Weichhaus made the remarks last week during a visit to the Technology Centre, an ICT centre based in Gobabis, where he met representatives from the Namibia Angola Housing Initiative (NAAHI), who hosted a two-day investment forum there.

"We want to make sure that everybody knows how to handle a laptop and how to use a computer," added the consultant, who is also the Senior Head of the ICT Academy at UNAM.

He said they had agreed that UNAM is the best partner because of its great infrastructure consisting of eight campuses.

"We have started here (Ounongo Technology Centre). This is our pilot project," he said, adding that they intended to have 13 ICT academies in Namibia.

Weichhaus said he had vast international contacts and had worked in Australia, the United States of America, Eastern Europe and South Africa and wanted to attract international companies to help them.

He urged NAAHI not to look further than UNAM if they need experts as the university has an abundant pool of specialists in the IT or geology fields.

"Don't ask for experts from India or the US," he urged, saying that outsiders would not know how to fight poverty in another country as opposed to the inhabitants themselves".

The ICT consultant disclosed that he had purchased a big plot of 400 hectares in Okahandja and had dedicated 200 hectares of that to the 'silicon dream'.

He said he had met the late Steve Jobs, the CEO and cofounder of Apple and Bill Gates, Microsoft boss, when California's 'Silicon Valley' was still a green area.

Silicon Valley refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations and is used as a synonym for the American high-tech sector.

Operi Murangi, owner and founder of the Ounongo Technology Centre, said ITC is important for governance and development as it will bring government activities closer to the community.

He called on government to introduce ICT as a subject in schools as that will help learners attain better results.

"This is the African century, and particularly Namibia has the best telecommunications infrastructure. We are ready to complement the NAAHI efforts," he stated, saying that their strategy is to raise awareness and sensitise the community on how it can benefit from the use of information and communication technology.

Murangi said apart from Ounongo, there are more ITC centres that are being hosted by local schools outside Gobabis. A future five-year plan entails a partnership with the office of the Governor to ensure that all the constituencies of the Omaheke Region are connected under one web portal so that when an investor is lured to Gobabis, they can get all information from one portal.