Puoza Gamaliel

My very first experience with a computer was an intro visit to the lab one evening in 1998. I had discovered a new world with a serious psychological transformation after the tour. Charged with strong enthusiasm, i started to concentrate more and more on computer science than my other subjects (Economics and Mathematics). I discovered and started programming in Qbasic even though that was not part of the curriculum, switching to Turbo Pascal (my favourite) afterwards. Puoza wrote a full payroll program in Turbo paschal for which the source code could span the entire length of Ghana in the course of single semester of 1999. Now, my favourite dishes are C++ (Win32, ATL, MFC) and Visual basic/.NET. I also do <?php?> and <% vbscript, javascript%>. Linux (RedHat, Mandrake, Knoppix, Slackware) is my playground during hobby time. I like to ride motorbikes.

www.puoza.com

Xose Ahlijah

History (Background): Business Current (Background): Software Development
Institutions of study: University of Portsmouth, UK / NIIT, Ghana / Mawuli Secondary School, Ghana
Development languages: PHP, ASP, ColdFusion, DHTML/JavaScript/VBScript, XML
Database languages: MSSQL, mySQL
Development IDEs: Adobe Suite

Mark Davies

Mark is a successful internet start-up entrepreneur that pioneered the development of online applications in the USA during the dot-boom with metrobeat and citysearch. He was also an original founder in FirstTuesday, the global networking phenomenon out of London, and most recently has founded BusyInternet in Accra, Ghana (Africa's largest private technology center). Mark brings seasoned business experience to busylab and is mostly responsible for feature integration, information design, and business deployment.

www.markdavies.net

Kofi Adu-Boahen

Born in Accra, Ghana, Kofi Adu Boahen completed his college and graduate studies in the US, obtaining a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Southern California and Harvard Business School respectively. Kofi is currently a Vice President with JP Morgan in their Investment Banking division with overall resposibility for sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa, he is also Country Representative for JP Morgan in Nigeria. Kofi has always been in the finance industry having worked for Solomon Smith Barney on Wall Street and the $450MM AIG Africa Infrastructure Fund based out of Washington DC. When he is not crunching numbers or chasing deals across the region, Kofi spends his time strategising and figuring out ways to build the next Microsoft or the next Ford Motor Company or the next Standard Oil Co...

Michael Ocansey

Mike developed an interest for computers during his last term in high school. After graduating from high school in 1998, an old school powerbook at home helped fuel his interest in computers. In 2000 he dropped Science and enrolled with NIIT Ghana to pursue a career in computing. Starting off with basic HTML in notepad, Mike now develops web applications with almost all the technologies available in the field; which he studied on his own. ASP, PHP, Coldfusion, Flash, DHTML/Javascript, XML, SQL . With an interest to develop applications as and when he learns a new techology, mike redesigned michaelocansey.com  to use DHTML/Javascript with XML as the data store. He is also building "smartBuilder" - a dHTML/Javascripted-based tool for site building, which he intends to give out as freeware. He also developed an ASP-based intranet application during his ASP learning moments. What does he like most? -- gadgets!!

www.michaelocansey.com

Lord Kinful

I have been in computing from 1999 up till date. The passion for computing came after I completed secondary school in 1999. I enrolled in a computer school (Global Computer Institute) where I studied microcomputer hardware and desktop designing for a year. I got admission into the Polytechnic to read Management but I found it a bit boring since my interest in computing was increasing as a result of a QBasic book I bought. As such I enrolled in NIIT to study web centric programming. At NIIT my interest and passion in computing became intense. There I studied HTML, DHTML, CSS, XML, WAP, VB. VC, Linux, Java, C++. I later went on to develop an intranet emailing system using C++ (CGI Programming), a Café Timer using VB. A school Management Software, using VB, a package tracking software using ASP, and a GIS software using Arc GIS and VB. and in recent times SMS applications using PHP. Currently am reading BSC in Management with Computing. My hobby aside computing is playing either Table Tennis or Lawn Tennis.

Ebow Halm

bio info to come

Sarah Bartlett

With a degree in Cultural Anthropology and an interest in research, technology, and work in the developing world, Sarah Bartlett's professional life taken her from the various cities in the US to Peru to West Africa. Leaving New York City in 2005, where she was working for Honeybee Robotics, she volunteered for the Peace Corps' Small Business Development program in Kankan, Guinea. There she trained local SMEs in marketing, business development, and computer literacy as well as coordinated a cross-Atlantic microfinance project. She is thrilled to be a part of the Busylab team, where she works on innovative projects that bring the TradeNet platform to people in the field.

Andrea Biardi

A touch of mediterranean style comes from Andrea, an Italian consultant who has been working in the IT field for about 15 years, mainly as an entrepreneur, founding and running a small but successful software company. His significant experience in software development brings fresh ideas to BusyLab to further refine and perfection the way we work. Prior to working for BusyLab, he worked for about two years with Grameen Foundation to coordinate the implementation of an MIS for a large community bank in Nigeria.

Isaac Malan

I grew up in Takoradi and had my secondary education at St. John’s School, Sekondi. In my childhood, computers were a wonder to me and my curiosity got me to like them. Nurturing this interest, I pursued a B.Sc degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from University of Ghana, Legon. I find programming fascinating and ‘QA’ing interesting, aside imparting mathematics to the younger generation. I’m proud to be part of the busylab team; what a blessing!

John Yankey

John is a blend of Ghanaian, Lebanese and Nigerian parents. Born in Lagos, Nigeria with international education in 3 continents (Africa, Europe & North America. He graduated in 1996 from Macalester College (Minneapolis, USA) with B.A in Computer Science; Spent several years working for both fortune 500 and start-private companies. He has a broad experience in Software Engineering & Production; ranging from old IBM Mainframe machines to Linux systems. In 1998 he moved to San Francisco to embrace the Silicon Valley and also attended University of Berkeley for a diploma in Telecommunications Engineering. Finally when the dot-com bubble burst. Passing through Accra his way to Imperial College,U.K for graduate school and ended up staying and began working on a start-up company [Leo Logics] to cater for the globally emerging African market.

Gaddiel Pratt

Gaddiel was born in Winneba, a small and quiet town in Ghana. Had his secondary education from Mfantsipim School (Kwabotwe) where he had his first encounter with computers and also programming in Q-basic. With the childhood dream of being a civil engineer, he felt disappointed when he gained admission into KNUST to read Computer Science. But after his first semester, he knew that he was meant to be a programmer. Gaddiel has worked with great teams of web developers in some great firms in Ghana, the last and the most challenging being busylab. When he is not working he loves to party, listen to music, watch movies and travel.

Pablo Destefanis

Pablo has many years of experience in computer networks and systems administration and takes care of the operation of Tradenet's main servers including security, database management and replication. He makes sure data is available to our customers when they require it and works closely with the development team to implement changes and new features into our systems. After being based in Ghana for the last two years, he moved to the US, but he insists it's only temporary and he'll be back in West Africa sooner than later.

 

Garcia Honvoh

I have always been fascinated by English language. Thus, after my A’ Level in science instead of going to France, I landed in Ghana. I am now an advanced diploma holder in Business Administration from an institution in UK (Association of Business Executives). I was used to computers but never thought about the conception of websites till I got to Busylab. Today, it is a passion for me to be testing my colleagues’ developers work before it goes live. I am currently doing some research on the internet to better my work on both administration and quality assurance (QA) level. I am enjoying my work and happy to be part of Busylab’s team. A whole new experience which is worth the troubles and sacrifices!!!!!!!!!

Puoza Gamaliel

My very first experience with a computer was an intro visit to the lab one evening in 1998. I had discovered a new world with a serious psychological transformation after the tour. Charged with strong enthusiasm, i started to concentrate more and more on computer science than my other subjects (Economics and Mathematics). I discovered and started programming in Qbasic even though that was not part of the curriculum, switching to Turbo Pascal (my favourite) afterwards. Puoza wrote a full payroll program in Turbo paschal for which the source code could span the entire length of Ghana in the course of single semester of 1999. Now, my favourite dishes are C++ (Win32, ATL, MFC) and Visual basic/.NET. I also do <?php?> and <% vbscript, javascript%>. Linux (RedHat, Mandrake, Knoppix, Slackware) is my playground during hobby time. I like to ride motorbikes.

www.puoza.com