Van Rensburg, JVeldsman, AWJenkins, M2010-10-252010-10-252008Van Rensburg, J, Veldsman, AW and Jenkins, M. 2008. From technologists to social enterprise developers: Our journey as ‘ICT for development’ practitioners in Southern Africa. Information Technology for Development Special Issue: IT Investments in Emerging Economies, Vol 14 (1), pp 76–890268-1102http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/itdj.20088/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10204/4496Copyright: 2008 Wiley-Blackwell. This is the pre print version of the work. The definitive version is published in Information Technology for Development, Special Issue: IT Investments in Emerging Economies, Vol 14 (1), pp 76–89It is easy to find in the research literature examples of ICT4Dev initiatives that have failed. Rather than continue with a focus on technologies, our journey has led us towards the establishment of a network of community based, ICT-enabled, sustainable, micro service enterprises where ‘development through enterprise’ is the key. The writers argue that such success requires a more socially responsible approach to business development. We have found that when the service delivery channel is enhanced by a co-ordinated approach to ownership and channel support, community based businesses work well. On this journey, the challenge has been to deploy ICT in “production” mode, so that saleable products and services can be quickly delivered to the targeted community. On the basis of such learning, this paper sets out a new paradigm for practitioners in this field. Here the term Infopreneurs is used to describe a ICT mediated network of “social entrepreneurs” who deliver sustainable and community level e-Business in Southern Africa.enICT4DevInfopreneursCommunity level service enterprisesSocial enterprise developersArticleVan Rensburg, J., Veldsman, A., & Jenkins, M. (2008). From technologists to social enterprise developers: Our journey as ‘ICT for development’ practitioners in Southern Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/4496Van Rensburg, J, AW Veldsman, and M Jenkins "From technologists to social enterprise developers: Our journey as ‘ICT for development’ practitioners in Southern Africa." (2008) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/4496Van Rensburg J, Veldsman A, Jenkins M. From technologists to social enterprise developers: Our journey as ‘ICT for development’ practitioners in Southern Africa. 2008; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/4496.TY - Article AU - Van Rensburg, J AU - Veldsman, AW AU - Jenkins, M AB - It is easy to find in the research literature examples of ICT4Dev initiatives that have failed. Rather than continue with a focus on technologies, our journey has led us towards the establishment of a network of community based, ICT-enabled, sustainable, micro service enterprises where ‘development through enterprise’ is the key. The writers argue that such success requires a more socially responsible approach to business development. We have found that when the service delivery channel is enhanced by a co-ordinated approach to ownership and channel support, community based businesses work well. On this journey, the challenge has been to deploy ICT in “production” mode, so that saleable products and services can be quickly delivered to the targeted community. On the basis of such learning, this paper sets out a new paradigm for practitioners in this field. Here the term Infopreneurs is used to describe a ICT mediated network of “social entrepreneurs” who deliver sustainable and community level e-Business in Southern Africa. DA - 2008 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - ICT4Dev KW - Infopreneurs KW - Community level service enterprises KW - Social enterprise developers LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2008 SM - 0268-1102 T1 - From technologists to social enterprise developers: Our journey as ‘ICT for development’ practitioners in Southern Africa TI - From technologists to social enterprise developers: Our journey as ‘ICT for development’ practitioners in Southern Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/4496 ER -