From July to November four training of trainers (ToT) on "Advanced African FOSS Business Models" have been conducted in the ict@innovation  programme. Throughout the ToTs the participants and future trainers have been very motivated and eager to learn more about FOSS Business Models. The six modules of the training were very interactive and a lot of productive discussions took place.

Each ToT was held in a period of ten days in each host country, followed by a six-week online phase.

1st African Regional FOSS Business Models ToT, Johannesburg, South Africa

The first regional training of trainers took place at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The training brought together over 18 experts from universities, training institutions and the private sector in South Africa, Malawi and Zambia. This workshop was organized by FOSSFA and InWEnt and co-hosted at Wits. The future trainers were taken through the six module FOSS Business Models course by the training consortium from AITI-KACE and UNU-MERIT. The participants found the modules very informative and were very satisfied with the conduction of the training. The intensive discussions and collaborative learning proceeded in the six-week online phase, directly following the face-to-face training.

2nd African Regional FOSS Business Models ToT, Kampala, Uganda

The second training of trainers on Advanced African FOSS Business Models got under way on Monday the 31 of August in Kampala, Uganda. The workshop was co-hosted by East African Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS) in partnership with FOSSFA and InWEnt. The main training and facilitator partners were the Advanced Information Technology Institute of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE), the United Nations University, UNU-MERIT of The Netherlands). Mr James Wire, the executive secretary of the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) officially opened the workshop. “The workshop is a dream come true considering how far FOSS has come in Uganda and East Africa. The business linkage have always been the missing component” said Mr J. Wire during this occasion.

The atmosphere of the 20 participants coming from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzaniaright from the beginning reassembled a true “open source” culture with the participants freely engaging in conversation and discussion.

3rd African Regional FOSS Business Models ToT, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The third regional training of trainers was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This training attracted nineteen experts from both Business and IT. The workshop was organized in partnership with the University Computing Center (UCC) Ltd. The participants and future trainers were in addition to the training course also given an opportunity to visit and see practical FOSS business ventures in Tanzania. Zalongwe Technologies was the centre of focus for this business visit in Tanzania. The company is owned by a participant of the training, Dr Lunga. After this visit to the company, the training team found the experience and work of the company so profound that they requested that Zalongwe Technologies be added in the course as a case study.

4th African Regional FOSS Business Models ToT, Maputo, Mozambique

The fourth and final training of trainers for 2009 was held in Maputo, Mozambique at the Univeridade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), Centre of Informatics. The training attracted 24 particpipant's from Southern African Business and IT sectors. The event was organized in partnership with UEM's Centre of Informatics. Mr Mabila, the Centre's Director, was present to officially open this last regional training. As part of the advanced FOSS Business Models training, the participants were given an opportunity to visit the University Incubation Centre, CENFOSS and the Socremo, a bank that migrated to FOSS.

The participants found the ToTs very informative and valuable to their professional development, as a survey amongst them indicated. The survey further indicated that a large number of the (new) trainers will support the next phase of ict@innovation's Pillar A by hosting and organizing national trainings on FOSS Business Models in their countries, which will further spread the knowledge and understanding of FOSS and the opportunities that it brings in Africa.