DotConnectAfrica lauched its official ".africa" campaign at the AITEC ICT Summit

Sept. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- 7-8 September 2010:  AITEC Africa held an ICT summit at the Kenya International Conference Center entitled,  the East Africa ICT summit.  

The Dotafrica panel attracted the largest gathering of internet experts and technical community in East Africa, to hear the new African initiative, namely ".africa" and its contribution to an ICT enabled environment in Africa.  

Launching the ".africa" campaign at the event, the opening remark was made by DotConnectAfrica whose company has openly championed the dotafrica initiative accross Africa for the past two years, as most of the panelist agreed.  Executive Director of DotConnectAfrica opened the way for the Dotafrica panel as she spoke on way-forward on the contribution of the ".africa" name to an ICT enabled environment.

Link to the Keynote address: http://prlog.org/10918770
or scribd @: http://www.scribd.com/doc/37142351/AITEC-ICT-Summit-Keynote-Address-Dotafrica-Sophia-Bekele#fullscreen:on

In acknowledgment to this early campaign and championship and responding to  Mr. Tim McGinnis, African Internet Infrastructure Consultant, Kenya, who was one of the panelist,  Ms. Bekele said, "DCA has been given an official mandate to do so by the  key African institutions", and  "for the record the African Union and the Economic commission for Africa." she added.   "That would be the only reason we would take this campaign initiative, less working for the African Tourism agency", she humored.  "Our endorsements stipulate that we are to be responsible for sponsoring the project and chosing the registry operator for the dotafrica name".  

Clarifying to a question from the audience on the .eu and.asia models, Ms. Bekele responded, both geographic names were issued before ICANN's formal bid process.  There is a bid process that ICANN has put out with specific requirements that has to be met.  ICANN is an American company and it would abide by the rules of the law of the land, I should know, she explained,  "they cannot override the rules and engage in giving out TLDs to whoever feels entitled to it or to whomever they want.   An applicant will need to meet all criteria and ICANN should not change the rulesof the game.

According to the presentation of DotConnectAfrica, the governance model of DCA was adapted from .eu and .asia, which is in following an internationally accepted gTLD standard, and customized to include the African policy makers as key partners to the policy input.   Mr. Sammy Buruchara, CEO of Nairobi-net and Chairman of KeNIC which is host to the Kenya ccTLD, .co.ke acknowledged this model and also spoke on the experience of KeNIC governance model which mirrors DCA's.

The other panelist  Mr. Robert Yawe, CEO, KAY System Technologies, Kenya,  voiced that there is a lot of money to be made in the Top Level Domain business and there is in .".africa".   He stated that the economic benefit of having such a domain for the continent should not be undermined.

Ms. Njeri Rionge, representing Ignite consulting and also advisor to DCA said,  DCA has initiated the dotafrica project since 2006 when I was on the ICANN Board, and have pushed it through where it is now.   We need a proper commercial model for dotafrica to work.  We need to bring in Business constituencies and not just technical, however both these expert groups must collaborate.  DotAfrica should be run by people who have business experience so that it does not fail as a project.  

Despite that there are four dotafrica initiatives that DCA is aware of,  DCA stated the following reasons as to why the audience should support DCA:

•  Early applicants to the .Africa name to ICANN
•  Early endorsements from the continental policy makers
•  Early endorsements from other stakeholders
• Diaspora Africans who are committed to the continent bringing knowledge & technology transfer
•  Multi-stakeholder governance model – Best Practice
• Non-Profit/Non-Partisan org.  (DCA is a TRUST registered in neutral country Mauritius)
• Open/transparent initiative - over 15 Press Releases since February 2010 disclosing our activities.
• Inclusive cross marketing opportunity for ccTLDs
• Support new African based gTLDs
• Team committed to building “generation.africa”
• Team committed to branding Africa in positive light
• Official Sponsors at ICANN 38  Brussels- The 1st African TLD to sponsor International conference;    EAIGF Kampala Uganda;  and now AITEC ICT Summit Nairobi.

Finally, when DCA asked the audience how many would want to see a "dotafrica" domain,  80% of the room raised their hands by way of acclamation.

" Thank you.  We believe we are satisfying our mandate" said Bekele to the audience.

Press coverage: http://marketing.bizcommunity.com/Article/414/16/52038.html

# # #

DCA is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization incorporated in Mauritius Africa and will sponsor, establish & operate a TLD registry with global recognition & regional significance dedicated to the needs of Pan-African &African community. DCA Reg.ID.CT8710DCA90