2007.10.11: October 11, 2007: Headlines: COS - Sierra Leone: COS - Uganda: Business: Computers: Business Gazette,: Sierra Leone RPCV Barbara Keating's "Computer Frontiers" focuses on Africa
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Sierra Leone:
Peace Corps Sierra Leone :
Peace Corps Sierra Leone: Newest Stories:
2007.10.11: October 11, 2007: Headlines: COS - Sierra Leone: COS - Uganda: Business: Computers: Business Gazette,: Sierra Leone RPCV Barbara Keating's "Computer Frontiers" focuses on Africa
Sierra Leone RPCV Barbara Keating's "Computer Frontiers" focuses on Africa
The former Peace Corps volunteer founded the company in Germantown in 1993 to provide computer management and systems and soon established Computer Frontiers International for African countries. Last year, Keating moved to office space on Frederick Crossing Lane and has been connecting with the business community while moving toward establishing franchises and shoring up more growth for all her companies. The bulk of the Computer Frontiers International’s operation lies in Uganda, where the company employs 25 workers and provides information technology support and management services as well as wireless connectivity, Keating said. It operates call centers and offers specialized software.
Sierra Leone RPCV Barbara Keating's "Computer Frontiers" focuses on Africa
Computer Frontiers focuses on Africa
‘Trade, not just aid,’ is key, says founder of Frederick information technology company
by Rebecca McClay | Staff Writer
Caption: ‘‘Our growth has been astronomical because we started from nothing,” says Barbara Keating, founder of Computer Frontiers Inc. of Frederick. Photo: Tom Fedor⁄The Gazette
With sister companies in Uganda, Ghana, Senegal and the Republic of South Africa, Barbara Keating has found a home for Computer Frontiers Inc.’s headquarters: Frederick.
The former Peace Corps volunteer founded the company in Germantown in 1993 to provide computer management and systems and soon established Computer Frontiers International for African countries. Last year, Keating moved to office space on Frederick Crossing Lane and has been connecting with the business community while moving toward establishing franchises and shoring up more growth for all her companies.
The bulk of the Computer Frontiers International’s operation lies in Uganda, where the company employs 25 workers and provides information technology support and management services as well as wireless connectivity, Keating said. It operates call centers and offers specialized software.
‘‘Our growth has been astronomical because we started from nothing,” Keating said.
All told, Computer Frontiers employs about 100 program managers and tech experts and is aiming to expand again, Keating said. The company draws annual sales of about $6 million but also does pro bono work for nonprofits and schools. In the next phase of its growth plan, Computer Frontiers is moving toward managed network services and advanced infrastructures.
Keating volunteered with the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone from 1985 to 1987, developing oil palm and cocoa plantations, where she noticed that residents were eager to learn business techniques. Local economies, she said, receive the biggest boost from practicing sound business practices, not receiving handouts.
‘‘The programs that were really effective were the ones that provided trade, not just aid,” Keating said. ‘‘That’s what people really want. ... I believe people can do better by learning to help themselves.
African nations ‘‘can benefit by how we do business,” Keating said. ‘‘That’s why my companies are successful in Africa — they do business like Americans, from how we manage to how open we are. It’s not management versus the staff. We’re all in it together to make it work.”
Exports from Maryland companies to most countries in Africa increased last year from 2005, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures. Exports from Maryland companies to Ghana declined last year by 19 percent to $5.4 million, while they rose to South Africa by 29 percent.
In South Africa, the second largest trading partner with the United States after Algeria, businesses received $37.6 million in Maryland imports last year, up from $29.1 million in 2005. Chemicals and computers constituted the bulk of exports from Maryland businesses.
Another Frederick company on the cutting edge of international business is Welocalize, a translation company with eight offices that provides services in more than 40 countries. The company was recently ranked the 13th fastest growing technology and media company in Maryland by Deloitte and Touche USA LLP.
CEO E. Smith Yewell said several businesses in Frederick County — both small and large — are developing more overseas opportunities.
‘‘We are feeling the effects of globalization and exporting very strongly,” Yewell said. ‘‘Many companies are feeling the effects of the Internet, and the trend is not limited to metropolitan areas like D.C.”
Keating, a Wisconsin native with a bachelor’s in psychology, earned her master’s degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management and began working for the U.S. Agency for Interdependence. As a contractor, she helped launch the first e-mail network in seven countries in southern Africa, a model that prioritizes private-sector providers.
Keating later drafted a proposal to expand computer use in Africa with new policy, infrastructure and training. The research paper evolved into the Leland Initiative Project, a five-year, $15 million government effort that brought Internet connections to 21 African countries.
‘‘We worked with what was then the monopoly phone company,” Keating said. ‘‘We basically created an Internet industry” in Africa.
Founded in her bedroom in Germantown more than 10 years ago, Computer Frontiers was a natural transition from her contract work for USAID, Keating said.
In the United States, Computer Frontiers targets the Washington metropolitan area to provide Internet telephone technology and remote management services for local companies.
As Computer Frontiers’ international branches expand, the Frederick branch, nestled in a business park off Route 85, is shoring up local connections, from the Tech Council of Maryland to local nonprofits.
‘‘We’re really looking forward to getting more involved in the Frederick business community,” said Keating, who won an International Business Leadership Award from the World Trade Center Institute of Baltimore this year. ‘‘We’d like to do more things with them and get more engaged.”
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: October, 2007; Peace Corps Sierra Leone; Directory of Sierra Leone RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Sierra Leone RPCVs; Peace Corps Uganda; Directory of Uganda RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Uganda RPCVs; Business; Computers; Maryland
When this story was posted in October 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do. Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation. |
| What is the greatest threat facing us now? "People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing? I would approach this differently, in almost Marshall-like terms. What are the great opportunities out there - ones that we can take advantage of?" Read more. |
| Paul Theroux: Peace Corps Writer Paul Theroux began by writing about the life he knew in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His first first three novels are set in Africa and two of his later novels recast his Peace Corps tour as fiction. Read about how Theroux involved himself with rebel politicians, was expelled from Malawi, and how the Peace Corps tried to ruin him financially in John Coyne's analysis and appreciation of one of the greatest American writers of his generation (who also happens to be an RPCV). |
| Dodd issues call for National Service Standing on the steps of the Nashua City Hall where JFK kicked off his campaign in 1960, Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd issued a call for National Service. "Like thousands of others, I heard President Kennedy's words and a short time later joined the Peace Corps." Dodd said his goal is to see 40 million people volunteering in some form or another by 2020. "We have an appetite for service. We like to be asked to roll up our sleeves and make a contribution," he said. "We haven't been asked in a long time." |
| Public diplomacy rests on sound public policy When President Kennedy spoke of "a long twilight struggle," and challenged the country to "ask not," he signaled that the Cold War was the challenge and framework defining US foreign policy. The current challenge is not a struggle against a totalitarian foe. It is not a battle against an enemy called "Islamofascism." From these false assumptions flow false choices, including the false choice between law enforcement and war. Instead, law enforcement and military force both must be essential instruments, along with diplomacy, including public diplomacy. But public diplomacy rests on policy, and to begin with, the policy must be sound. Read more. |
| Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania. |
| Peace Corps Funnies A PCV writing home? Our editor hard at work? Take a look at our Peace Corps Funnies and Peace Corps Cartoons and see why Peace Corps Volunteers say that sometimes a touch of levity can be one of the best ways of dealing with frustrations in the field. Read what RPCVs say about the lighter side of life in the Peace Corps and see why irreverent observations can often contain more than a grain of truth. We'll supply the photos. You supply the captions. |
| PCOL serves half million PCOL's readership for April exceeded 525,000 visitors - a 50% increase over last year. This year also saw the advent of a new web site: Peace Corps News that together with the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps serve 17,000 RPCVs, Staff, and Friends of the Peace Corps every day. Thanks for making PCOL your source of news for the Peace Corps community. Read more. |
| Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences . |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Business Gazette,
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Sierra Leone; COS - Uganda; Business; Computers
PCOL39286
24