By David Dewane | Executive Director
The most significant advancement in LAA over the last quarter of 2011 was traveling to Accra and confirming that it is indeed the ideal launch location. After a rigorous vetting process, Ghana emerged as the market to launch (surpassing Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya). Two LAA representatives visited Accra on a fact-finding mission and met with wide range of contacts in business, government, library science, and education. The feedback from trip was overwhelmingly positive. Observations of local building methods allowed the design team to revisit the LAA design, leading to simplification and significant cost reduction of the prototype. The critical task for the first quarter of 2012 is securing the funds to proceed with fabrication and leverage that progress to raise the remaining funds for the pilot phase.
PROGRESS MADE IN FOURTH QUARTER 2011
• Travelled to Accra, Ghana to build African network, interview candidate partners, and examine potential sites
• Formalized relationship with Librarians Without Borders to help establish training platform for local librarians
• Formalized relationship with Son & Sons / Portfolio Center to aid in brand management and market positioning
• LAA pitched with greater regularity, including an ICT conference at Rice University and to Governor Fashola of Lagos State at University of Oxford
• Campo identified as fabricator for prototype construction
OBJECTIVES FOR FIRST QUARTER 2012
• Complete 501c3 filing
• Secure funding for fabrication of LAAb prototype (~50k)
• Proceed with prototype fabrication
• Proceed with development of LAA software portal
• Secure agreement form Houston Museum of Natural History to host library during testing
• Leverage construction progress to raise funds for transporting LAAb to Ghana in mid 2012
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