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A joint venture between ICOZA and SANGONeT,
the NGO.ZA initiative is centered on the
delivery of accessible and affordable ICT
services to Civil Society
During the past few months, SANGONeT and
ICOZA, a black economic empowerment (BEE)
Tier 1 Internet Service Provider (ISP), have
conceptualised an innovative joint venture
aimed at providing the South African NGO
sector with a wide range of affordable ICT
solutions (such as connectivity, web
solutions, security, hosting, hardware,
etc.). This important new initiative will be
officially launched at the World Information
Development Day event, hosted by SANGONeT.
This new initiative - NGO.ZA - is a joint
venture between SANGONeT and ICOZA, South
Africa’s first independently empowered Tier
1 Internet Service Provider (ISP). ICOZA
offers a complete range of Internet and
value-added services to support clients’
connectivity and e-business infrastructure
in a close collaboration between the J&J
Group and South Africa’s leading Internet
Services Provider, Internet Solutions.
“ICOZA feels it can make an invaluable
contribution to our civil society by
contributing to the provision of easy and
affordable access to essential connectivity
services. The NGO sector and community based
organisations are hard pressed to
demonstrate capacity building and deliver on
their commitments to the upliftment of the
community through a broad range of
initiatives. ICOZA is committed in
supporting these endeavours through its
skills base and unique position as a BEE
Tier 1 ISP in South Africa” says Mr. Rodney
de Koch, the CEO of ICOZA.
“We have come a long way in a very short
space of time since our inception nearly two
years ago, thanks to the support from, and
partnership with Internet Solutions, South
Africa’s leading Internet services provider.
We feel we want to give something back to
the community and have embraced the NGO.ZA
initiative with SANGONeT to ensure that a
broad range of skills and services are now
available to NGO’s and CBO’s. We envisage
providing further exciting offerings to this
community in the near future as the
liberalisation of the telecommunications
sector unfolds in the coming year” says Mr.
de Koch.
Supporting SANGONeT’s vision
In view of the fast-changing nature of ICT
products and services and the growing ICT
awareness and requirements of the South
African NGO sector, SANGONeT conceptualised
a new initiative aimed at providing the NGO
sector with a wide range of affordable ICT
solutions and approached ICOZA to partner
around the provision of essential
connectivity and a range of Internet support
services to the NGO community.
The collective experience and expertise of
SANGONeT and ICOZA will enable us to provide
an extensive range of relevant and
affordable ICT services to the NGO sector
throughout the country.
The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT)
has been at the forefront of providing
information communication technology (ICT)
services to the South African NGO sector
since its inception in 1987.
Existing SANGONeT dial-up clients, and the
non-government and community based
organisations, will benefit from this range
of new and affordable NGO.ZA services,
backed by ICOZA.
ICOZA will provide NGO.ZA users support
through a helpdesk and a dedicated support
line to provide first time and existing
users of the NGO.ZA services with
assistance.
The new 56k analogue dial-up service will
offer you the following benefits:
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free 24/7/365 telephonic technical support;
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e-mail box with 5 free e-mail addresses;
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virus protection;
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advanced spam protection and filtering;
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debit order payment system; and
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reliability.
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Other ICT services available through
NGO.ZA include the following:
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64k ISDN
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128k ISDN
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ADSL
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Hardware offerings (please refer to
www.ngo.za for exciting opening offer).
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Sahara contribution to the ngo.za
initiative
The NGO.ZA initiative is supported by
proudly South African technology company
Sahara Computers, in conjunction with its
BEE partner Sahara Systems. Sahara is making
available PC hardware at a special rate in
contribution towards the NGO.ZA initiative.
Sahara Computers is a leading supplier of
quality PC infrastructure, including
peripherals and components across
Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Africa.
Comments Atul Gupta, MD of Sahara Computers.
“We are proud to participate in this joint
venture to help ensure that non-government
and community based organisations benefit
and we remain committed to initiatives that
promote affordable access to much-needed
information and communication technology.”
The NGO.ZA initiative was officially
launched on 21 October 2004 during an event
at SANGONeT to celebrate World Development
Information Day. The objective of the event
is to highlight the role and significance of
information and communication in the South
African NGO sector and to profile the work
of the sector and specific initiatives aimed
at improving its information and
communication capacity.
The J&J Group’s ongoing commitment to BEE
in the ISP sector
"The J&J Group’s ISP initiative, ICOZA, has
allowed us to establish a very important
range of services in the key data
communications arena, delivering
connectivity and advanced IT services to key
sectors of the South African market" says
Mr. Jay Naidoo, Chairman of the J&J Group
and the Development Bank of South Africa.
"The ICOZA venture shows our commitment to
develop Black skills in the strategically
important ISP sector of the market which
shows huge potential for future growth as
government and private sector demand grows
for internet-enabling infrastructure and
support services that enable their online
access and delivery of citizen and customer
services."
"We are committed to build an empowered
management team, with good training
potential in this sector of the market to
develop black skills and capacity. This
positions us well for the internet business
in Africa. For us empowerment is a critical
criteria - both the corporate and the public
sectors have the potential to build a
genuine black 1st Tier ISP" says Mr. Naidoo.
"We believe we have the right ingredients to
continue growing South Africa's first black
owned 1st Tier ISP. This will greatly impact
on building a technical competency in the
black community. On the back of contracts
the venture will embark on an aggressive
affirmative training programme focusing on
women and the youth", Mr. Naidoo emphasises.
About ICOZA
ICOZA is a joint venture between the J&J
Group and Internet Solutions. ICOZA is a BEE
first tier ISP, providing a complete range
of ISP and value-added services to support
customers’ connectivity and e-Business
infrastructure requirements.
About the J&J Group:
J&J is a strategic investment and management
company with interests in IT, financial
services and diversified industrials.
Contact
Manie Eagar
Tel: (011) 880 0101
Mobile: 082 410 1160
eMail: manie@jandjgroup.com
Homepage: www.icoza.co.za
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