Eric M.K Osiakwan

Executive Secretary
African Internet Service Providers Association & Ghana Internet Service Providers Association

Eric M.K Osiakwan is the Executive Secretary both of the African Internet Service Providers Association (AfrISPA) and the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA, www.gispa.org.gh). He is also a Visiting Fellow and Scholar at the Stanford University and Reuters Foundation Digital Vision Program @ http://reuters.stanford.edu in Palo Alto, California, USA.

Eric has being very instrumental in the propagation of ICTs not only in Ghana but Africa through his activism since 1999. His publications on ICTs in local and regional journals and newspapers both online and offline has played a critical role. His production and presentation of “ICT World” on Ghana’s premier talk station Choice fm from 2001 to 2003 played an important role not only in creating public awareness but generated government’s interest in ICTs as a tool for socio-economic development. He was subsequently invited to join the policy team that developed the framework for Ghana’s ICT lead Socio-Economic Development Policy.

During the past four years, he has been involved in a number of information and communication technology (ICT) related projects and initiatives in the US, Europe and Africa for a number of Governments, companies, NGOs, and international agencies. He is currently a Consultant to the WorldBank’s Information for Development program on Open Access for Africa (InfoDev, www.infodev.org), to BusyInternet (www.busyinternet.com), UNDP Ghana and OSIWA (www.osiwa.org).

He self published a research document on Ghana’s Internet Industry (GII). Co-authored “The Internet in Ghana” with the Mosaic group using the GDI methodology @ http://www.public.asu.edu/~wfoste1/GhanaGDI.pdf and co-authored the Ghana chapter of Negotiating The Net (NTN) – the Politics of Internet Diffusion in Africa @ http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/ntn/ghana/ghana_7-01-04.doc. He was also invited by the Royal African Society to contributed ideas to P.M Tony Blairs’ Commission for Africa @ http://royalafricansociety.org/articles_africanvoices/osiakwan_eric
He also co-founded the Ghana New Ventures Competition (GNVC, www.gnvc.org) of which he was the Chief Operations Officer for 2 years. He is a member of a number of professional bodies including:

• Member: Internet Society (ISOC, www.isoc.org)
• Member: Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN, www.icann.org)
• Co-founder and Member: Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA, www.fossfa.net)
• Member: Ghana Institute