Driven by increasing economic activity, centers offering basic computer training have begun to spring up around Freetown.

Market observers say the development has been prompted by stiff competition among banks, cell-phone companies and ISPs, and also among foreign organizations that are increasingly taking an interest in Sierra Leone capital.

"There is a higher demand for IT professionals," says Austin Odia, an IT consultant who between 2000 and 2003 handled the training of more than 650 ex-combatants in the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) program. "You know we are getting more banks, NGOs, etc., which need their services. Also, there are more government projects that are being financed by foreign donors which have to be monitored."

Last year, the Institute of Public Administration & Management (IPAM), an arm of the prestigious Fourah Bay College of the University of Sierra Leone, became the first institution to get accredited for the Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) qualifications in Sierra Leone. A private institution, Sam-Kam, followed.

From hardware and basic networking to core networking courses, more entry points are being provided for technically minded professionals wishing to extend their area of professional competence into computer networking. Courses addressing the fast pace of modern information and communication technology are also being designed, in an effort to help interested students recover from the country's decade-long civil war.

More university graduates are enrolling in these courses, having realized that computer literacy is an advantage for job opportunities in any sector of the economy.

"Many have discovered that the IT line is getting more marketable by the day, either as an independent practitioner or on employment basis. Even the demand for mere data operators is on the rise," Odia added.

But like every other African country, the issue of poverty still plays a role in Sierra Leone's ICT situation. Many people do not have the necessary resources to be computer literate.

"For ordinary Sierra Leoneans, it is not affordable," Odia said. "It will cost about [US]$1,500 to be qualified as an IT person. That is why most IT managers around are electrical engineering graduates."