The Need For African Local Content on the Internet
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010With the coming of a convenient and very efficient tool for business such as the internet, information and communication technology in general, many businesses in Africa are yet to take full advantage of the benefits of using this powerful tool to enhance their businesses. There’s a lot of truth to the saying that “if you aren’t on the web, you don’t exist.”
I remember when I used to work in a cyber caf, a group of people confidently walked into the caf and went straight to me and my colleague. They brought out a piece of paper and one of them explained; please, can you help us find information on the internet about this? They handed over the piece of paper to my colleague. After reading it he passed it on to me to read but quietly telling me not to laugh afterward. It was really a difficult thing to do because it read; based on the discussions in class, explain the following… Can you imagine that! Some one wanted me to perform an internet search “based on their discussions in class” after meeting them for the first time? I was never even in their class let alone understand or know what they discussed there. But of course they came to us with the assumption that any thing can be found on the internet so why not what they just discussed in class.
The point here is that to find information on the internet “based on their discussions in class”, some one has to put it there first. If no one does, then it’s simply not there. It’s not on the internet and so is it with businesses.
The extent to which people depend on the internet for information and the surge of customers going online at internet cafes, in addition to other forms of internet access simply means people are on a quest for more and more information. They are going to highly appreciate usable local content especially about addresses of local businesses and services in Jos. It is as simple as this;
I need a coloured photocopier, not knowing I can get it at Rwang Pam street which is about 300 meters from where I am. I thought it’s too much of a gadget to be found there, so instead of wasting my time going down to Rwang Pam street to look for what I don’t think I can find I searched the internet and found a company that had one for sale in thousands of kilometers away in USA, so I called a phone number on the website, placed my order and waited. 6 weeks later, I got my coloured photocopier after spending much money and wasting much time.
The situation above can happen even when some businesses have taken the stress and shared the cost for a lot of goods and services we would normally want to import, but how can you find them on the internet when they are not there? Looking for them online will be like trying to find something based on the discussions in the class the people in the story. If no one puts it there, then it’s simply not there at all.
The lack of presence on the internet even by the smallest business means you can’t patronize them unless you know where they are located physically.
Considering the need for businesses in Jos to have internet presence as a way of publicizing themselves, one can easily see the problem many of them face in terms of the cost for advertising in available mediums like TV, radio, newspaper and even designing and maintaining a private web site.
Even with the numerous and exotic advantages businesses get by having their own privately maintained websites, the issue of cost, “the internet jungle”, accessibility by customers, and popularity still show up as serious issues when you compare how much it cost to design and maintain a website to what most small and medium scale enterprises earn as profit especially here in Nigeria.
Author: Ezekiel Ramadan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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