NATC is looking for a Head of IT Services

Contributed by Farzana Rasheed

This blog post discusses how NATC is using an exciting forum, Escape the City, to attract an international IT professional. It also discusses the wider challenges of finding skills and talent in a post-conflict society which has limits in producing a skilled work force. 

In our efforts to recruit an international IT Engineer, we posted the opportunity at Escape the City. Take a look here. We hope to attract the attention of an IT wizard looking to escape corporate boredom in a more advanced economy and, come to Liberia to deliver and manage NATC's clients' IT needs. 

NATC's current team of technicians is comprised of local technicians, who despite being hardworking and innovative, still need the supervision and guidance of a more qualified and experienced IT Professional. 

Moreover, most of our clientele is comprised of international multinationals who want to deal with more qualified and experienced IT professionals. 

Because of Liberia's educational and professional vacuum, being a post-conflict society, the country's technicians have limited exposure to either rigorous educational grounding or consistent practical training. 

We discussed these challenges in an earlier post: "How important is Spelling to Your Business?"

Hence, our technicians have reached their limits in being able to deal with more sophisticated technology. Also, since our technicians are not exposed to the IT developments elsewhere, we are not able to introduce and recommend newer products.

We have a trainee programme at our company but our over - loaded senior technician is not able to devote enough attention to training the juniors. It also seems that youngsters we come across just do not seem to want to invest the time into training in the basics and, work their way up. In fact, we have tripled our trainee monthly allowance since the last 1 year but even then, it seems the young people do not have the discipline nor patience to learn, take advantage of an opportunity and carve a career.  

We had had a high turn over of trainees. In fact, the young chap who blogged about joining NATC last October, is gone! The young fellow did not show up for work for at least 1 week. We later found out that he was asked by his father in Ghana to "come back to school." A bright and enthusiastic young man, I was looking forward to his growth and contribution to NATC. 

Given these challenges in hiring, training, nurturing and growing a technical team in Liberia, our next step in meeting them is to hire an international IT Engineer looking to escape to West Africa for an exciting challenge. We believe it will change the dynamics within our company. This candidate will be able to put all his/her energies in nurturing and growing our team as well as meet our clients' needs! 

We are back!

The CEO and the Head of Operations, the husband and wife management team, are back from their respective maternity and paternity leave! Farzana Rasheed, CEO, was away from 11 October 2012 to 12 February 2013. Haresh Karamchandani, the Head of Operations, was away from 11 to 31 October 2012 and 12 December 2012 to 12 February 2013. The leave was spent in Chicago, USA. 

The day to day NATC operations were handled by our excellent team and, remotely supervised by us via e-mail and telephone. It just meant getting up at 4 AM every day to make up for the six hour time difference! Almost all issues and challenges were mostly handled on e-mail with very few telephone calls having to be made. We are lucky to have had a responsible and hardworking team on ground in order for us to be able to be on maternity and paternity leaves. 

It is good to be back with the new baby and, we are looking forward to accomplishing our targets for 2013.

Microsoft’s 4Afrika Initiative and the future of African technology

Contributed by Corinna Bordewieck

In early February 2013, Microsoft launched its new 4Afrika Initiative, "a new effort through which the company will actively engage in Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness." Projects that make up the US$75 million initiative include training academies for technical and business skills, a web-based hub providing free services and tools for small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wanting to get their businesses online, and “AppFactories” in Egypt and South Africa for those who have conceptualized the next great app idea but need resources to develop them.

According to Microsoft, the 4Afrkia project is "built on the dual beliefs that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world." Embedded in this statement is Microsoft’s assertion of a growing trend: recognition of the continent’s economies as engines for growth, and its people as consumers (and innovators), rather than as recipients for aid or philanthropic projects (articulated well by Forbes in this article).

It seems that Microsoft also is well aware of the findings stated in McKinsey and Company’s report on the African consumer: half the African continent, or 130 million households, are forecast to have discretionary income by 2020 (up from 85 million in 2012). Subsequently, consumer-facing industries will see US$410 billion in growth between 2012 and 2020.

In terms of the IT sector in particular, Africans are “overwhelmingly” turning to mobile devices to get online, and see quality as a “critical buying factor” when choosing a phone. With 43% of sub-Saharan Africans and 58% of North Africans stating they are willing to pay more for a well-known brand of mobile handset, another pillar of the 4Afrika Initiative is well-positioned to succeed. This is the commercial debut of the Huawei 4Afrika smartphone, “a full functionality Windows Phone 8 which will come pre-loaded with select applications designed by Africans, for Africa.”

What does this all mean for Liberia? 4Afrika is being launched in the bigger economies (AppFactories in the countries listed above; the Huawei phone being first available for purchase in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa; other projects that focus specifically on Kenya or South Africa). However, some of these markets–such as Angola and Ivory Coast–are recovering from prolonged periods of conflict, and are experiencing natural resource-driven growth and investment, just like Liberia. It will take time, but the presence of a company like NATC (an SME, with an online presence, and a technician training program) may be a harbinger of what’s ahead for Liberia – a future already envisioned on a continent-wide scale by Microsoft.

Starting out at NATC: My introduction to Liberia’s business sector

Hello, I’m Corinna Bordewieck, NATC’s new marketing consultant, and filler-of-big-shoes of the inimitable Guillaume Foutry. 

I was pleased to begin work with NATC at the beginning of December, which marked my return to the private sector after a brief stint working with a local NGO. Although I have worked abroad before, including in other parts of West Africa, I have never worked in the private sector outside my home country (the United States). So, as someone with a personal and professional interest in private sector development, this shift was a very exciting opportunity for me. 

I plunged in headfirst – after two weeks of training, and with both the CEO and Head of Operations away on leave, I took over as the de facto Head of Office! With their guidance from afar, I’ve been able to rapidly gain knowledge and get in-depth, firsthand experience with Liberia’s business environment. My work with NATC has already provided fascinating insight into the challenges of running a medium-sized business in Liberia, and how such a business can succeed.

As our CEO, Farzana Rasheed, has already enumerated in a previous post, NATC’s achievements are based on hard work, innovation, and creativity. Although Liberia still ranks in the bottom quintile of international ease of Doing Business indicators, this imaginative company is thriving. As Liberia moves forward to stronger growth and the development of its private sector, NATC is at the forefront of the IT products and services market. As a private business, it contributes to the growth of the small-to-medium-sized enterprise sector, creates jobs, and provides professional development and technological training for its staff.  At the same time, NATC makes its business out of facilitating and improving the efficiency of other companies in Liberia, further contributing to growth.

I am very glad to be part of this vibrant company, and enthusiastic about watching NATC grow in Liberia, in West Africa, and beyond.  

Revamping Your Website: Wordpress FTW!

It sounds commonplace for 2013 (and even 2003), but whatever your business might be, you need to have a website that informs (potential) customers of your activities, products and services, but also enables them to reach you or your points of sell. Even in Liberia, a country in which less than 5% of the population has access to Internet, it is a must.

When I joined NATC, one of the first things I wanted to do what to revamp the website. That meant not only changing the look and feel and the structure, but also giving more flexibility to the business for changing/updating the website that you can find here.

So here are the different steps that we went through:

• Moving domain names registration and website hosting to Bluehost: the newafritech.com domain name was moved to Bluehost, which is also doing the hosting for the website. Having one provider for both services means lower cost, but for unlimited hosting and emails with an excellent customer service.
• Setting up a website builder: I chose to use Wordpress as a CMS/website builder for the website. Not only it is free but as a platform it offers so many possibilities such as pre-built contact forms, payment pages, membership pages and much more. 
• Using a pre-defined theme: As Wordpress is the website builder, you have the possibility to easily change the look and feel of your website by picking a pre-defined theme with functionalities such as photo gallery, sliders and much more. After quite some research on dozen of websites offering themes for $100 or less, we finally found one that has the right look and feel for our website.
• Writing the copy and select the assets: I worked with NATC management to find what should be on the website and what was the message they wanted to convey.
• Reviewing and testing: I spent quite some time checking every page, link and email posted on the website, making sure that everything work.

Now NATC has a well functioning website, easy to maintain and update, with lower hosting cost for a better service, all of this thanks to Bluehost and Wordpress. This is what I would call a good deal. So have a look at the website and let us know what you think.

End of the year reflection: 2012

Contributed by Farzana Rasheed and Haresh Karamchandani

2012 has been a tremendous year for NATC. 

Welcome to NATC!

We would like to take the time to reminisce and mull over our successes, challenges and plans. Bear with us as we walk down memory lane and, we hope you enjoy reading our latest blog post.

Below are some of the significant highlights of this past year:

New office!

We shifted to a swanky new office which our friends and clients upon entering exclaim is the nicest one in Monrovia. Wooden floors, high ceilings and a funky open layout, our office which we affectionately refer to as ‘THE LOFT’ is our pride and joy. We commissioned a design and oversaw its implementation over six months. An Office Warming party was held on 28 March and you can see the fabulous photos on our Facebook page.

It truly reflects our image as a modern company dedicated to bringing world-class IT services and products in a challenging and exciting environment like Liberia.

We look forward to welcoming you into our office for an espresso and a chat about your IT needs.

CEO, Farzana Rasheed, and Head of Operations, Haresh Karamchandani,
share a friendly cup of tea. 

New position!

A new position was added to our team - that of a marketing consultant. This position is intended to manage our social media presence, jazz up our templates and forms, and interact with our clients to ensure we are constantly aware of their satisfaction levels.

This position was firstly filled by Guillaume Foutry who did a fantastic job of capturing the work of our techies through his concise nerdy writing style for our blog; updated our tired-looking templates; edited our techies' reports; updated our website; built a website for a client; brought us new clients; accompanied our techies on out-of-town missions; and, stepped in whenever management was out of town. We were extremely sorry to see him go but wish him the best in his future endeavours. We will always appreciate his consistent efforts to help us with innovative ideas on how to have more efficient internal procedures which would help us deliver better service to our clients.

The marketing consultant is now Corinna Bordewieck. We are extremely happy to have her on board since December 2012. We are grateful to her for quickly stepping up to the plate and, in fact, acting like an Office Manager plus Marketing Consultant since the CEO is away on maternity-leave and, the Head of Operations is also away for moral support.

New website!

NATC is proud to announce that we have refurbished our website. There was a dire need to update our web address since so many excellent new developments have taken place since 2010 that needed to be effectively shown off!

Guillaume Foutry will be contributing a post shortly to capture how he created it.

First V-sat deal!

Internet is famously slow and expensive in Liberia. Although the fiber optic cable landed on Liberian shores, it is still to be deployed and commercialized. It is still difficult to estimate as to when broadband will become a reality.

Meanwhile, internet is available through GSM, fixed wireless or V-SAT.

NATC has been quite keen on entering the V-SAT market after gaining an excellent command of on ground IT services such as networking, regular maintenance of hardware and software, diagnosis and repairs of hardware, and ad hoc tech support. After submission of countless proposals and proforma invoices, we finally made a breakthrough!

We are providing internet services to our client via V-sat on the DVB-SCPC platform using the State of the Art Datum Modem and DVB receiver. This technology enables us to keep the prices at nearly 50% lower than that of the regular iDirect platform that other V-sat providers have implemented. Please feel free to contact us for a quote and a demo.

Finally found a great banking partner!

Businesses need capital to invest and grow. Businesses need a reliable and efficient banking partner. For around 2 years, we were constantly frustrated with our bank (which was more like a crowded bus-stop always) which we shall not name for sake of diplomacy.

We finally came across a bank which finally understands and appreciates the needs of growing business in Liberia. In fact, it is worth mentioning of when and how we came across our bank: during one of our famous evening walks around central Monrovia when the CEO and Head of Operations unwind and excite ourselves by coming up with new business ideas to take over West Africa. We were walking on Crown Hill when we came across a new building and what seemed to be the impending opening of a new bank. We eventually got a meeting with the dynamic Managing Director of the bank who was as excited as us in exploring mutually beneficial opportunities.

We have managed to secure capital for our business through some very innovative flexible facilities which has helped us with much needed finance and taken our cash flow to another level.

A Great Team

Jonathan Barwon

It would be unfair to mention our significant highlights of the year without celebrating the everyday work accomplished by our hardworking staff: Jonathan Barwon, Head of IT; Patience Nyepanh, Finance and Administration; Daniel Collins, IT Trainee; Cheayee Gee, IT Trainee; Alex Baryou, Printer Wizard, and, Emmanuel Jacobs, Messenger.

Jonathan is our senior IT staff who is most responsible for all our clients' IT needs. He has hardly missed a day since he joined us in 2010. He never gives up until he solves the problem. And, he does it with utmost humility.

The rest of our IT Trainees are eager to learn and contribute.

Patience is the beautiful face on our blog. She is our dedicated finance and administrative officer who does our banking, chases payments, maintains our records, and does all our taxes and permits. And she does it with style and elegance that is admirable for a young lady for her age.

Patience Nyepanh

Last but not least, Emmanuel brings his untiring enthusiasm and smile to our office every day.

Like any business, there are continuing challenges:

Finding an international level IT Engineer

As much as we are proud of our local team's excellent work in providing IT services to our clients, we now need to take our game to the next level. We feel we will only be able to do this by hiring an IT Engineer with more international exposure and skills in newer technologies so we are in a prime position to support our clients in the near future.

It has been a difficult proposition to attract and hire such a professional, probably because Liberia may not seem like an IT destination to most IT professionals.

We are now exploring advertising the position through Escape the City and, possibly hiring an HR Company. We were under the impression that merely spreading our requirement through word of mouth, a forum like Google Expats Group and such would solve our problem but after all, you need professionals to do a good job. We should know since we also depend on our clients understanding this fine point.

We hope to find the right person very soon.

Shipping blues:

Yes, all was not rosy. We did encounter a very serious debacle recently with one of our inbound shipments on Fedex. We received purchase orders from our clients for supplies of genuine toners and other IT related equipment which was promptly handled by our overseas supplier in Houston, Texas, USA. Unfortunately the complete consignment went “missing” in transit, and all efforts (including a trip to Kenya and Accra to personally locate the boxes by our Head of Operations) have failed. We have had to write off this consignment and re-order the same goods in order to deliver the purchase orders.

Finally, we  have some future plans. 

Our immediate plan for 2013 is to open a fully fledged and equipped branch office and workshop stocked with genuine supplies and equipped with necessary diagnostic and repair tools in the very fast growing city of Buchanan. This move has been encouraged due to the movement of one of our major clients to Buchannan and in keeping with our commitment of providing best services and prompt supplies we feel that this move is very important. We are on the lookout for a suitable location at Buchanan and should be able to complete the formalities before March 2013.

We also are seriously considering a plan to open an office in the newest country – South Sudan, watch this space! 

We wish everyone a prosperous and successful 2013! 

Configuring a Remote Access to a Server: Research, Resilience and Ingenuity

Servers are extremely valuable tools for companies: they improve teams’ productivity and efficiency by allowing workers to share files more easily. However, the added value of a server can be increased by setting up remote access connections. It means that users not connected to the server network can remotely access documents stored in the server through the Internet. As an example, someone in the US can access a server located in Liberia.

To enjoy this feature, not only you need to buy licenses for Microsoft (one license per user), but you also have to configure both your server and computers.

NATC recently configured and installed a Windows 2008 Standard R2 Server for a client. It was a particularly complex and arduous task, consuming a lot of time and energy as we went through the following steps:

1. Research on Microsoft support website
2. Call Microsoft tech support
3. Use an IT engineer based in Canada for support
4. Extensive online research

It is only at the fourth step that our technician Jonathan Barwon found new directions and got a sense of what had to be done. It took him hours to set it up, but we can sum up all the operations in three main phases:

1) Server management: Add new roles

On the server, you need to activate the remote desktop functionality through the start menu

2) Web access configuration

On the server, in the remote desktop services, you need to enable the web access configuration

3) Connect a Windows 7 work station

Through your web browser (preferably IE), connect to the server and allow connection from computer running any version of remote desktop.

After the installation, our technician also made sure to activate the back up features of the server (i.e. shadow copies of the server hard drives), so our client data will be protected from any potential loss.