it@ab - the southern African IT and business network was initiated in autumn 2001.
The mission: support of small and medium sized enterprises, institutions and governmental bodies to participate actively in national, regional and international e-commerce and e-business developments.

More than 30 multiplying institutions in seven SADC member states have been joining it@ab since its inception. This new evolving knowledge network is dedicated to provide state of the art knowledge on e-commerce, share advanced e-business experiences and provide international business contacts.

it@ab consists of universities, consultancies, IT - training institutions, Internet providers, application providers and trade promotion organizations in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania. The variety of partners and the multidisciplinary competencies enables the network to offer competitive services to local and international clients.

Focused on business development in the Southern African Development Community - SADC it@ab closely cooperates with its sister IT business networks in Asia.

it@ab is an evolving network. In the initiation phase in 2001 and 2002 multiplying institutions were addressed in order to maximize the impact in the forthcoming process of networking.

it@inwent contributes to it@ab through the provision of training programmes on e-business, marketing, Internet publishing, content and knowledge management and organisational development. Furthermore the development of products and services (e.g. e-learning courses) and applications (e.g. Open Source based content management systems) is initiated by it@inwent in cooperation with the partners. The results of this productisation process are made available to all partners free of charge.

An important cornerstone of the support framework of it@inwent is the enhancement of local and regional e-business projects of the partners in Africa. In fact existing e-business projects have been a precondition to become part of it@ab. This „reality check“ made sure that only those institutions joined that could prove their committment with regards to e-business activities in the region.

Although there is a considerable financial contribution to it@ab through it@inwent, the partners in Africa are also contributing. Having junior staff participating in training programmes in Germany requires replacements for a certain period of time. Opportunity costs need to be considered as well. But there is a consensus within the network that the benefits offered are significant and the underlying strategy of it@ab is worthwhile to follow.

it@ab stands not alone. it@inwent launched it@asia in 2002. In September 2002 fourty IT junior consultants from the member organisations of it@ab and it@asia joined a twelve months comprehensive e-business training programme in Germany. The juniors worked together in project groups and and supported with the help of German IT experts the on-going e-business projects in their home countries.

In December 2002 senior managers of it@ab met in Cape Town, South Africa and worked on a joint strategy. The outcome is presented in a mission statement, all partners agreed to.

In spring 2003 the two it@ab partners Epsilon & Omega in Malawi and Thomro Investments Limited in Zambia were contracted by it@inwent to undertake exploratory activities for new partners. Besides the research assessment centers were organised for another comprehensive twelve month training programme for African junior IT consultants in Germany.

In 2003 and 2004 new IT related networks will follow: it@coops in South-East Asia and it@arab in the Near East. A knowledge network of networks for e-business is emerging in the South that spans over three continents.