MeWe OpenSource CTO, Werner van Staden, visited several Southern African OSS businesses and development organisations in May and June 2008. As expected, he found great enthusiasm for Open Standards and for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the region with many innovative projects and business models based on Open Source models.

“African economic growth forecasts show the continent to have massive potential for enterprise and sustainable development. Combined with FOSS and its community based model, the prospects are just amazing”, says Werner van Staden, co-founder of MeWe’s social enterprise MeWe OpenSource.

Whilst the South African government has implemented Open Document Format (ODF) as a standard for all communications in and out of government, many businesses and third sector organisations still need to familiarise themselves with what exactly Open Standards are and what these mean for triple bottom line and sustainability. MeWe OpenSource will be providing Open Source training and consulting services to assist corporates and NGOs meet policy guidelines and increase ICT cost savings. Averages of to 25%pa are associated with FOSS implementation.

Across Africa the FOSS transformation is picking up momentum. Combined with the emergence of Green IT regulations, financial and environmental sustainability has a champion in Free and Open Source Software.