The history of Ungana-Afrika goes back to the end of 2002, when it emerged as a spin-off from an initiative of OSISA (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa) and AIESEC (the world's largest student organisation) to provide basic technology support to the development community in Southern Africa. In the subsequent years Ungana-Afrika has gained international and local recognition and has won both national and international awards including the best initiative promoting the strategic use of ICTs (APC member award 2005) and showcasing inspiration and leadership in the global eRider community.

As a dynamic organisation, the past years have also meant continuous change and evolution of the services and programs as well as core competencies and expertise areas. In essence, Ungana-Afrika has transformed from an ICT service provider into a niche management consultancy focusing on business modelling and enterprise development.

Foundation: Re-defining nonprofit ICT support in Africa

In 2002, OSISA and AIESEC joined forces to provide basic technology support to the development community in Southern Africa. From the start, they struggled to implement a program that could meet the overwhelming support demand in the region. As a result, in 2003, the partnership took new shape under the name Ungana-Afrika (Swahili for "connecting Africa").

Ungana-Afrika was initially an autonomous group of diverse international volunteers, recruited through OSISA and AIESEC, and based in Johannesburg. This new team was tasked to re-evaluate support models (through pilot efforts and collaboration with the international nonprofit ICT support community) that could better mobilise technology support efforts within Southern Africa's development community.

Early years: Immediate grassroots focus

From the start, Ungana-Afrika not only researched new ICT support concepts, but delivered them, on the ground, within Southern Africa. In 2003, while piloting an innovative model of distributed support called eRiding (initially launched in the US), Ungana-Afrika provided direct support to organisations in 6 Southern African countries. This included basic computer training for over 100 staff members, and the implementation of new technology plans, policies and infrastructure for more than 15 organisations. And this was only the start!

In mid-2004, acknowledging the need for a sustainable nonprofit technology support hub in Southern Africa, Ungana-Afrika registered as an independent non-profit organisation and moved to an office in Pretoria, South Africa. With continued core support from Soros Foundations Network, and several project-specific funders (such as the Government of Finland, and Hivos), the growing team continued guiding organisations to informed technology choices and appropriate spending that complemented their missions and strategies, researching new support solutions and tools, and strengthening links to the international community of nonprofit technology support providers.

With these efforts, Ungana-Afrika also re-shaped several concepts related to Organisational Technology Planning, ICT training, and support logistics, better adapting them to the unique needs of development organsations in Southern Africa.

Ungana-Afrika's vision during these early years was "A community of development organisations with the capacity to fulfill their potential to build a better and sustainable society".

Train the trainers approach: Program incubation, capacity building, strategic and operational management of ICT programs

The quality outcomes from on-the-ground projects established Ungana-Afrika as a trusted partner within the ICT4D sector. Ungana-Afrika continued providing direct ICT support and training to the general African development community. Projects included direct work with communities and community partners in rural areas, helping them to communicate and access relevant information via low cost but reliable technologies, such as existing mobile networks.

During 2005 Ungana-Afrika initiated train the trainers activities that would eventually make a bigger impact, and the organisation started focusing heavily on capacity building, and toolkit development to assist other ICT support providers (including nonprofits and SMEs). Ungana-Afrika learned that there was a big need for these type of support efforts that were targeted directly at the local ICT support community, and subsequently launched a whole service area (The Centre of Excellence) around it.

During these years several projects were focused on assisting and building the capacity of other ICT service providers, trainers, and consultants within Southern and Western Africa and globally as a part of our online efforts. A replicable in-country process was developed, which included incubation workshops, program development assistance, and targeted mentoring services. In practice, Ungana-Afrika's efforts included the assessment of local ICT needs and structures while outlining appropriate strategies, time-lines and appropriate financial models for a successful program start-up.

Ungana-Afrika Today: A niche enterprise and business model catalyst within the under-served and emerging markets

During the first five years between 2003 and 2008 Ungana-Afrika certainly experienced one of the most dynamic periods in the evolution of ICT4D, when information and communication technologies were given lots of attention in the development sector. However, despite the emphasis given to sustainability in the presentations and brochures of new projects, many high profile programs in the sector quietly closed down due to the lack of long term feasibility. Often this meant that expectations raised at the grassroots level were never met, or that services that were provided initially were suddenly stopped.

Not only was there insufficient attention given to sustainability, but many promising projects did not continue past their initial pilot because of shifting interests within the development and donor community. Ungana-Afrika had some success in assisting community radio stations to implement SMS as a revenue generation tool, and also analysed the long term feasibility and sustainability of other very interesting ideas or planned pilots. These experiences led the organisation to focus on the sustainability aspects of innovative technology based concepts targeting underserviced and emerging markets.

Today Ungana-Afrika is known for its efforts as a niche enterprise and business model catalyst within the under-served and emerging markets, including the following expertise areas:

• Knowledge and experience in developing rural ICT-based entrepreneurial activities with an emphasis on local economic empowerment and community revenue streams.

• Knowledge of sustainable business models as well as bottom of the pyramid oriented business model development (i.e. affordable pro-poor business solutions).

• Knowledge and experience of feasible technology solutions suitable for emerging economies and markets, including wireless and mobile services.

Even though Ungana-Afrika believes that innovative technologies are very relevant for development, we also believe that alone they are not sufficient to transform the development landscape in Africa or other developing regions. They need to be sustained by innovative business models that are rooted in the social context of disadvantaged, but vibrant communities. This is why Ungana-Afrika's focus is less on the technologies and more on the mechanisms that will give them relevance and allow them to grow.

Read more about Ungana-Afrika's services, program areas or browse through our portfolio of relevant project case stories and relevant publications.