The innovative business model is based on a self-sustained network of franchised ICT-facilities that are powered by solar energy and run by local entrepreneurs. In the centres people can get access to Internet and development services, such as e-learning tools, IT- and business-training, online healthcare, and a cinema for entertainment as well as education purposes. A strong focus on these ICT-related products and services, allied to a reliable energy supply, has proven its income-generating potential.
The NICE concept has already been successfully implemented in The Gambia and will now be scaled up in size and geographical scope. In the next four years, fifty more NICE centres will open in rural and peri-urban locations in The Gambia, Tanzania and Zambia.
NICE was originally initiated by Energy4All Foundation in 2006. The roll-out will be implemented in cooperation with Viafrica Tanzania and Macha Works in Zambia. The project is financially supported with a €2.5 million grant from the European Union and €1 million co-funding by Dutch development bank FMO, and private investors Rabobank and Schneider Electric.
“Once those 50 NICE centres are operational, they will become one of the largest distribution networks for development products and services in Africa,” explains Ties Kroezen, Managing Director at NICE International.
Dirk Duijzer, executive director Sustainability and Cooperative banking at Rabobank added: “This project creates access to IT, education and other entrepreneurial development services for more than 100,000 direct beneficiaries and more than one million indirect beneficiaries. And all of it under an economically sustainable model”.
The NICE roll-out project will be implemented by NICE International BV with the collaboration of three partners – the Alliance for Rural Electrification, Viafrica Tanzania and Macha Works– with co-funding of the European Union.
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