African Biz (was: Re: [asterisk-biz] Nice Opportunity but Unique
Challenge)
Matthew Rubenstein
email at mattruby.com
Sun Oct 29 15:07:30 MST 2006
I'm glad you can vouch for him. I leave the question of your own place
in a "web of trust" as an exercise to the reader :).
More than just VoIP is on show here. This thread has been a prime
illustration of the problems in getting an African business started,
even if just internationally (infracontinentally there are even more
serious problems). But there is plenty of opportunity in Africa, and in
doing business with Africans. It's clear, though, that there's a lot of
distrust some Africans have earned, along with plenty that has been
thrust on Africans without their own fault, that needs to be overcome by
most Africans. I hope that VoIP, with its inherent "personal" qualities
(people talking with each other) is one route through which Africans can
develop. Those who can find trustworthy partners will have a tremendous
advantage in a whole continent over those who insist on distrusting all
Africans regardless of opportunity and evidence.
I expect that a lot more Africans would benefit from increased personal
contacts with outsiders, such as at VoIP conferences. Such conferences
seem like they should be a high priority for African governments and
economic development orgs.
On Sun, 2006-10-29 at 16:57 -0500, Steve Totaro wrote:
> Some on this list may recognize my name, others that do not can google
> me and see that I have been active in this community for the last four
> years.
>
> This is no scam. I can personally vouch for Gerald.
>
> We worked for the same company that has offices here in the DC area as
> well as all over Africa.
>
> We met when he placed an order for several thousand dollars in Digium
> equipment and I "smelled a scam" and told him that I could not fill that
> order. Then I got the exact same order from a Germantown MD based
> business. Still unsure, I hand delivered the equipment just to make
> sure things were on the up and up.
>
> They were, and I actually took a position with this company and spent
> many months in Africa and even setup a call center for the US Embassy in
> Senegal.
>
> I have known him for almost three years and he has done some excellent
> custom development for me.
>
> Uganda and other African nations are de-regulating the telecom industry
> and making VoIP legal. While I see huge potential in such investments,
> I also see huge risks since corruption is rampant in these governments
> and some are very unstable.
>
> Read his post again, he said "PREPAID". Not much room for a scam there
> unless you allow destinations that you should not, like NuFone did.
>
> Thanks,
> Steve Totaro
>
> Talking Voice wrote:
> > Please take your scam somewhere else, and while doing so please stop
> > using the good names of good countries out of your scam.
> >
> > On 10/27/06, *C F* <shmaltz at gmail.com <mailto:shmaltz at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > For some reason it doesn't smell right, any links to support the
> > "changes in the telecom reglatory policy of Uganda"?
> >
> > On 10/27/06, Gerald Begumisa <gbegumisa at yo.co.ug
> > <mailto:gbegumisa at yo.co.ug>> wrote:
> > > Greetings to all,
> > >
> > > I have a client with a very unique need. Following changes in
> > the telecom
> > > regulatory policy of Uganda, mass-provision of VoIP services is
> > now allowed
> > > for service providers who apply for a licence. "Mass-provision"
> > loosely
> > > meaning targeting such a large client base that you attract the
> > attention of
> > > the telecom regulator (as well as the revenue authority
> > ;-). The first such
> > > licence was issued only a week or so ago.
> > >
> > > The business plan of this client targets a very large client
> > base (over 1
> > > million mobile subscribers). The interesting thing is that the
> > cost of
> > > reaching this client base (apart from advertising etc...) is
> > nearly zero. I
> > > cannot give detail at this time however what I can say is the
> > business plan
> > > of this client eliminates all the hassles of running a calling
> > card system
> > > yet reaches even more clients than a calling card system
> > would. So, to me
> > > it looks good.
> > >
> > > Now for the unique need: After going through pages of
> > calculations, this
> > > client feels that at the bottomline, if they can get a reliable
> > carrier who
> > > can sell them minutes for the following key destinations (both
> > landline and
> > > mobile), at a flat rate of 5c per minute, they will be willing
> > to prepay and
> > > buy minutes wholesale. Below are the key destinations:
> > >
> > > USA (land and mobile)
> > > Canada (land and mobile)
> > > Thailand (land and mobile)
> > > China (land and mobile)
> > > Hong Kong (land and mobile)
> > > Taiwan (land and mobile)
> > > Japan (land and mobile)
> > > United Kingdom (land and mobile)
> > > Germany (land and mobile)
> > > United Arab Emirates (land and mobile)
> > > India (land and mobile)
> > >
> > > Point to note is that they would be willing to take whatever
> > prices for the
> > > rest of the locations in the A-Z list.
> > >
> > > Could any interested parties contact me off-list? Thanks.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Gerald.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Gerald Begumisa
> > > CTO & Managing Director
> > > Yo Uganda Limited
> > > Off. Tel: +256 31 224 4641
> > > Mob. Tel: +256 71 299 1983
> > > Email: gbegumisa at yo.co.ug <mailto:gbegumisa at yo.co.ug>
> > > Web: http://www.yo.co.ug/
> > >
> > > For a High Performance VoIP Billing Engine, take a look at YBS
> > > <http://www.yo.co.ug/ybs/ <http://www.yo.co.ug/ybs/>>
> > >
> >
>
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(C) Matthew Rubenstein
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