Rebecca Enonchong has lived in the United States for 20 of her 35 years but has not forgotten her roots. She has done more for her homeland than just hang its artifacts on her walls, opening an office in her native country.
Enonchong is one of 20 native Africans -- many are female executives of technology companies -- who planned to spend three days in Kampala, Uganda, beginning Monday to discuss how to develop high-tech industries in the countries they left behind. They intend to meet with government and business leaders, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs.
"There's a link and an attachment to the continent that you can't get rid of," Enonchong said in her office on the eighth floor of a suburban Washington office building. "You just fall in love with this beautiful continent and say, 'I can't let it suffer. What can I do?"'
The executives are operating under the auspices of the U.N. Development Fund for Women. They are providing mentors to young women who want to enter the high-tech field, offering money and advice for female entrepreneurs trying to develop new technologies, donating computer equipment and teaching residents how to take advantage of the Internet.
"We see this as a dynamic way in which African woman are connected to the international global community," said Noeleen Heyzer, the fund's executive director. "It lifts the women out of poverty. It allows women to take advantage of opportunities in the new economy."
Uganda native Sheetal Mehta is a London-based, Microsoft executive who tracks new technologies being developed in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She said the West needs to provide guidance and money to help spur business development in Africa.
"There's no injection of capital and no business model to help entrepreneurs flourish in the developing world," said Mehta, who planned to participate in the conference.
Some executives, such as Awo Quaison-Sackey, a native of Ghana who now heads AQ Solutions of New Haven, Conn., say Africa one day can rival India as a place for Western companies to set up offices to handle payrolls, entering data, word processing and other computer-based tasks.
AQ Solutions has 30 of its 35 employees in Ghana, where they develop and maintain software for clients including General Electric and Northeast Utilities.
The 48-year-old Quaison-Sackey, who left Ghana 21 years ago, said her company periodically brings its Ghanian workers to the United States for a visit.
"They get a chance to see what it's really like here and take something back home with them," she said. "Everybody is expanded by that type of experience. It's bound to trickle down."
Enonchong's company employs more than 100 people in several countries, including the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Cameroon. The privately held company, which does not disclose its revenue, develops software to handle finances and manage employees.
She has donated space in her company's Cameroon office to be used as an incubator for new technologies. She plans to use Application Technologies' worldwide connections to promote breakthroughs in the hope of attracting corporate interest.
"We want to give people a place to feel free to develop," she said. "It is a means for Africa to be competitive in the world marketplace."
Copyright 2003. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
