DotConnectAfrica

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Type:	Non-Profit
Industry:	Internet
Founder(s):	Sophia Bekele
Headquarters:	I/F River Court 6th Denis Street Port Louis
Country:	Mauritius
Website:	DotConnectAfrica
Blog:	DCA Blog
Key People
Sophia Bekele, Founder & Executive Director

DotConnectAfrica (DCA) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization based in Mauritius, Africa.[ It's main objective is to become the sponsoring organization and the registry operator of the DotAfrica generic top level domain name (gTLD). The organization's maintains offices in Ethiopia, Kenya and United States.

Background

DCA was founded in 2008 by Sophia Bekele and serves as executive director of the organization. Her purpose is to support the .africa initiative and to help provide solutions to the internet policy divides in the African Region and be connected and at paced with the innovations of the Internet and Communications Technology worldwide. In 2009, organization started its campaign to gather support for the .africa initiative by conducting forums in different universities and international conferences including the Golden Gate University, UC Berkeley, Stanford University and Sacramento State University, World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), United Nations Development of Economics & Social Affairs (UNDESA) and United Nations Public Administration Network(UNPAN).

Mission

DCA aims to accomplish the following missions:

• Become the sponsor and operator of the .africa gTLD and establish it as regional internet domain name space with a global recognition dedicated to the needs of the Pan-African and African community.
• Reinvest surplus of the registry business in socio-technological development projects significant to the Pan-Africa and African community.
• Operate an effective and technically advanced TLD registry through the initiative of not-for-profit organization.

DotConnectAfrica Initiative for DotAfrica TLD

The proposal to develop the DotAfrica TLD was first introduced by Sophia Bekele to the African Members of the ICANN Board and different African organizations of the ICANN community during the ICANN 28 meeting in Lisbon, Portugal in 2007. She emphasized the importance of the .africa domain name for the benefit of the African region’s internet development and it will serve as global identity for African internet users just like .asia and .eu. Furthermore, Bekele pointed out to her colleagues that the DotAfrica initiative is in compliance with the objective and policies of international organizations to enhance the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) of the African continent including the WSIS, African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). During the ICANN 32 International ICANN Public Meeting, Bekele officially announced her bid to apply for the DotAfrica TLD through DotConnectAfrica. The organization received endorsement and support from the African Union Authority (AUA) through its’ chairman Jean Ping on August 27, 2009. Ping expressed that AUA is willing to assist DCA in coordinating the DotAfrica initiative to the African ministers and governments. In addition, Amina Salima, head if the AU Mission in Washington also supported DCA’s DotAfrica initiative. Salima said, "one of the objectives of the African Union mission in the USA is to mobilize the African Diaspora efforts. Towards this end, the AU mission would like to express support for the .africa initiative". Abdoulie Janneh, UN under-secretary-general and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) also sent a letter of endorsement to DCA stating the following, "I write to express my support on behalf of ECA. This is a worthwhile initiative that will contribute substantially to helping Africa bridge the digital divide. It will certainly help the continent to derive similar benefits from the successful experience from the European Union which has the .eu domain and that of Asia with its .asia domain.” Other high ranking officials from different governments in Africa also supported DCA’s initiative. During the ICANN 37 Meeting at Nairobi, Kenya in 2010, the members of the Nairobi technical community who attended the public forum also expressed their support to DCA.

DCA Preliminary Advisory Board & Team Members

Some of the individuals who serve as part of the organization's preliminary advisory board and team include:

Advisory Board

• Njeri Rionge- CEO and Founder, Ignite Consulting & Investment Limited, and Director and Co-founder, Wananchi Online Limited. She was also member of the ICANN Board from 2003-2008
• Prof. S. Subbiah-Chairman and Co-Founder of i-DNS.net International Inc.
• Anitha Soni- CEO of ASA Tourism Services Group
• Zaid Ali- Founding Member/President of ISOC SF Bay Chapter and Principal Network Engineer at LinkedIn

Team Members

• Mr. Nebiyu Yosef- Project Coordinator
• Tidjani Jeff Tall- Fundraising/Strategy Consulting
• Mekdes Teklesgie - Outreach
• Hailue Mengiste- Marketing
• Lealem Kebede- Sales
• Ephrem Beyene- IDN/Language
• Demissie D. Asseffa- Program
• Thomas Kumanzi- Press, Editorial
• Yusuf Mandour- Registry Liason
• Amy Cunningham- US, Marketing