WINDHOEK 24 August 2009: Telecom Namibia today announced a smart partnership with the Windhoek Show Society (WSS) to stage the first ICT EXPO in Namibia. The EXPO will run concurrently with the Windhoek Industrial and Agricultural Show (WIAS) slated for 25 September "“ 3 October 2009.

With the world focus on information communication technologies (ICTs) and their impact on economies around the world, this event will highlight the importance of technology in developing African countries, such as Namibia. More importantly, the EXPO is expected to showcase advanced ICT technologies and solutions to the Namibian consumer, while at the same time creating business opportunities for key service providers and solutions vendors.

The 9-day event aims to bring together key stakeholders in the ICT industry in an interactive information sharing way against the backdrop of a focused exhibition-style atmosphere.

Telecom Namibia`s General Manager of ICT and Corporate Business Solutions, Coenraad Coetzee is optimistic that the ICT EXPO will provide mutually beneficial opportunities for communication and networking for stakeholders.

"Telecom Namibia and the Windhoek Show Society would like to bring together some of the world`s leading ICT solution providers to do technical exhibitions and to provide opportunities to discuss new advancements and technologies with key industry organisations. On the other hand, the consumers will see the latest developments that will help them keep implementation costs down and maximise return on ICT investment," Coetzee said.

According to the WSS Managing Director Harald Schmidt, the inclusion of the ICT EXPO is an important developmental milestone as it signifies growth in the business related component of the WIAS programme.

Schmidt explained that speciality fairs and expos are used globally to cater for the needs of specific business sectors. "The Tourism & Travel EXPO, held annually at the Windhoek Show grounds is proof that the Windhoek Show facilities can host such special events very successfully," he said. "The ICT EXPO represents tangible evidence that the WIAS is capable of transforming itself by embracing new challenges and thereby ensuring its continued influence in the regional and national economic business spheres."

He added that combining the ICT EXPO with the WIAS will have definite positive spin-offs for all stakeholders concerned.

"For the ITC EXPO exhibitors the large number of visitors to the WIAS (in excess of 90,000 visitors) far exceeds the visitor totals of any expo or fair in Namibia, thus optimising exposure. For visitors, the ICT EXPO offers an array of attractions ranging from gaining knowledge to procuring the latest available products and services."

The ICT EXPO will be held under the theme: "˜Visualising the future: Confronting the crisis`, which has been borrowed from the Telecom Namibia ICT Summit held in July 2009.

"With partners like Telecom Namibia, the ICT EXPO will only grow from strength to strength and the synergies that hopefully will evolve from visualising the future, a strong enough stakeholder basis will emerge to confront any crisis that needs to be dealt with," Schmidt said.

HERE`S N$50,000 from Telecom Namibia to the flood victims in the north of the country. In addition to financial donation, the company earlier gave seven Switch handsets each with N$750 worth of airtime for use by those coordinating the relief efforts.

The country`s telecommunication company stepped out with the donation this morning.

The assistance has been channelled through the National Disaster Relief Fund under the aegis of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertine Amathila, which has been coordinating the distribution of relief supplies to victims since the floods hit in early March.

This continuing natural disaster has resulted in the deaths of at least 92 people, caused massive damage to land and property and displaced thousands of people.

The company`s senior manager for corporate communications and public relations Oiva Angula said they were pleased to assist in this small way.

`Care is one of our values and we hope our donation will help the many Namibians who are displaced by the floods in the north,` Mr Angula said.

`Remember, we are also victims of floods,` he said in reference to damage caused by the floods to the company`s underground cable infrastructure in some of the affected areas.

`We are committed to the Namibia and its people and hope this aid will give some comfort to those affected during this difficult time,` he said

Mr Angula said Telecom is committed to helping those in disaster situations.

`When some communities were affected with severe flooding in the northern regions last year, Telecom donated N$150,000 towards the relief efforts there.`

Upon receiving the donation, the Deputy Premier thanked Telecom Namibia for its continuous assistance to flood victims. Dr Amathila said that that it was noble to see local companies standing together [with the communities] during a time of a natural disaster.

`Telecom Namibia has always been with us. Last year we got N$150 000 and it is just wonderful that our own companies are coming forward. It shows that we as Namibians stand together when it comes to disasters,` she said.

The Deputy Premier said Telecom Namibia`s donation will go towards the clean up efforts to support the people in the re-building of the homes and infrastructure in worst affected areas.

Telecom staff at Walvis Bay donated 30 boxes x 50 canned fish to the flood victims on 1 April 2009.

Namibia's premiere information and communication technologies event " Telecom Namibia Annual ICT Summit 2009, takes place on July 8-9, 2009 in Windhoek. This year's ICT Summit, being one of the most important events in ICT area in Namibia, will be held under the theme: "ICT: Visualising the Future " Confronting the Crisis."

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are the backbone of modern era. Innovation and investment in the telecommunications sector are key enablers of Namibia´s economic transformation to a stronger and more productive, knowledge-based economy. Strategic use of ICTs is helping create social and economic change in health, education, culture, and to increase civic engagement in many countries of the world. As more people gain access to ICTs, the challenge is turning this capacity into community capital in the form of better educated citizens, more prosperous businesses, higher quality of life and better access to services.

The main objective of ICT Summit is to join efforts of all ICT market participants, policy- and decision-makers, heads of stakeholder institutions and regional and international organisations corporate executives, high-level representatives from government, community organisations and for popularisation of ICT application as a development tool, and to attract attention of the broad public to the ICT achievements and discuss practical issues to fully exploit benefits from more effective use of ICTs. The ICT Summit is therefore not a trade show, but an important platform for key decision makers to engage in high level networking opportunities.

While visualising the future is always a chancy proposition, the theme itself is an act of imagination and affirmation of a future that is being shaped by ICTs.

Human beings will always persist in imagining the future because we are motivated by what could be as much as by what has been. We persist because we have a stake in the future. The assertion is that the future will be a better one — and we intend to live in it.

The theme also has an element of the current global economic crisis which has inadvertently also affected the ICTs sector globally and locally. However, the global crisis could provide entrepreneurial opportunities for budding ICT businesses, which in turn can power economic recovery. Given that innovation is the key to recovery, ICTs have contributed consistently as a high-growth sector in its own right, and can now power economic recovery across all sectors.

Alongside the valuable networking opportunities, an innovative and interactive conference programme runs throughout the course of the event. From year to year the Telecom Namibia ICT Summit draws the increasing attention of interested parties and has become one of the main events in the sphere of ICT in Namibia. Last year more than 600 delegates participated in the work of the Summit and this year is not an exception.

The number of VIP delegates is anticipated to be close to 800 which will include ICT experts, senior government officials, corporate executives from across Namibia, SADC and internationally. Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Honourable Joel Kaapanda, is billed to officially open this important upcoming event.

The forthcoming ICT Summit will be action-based and futuristic, with international and local guest speakers and plenary sessions to inspire and challenge us to realise the vision of what ICTs can do for Namibia. How Namibia can tap into the benefits of information technology to enhance all aspects of our lives business, leisure, culture and our environment.