the ABIS-implemented training, funded by USAID's Office of Women in Development, held at the Cyber Café Dixin Port in Conakry October 27-31. The workshop showed women how to create an email account, use a search engine, sign up to join a businesswomen's discussion group, and surf the Internet for pertinent business information.

ABIS is currently working with businesswomen in eight countries in West Africa, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo and Guinea. The training is free, and targets business owners and managers in both urban and rural areas with skills necessary to access the Internet, and to improve their businesses.

The training promotes business networking, and provides access to information on trade opportunities, commerce and special events targeted toward African business owners that is available through the Internet.

Women surfing a web page during USAID-sponsored training on computers and the Internet

Follow-on sessions on use of the Internet will be held at a cyber cafe in Conakry with a local woman trainer--the follow-on will give women additional practice and guidance.

In an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual support created by several women trainers, the women participants are given space to work unselfconsciously, and ask questions. Says Cheryl Simmons of Computer Frontiers Inc., implementer of the ABIS initiative, "We've found that these women feel more comfortable when they're with other women that are their own age -- they don't feel embarrassed, as they might if they were in a cyber café surrounded by teenagers. It gives them a comfort level that allows them to learn."

Rose Ali, one of the workshop trainers from Kenya adds, "As soon as you open the information technology door to the women, you just see their faces light up -- you see the difference, and you see their confidence grow as they begin to understand. They see that something they thought was for other people and not them is accessible to them, too."

Mme Nene Oumou Diallo receives a certificate for completion of a course on the basics of using a computer, and how to use the Internet for business.

Women's empowerment... participants applaud as their fellow training recipients receive certificates for completion of a USAID-sponsored course in the basic use of computers and the Internet.

Ali says that the women she spoke to during the training are looking to network with other businesswomen through the Internet, and would like to take part in the on-line discussions.

"Many of these women have never touched a computer," says Ali, "and to see them coming in two days later and responding straight away to an email message is amazing. If even half of these women succeed in using email and making use of email for their businesses, we will have come a long way."

One of the obstacles for many of the Guinean women, according to Hadiatou Touré, principal trainer in Guinea, is that many of the women in the training who went to school during the Sekou Toure regime studied local languages rather than French. "Most of the women speak French, but reading and responding in French is time-consuming. I've pointed out to them though that they can even learn languages over the Internet, and that encouraged them -- they want to learn."

A woman who has completed a USAID-sponsored training course in computer basics and use of the Internet

Another training recipient receives recognition at the end of the week-long training session. With the process demystified, businesswomen in West Africa are learning to successfully navigate the Internet.

With Touré's assistance, the women will have follow-up sessions for six to eight hours a week over a period of six weeks to practice and build upon the basic skills they have acquired during the workshop. The follow-on training is also to encourage cohesiveness among the training participants.

The women are also invited to bring a colleague or friend to the follow-on sessions to promote informal knowledge-sharing among Guinean businesswomen.

Says Simmons, "We try to demystify the whole thing. We tell women that we're not IT experts, we're just women who taught ourselves to use the computer. We think it's a phenomenal resource for information and we'd like to share that with you. We were all just tossed onto the computer and learned -- with practice time and some guidance, they can learn, too."

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue.