Faro Foundation, Gouda, Senegal, West Africa

In the winter of 2000 Wim Wijting founded the Faro Foundation. His goal: to close the digital gap and make up for the loss of speed with which the developing countries are on the road to development. The means: entrepreneurship.

According to Wijting, an entrepreneur in heart and soul, entrepreneurship is the way to make the economy bloom without making the country dependant on foreign funds.

This rade, not aid?method isn't one of the pet notions of the Dutch ministry for Overseas Development by accident. Faro realized this and created durable partnerships with local entrepreneurs, preferably women.

In collaboration with a Senegalese entrepreneur the first cybercafe Lynda was opened as a pilot project in September 2001. The caf?has since transformed into an information center where both the local population and tourist can use the phone, do word processing, send e-mails and browse the Internet.

Today the Senegalese entrepreneur is already making money thanks to the cybercafe. Besides the revenues from the services he provides, he is also making money by giving courses and training the local population. For one hour per week, the center is at the disposal of the inhabitants of the village free of charge.

The main Internet center of the Faro Foundation is situated at Sokone. In this center Faro offers basic PC and Internet courses to the scholars and students of Sokone and surroundings, and Internet access at a reduced rate. The local people show more interest everyday.

That is why the Faro Foundation is continually looking for additional financial resources to be able to continue operating and expand the first center. Three new locations were found for the upcoming Faro centers. The goal is to open a dozen centers across Senegal in a few years.