DotConnectAfrica
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. [1]
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).[2]
Mission
DCA aims to accomplish the following missions:[3]
- 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.
DCA Preliminary Advisory Board & Team Members
Some of the individuals who serve as part of the organization's preliminary advisory board and team include:[4]
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