Entrepreneurship

Human capacity development and entrepreneurship promotion are central issues in bridging the digital divide. Besides, the majority of recent publications of International Organizations stress the fact that the encouragement and support of e-entrepreneurship is indispensable if developing countries do not want to miss out on the possibilities of ICT (DOI, 2001; Dot Force, 2001; UNCTAD, 2001; World Bank, 2001; UNDP, 2001). Local businesses need to acquire a strong awareness and understanding of the business opportunities these technologies make available. Entrepreneurship plays a particularly critical role during periods of rapid economic change, as small, agile firms increase the ability of an economy to quickly respond to new challenges. Unfortunately, most developing countries have a poor environment for entrepreneurship. In general, there is a lack of knowledge with respect to the new business models that characterize Internet-centered businesses. And people that combine skills and creativity in Internet site creation, business know-how, access to finance and knowledge of local community needs are still relatively rare worldwide, but particularly in developing countries (infoDev, 2000). Nevertheless, as stated in the final report of the Digital Opportunity Initiative it is far from inevitable that ICT will have a negative impact on developing economies; in fact, with the right policies and practical actions, ICT can be a powerful enabler of development (DOI, 2001). Creativity and entrepreneurship in Brazil, India, Thailand, Niger and elsewhere have made the development of software for illiterate users and low-cost, solar-powered wireless devices possible (UNDP, 2001). But two essential conditions for entrepreneurship development are access to knowledge tools for business architects and a better understanding of the existing opportunities arising out of new ICT. In the following two sections we try to outline a framework and some tools that address these issues.