One year ago in Kenya,Wakili Abasi who is one of my friends set up an internet cafe in the town of Nairobi where he grew up. He wanted to promote the use of the internet to residents living in disadvantaged areas of Nairobi. He did not set up an internet cafe with the intention of making money but to bring the information age to his community. For many people in Kenya and the majority of other African countries, internet cafes can provide their first contact with the internet, the web and e-mail. The number of Kenyans online is growing rapidly. He realised that there was very few people in his neighbourhood who had computers. He told me that he was trying to create opportunities for a maximum of people by the use of the internet. He wanted to create a connection between the residents and the rest of the world. The internet cafe is situated near a college and not far from a small shopping centre. They only have nine computers. Customers can browse the internet and check their email. Some connect only to look for a job. Going online is affordable and the money is enough to cover the rent of the business premise. More people should create online community centres and internet cafes to bring the internet to small cities and rural places of Africa.
If you want to open your own internet cafe, start by doing a cybercafe business plan first. Be sure to have the best internet cafe software and a good internet service provider to offers your customers high speed internet access. Networking hardware is not expensive if you use the right type of network. The cost of setting up your internet cyber cafe depends on the number of services and computers you plan to offer to your customers. It is a rewarding business in Africa and you will probably have plenty of loyal customers and friends.
