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Cybercafe Update: by David Telleen-Lawton |
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I gave my son a trip to San Nicolas, El Salvador last summer as his graduation present (MS, Earth Systems, Stanford). This item may not have been at the top of his graduation present wish list, but he later told me, “Thanks, Dad. I had a lot of fun and I think we hit our objective, don’t you?”
Our objective: to help the FSSCA's partner, the Coordinadora, to increase the profitability of their Cybercafe. Here’s a review of our four days activity. What do you think?
 Chepe |
Estela Hernandez, a community leader also on the Coordinadora staff, introduced Tim and me to Chepe on the Monday afternoon after our red-eye flight from Los Angeles. Chepe, who has been with the project since it began three years ago, continues to be involved with the Cybercafe and is the only paid staff. He’s the Cybercafe’s heart and soul. |
We spent the afternoon learning about the Café, observing the users, and planning for the next three days.
| The next morning Chepe, Tim, two Cybercafe volunteers (Irma and Carina), Yunia (a volunteer from California) and I all hopped in a van and drove to Usulután and Jiquilisco where we spent the next ten hours speaking with managers and owners of six of the Internet cafes serving those towns. We also paid a visit to the telecommunications company that had been promising a high-speed line for the past year or so but still hadn't delivered. |
 The field research team: Tim, Yunia, Chepe, Irma, and Karina. |
At the Internet cafes we asked about their shop’s history, their services, other products, pricing, hours, training classes, and many other questions that arose as we tried to understand their clientele and market(s). We typically split into two teams of three, careful to have someone bi-lingual (Tim or Yunia) to sit at my elbow.
We learned a lot and spent the next day distilling what we learned and discussing how it was relevant to the Mangle Cybercafe. Perhaps the biggest single evidence of the value was when Tim and I returned on Thursday to prepare for a presentation to the Senior Managers at the Coordinadora. Chepe had already found Internet user time tracking software similar to what we had seen at the other cafes and had it running on all the machines to track usage more accurately.
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Our most important recommendation: profitability was likely for the Cybercafe, but only if a high speed line was installed. As we presented our findings, the local telecommunication company installer came by to announce they had advanced their installation plans and we could have a high speed line by the end of the week. That “end of the week” turned into two weeks, but a success nonetheless. The high speed line is essential to profitability because 1) it’s less than half the cost of the satellite link, and 2) it’s faster. Interviews with our own users showed that many used other cafes to do picture sharing because it was too slow at Cybercafe. |
Along with other ideas for Chepe and the promise to re-hang the Cybercafe sign at the highway, we can look forward to a profitable business to feed other important Coordinadora projects and help connect the communities to the world. Interesting factoid: Cybercafe users are primarily students doing homework assigned by the teacher.
The Cybercafe has an important role in the community. Not only does it allow students to do their homework, but it is also the only public Internet access for miles. Plans are being discussed to do more local training. If you are interested in the growth and well-being of the Cybercafe and the programs it can offer its neighbors, please let me know. We have some long-term projects that need some support from El Norte to combine with the energy, leadership, and the need in San Nicolas.