Avinash Meetoo

Let's build a Smart Mauritius together

Starting as Head of Experimentation Accelerator Labs at UNDP Mauritius & Seychelles

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When I was a kid, I was a computer geek and, at university, I found it natural to study Computer Science (or, more precisely, Informatics). Since returning to Mauritius in 1998, I have worked in many institutions and organisations and I have always tried to put my following mantra into practice:

“It’s not about hardware or software. It’s about people.”

For me, empowering people and unleashing them to fight against problems affecting fellow citizens is the only reasonable way forward…

This is why I am very happy to announce that I am now the Head of Experimentation at the Accelerator Lab of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mauritius & Seychelles office. As part of a network operating in 116 countries, the Mauritius & Seychelles Accelerator Lab will contribute to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030:

  1. No Poverty,
  2. Zero Hunger,
  3. Good Health and Well-being,
  4. Quality Education,
  5. Gender Equality,
  6. Clean Water and Sanitation,
  7. Affordable and Clean Energy,
  8. Decent Work and Economic Growth,
  9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure,
  10. Reducing Inequality,
  11. Sustainable Cities and Communities,
  12. Responsible Consumption and Production,
  13. Climate Action,
  14. Life Below Water,
  15. Life On Land,
  16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions and
  17. Partnerships for the Goals.

This is going to be tough. But I am confident that, with the Head of Solutions Mapping and the Head of Exploration and other colleagues at UNDP Mauritius & Seychelles, we will achieve big. As Head of Experimentation, I will do my best to create multi-stakeholder solutions to address complex problems using innovation, technology, strategic-thinking and leadership.

Prior to joining UNDP, I was Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation, a board member of the National Computer Board and a one of the governors of the University of Technology, Mauritius. Here are some key moments during my tenure.

A lot of important and interesting things need to happen during the next ten years.

I want to work with all those willing to put in the effort to make the world better.

Horizon 2030, that’s our new motto 🙂

Key moments during my four years as a Senior Adviser

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A few weeks ago, I saw this online and it resonates with me: “The Senior Advisor is tasked with raising dialogue to a strategic level, both internally and externally. They will undoubtedly be an expert in their chosen field.” This is what I loved doing during the four years: raising the dialogue to a strategic level i.e. medium- and long-term. I am less interested in today. I’m much more interested in tomorrow, next year and in ten years.

Since becoming a Senior Adviser in June 2017 at the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation and also a board member of the National Computer Board (NCB) and the University of Technology (UTM), I have contributed, in some way or another, in multiple policies and projects which, I hope, will help transform Mauritius into a better country in the years to come.

Here is a selection of key public-facing moments during those past four years:

I was always focussed on one thing: how to make Mauritians more innovative so as to reach Vision 2030 to transform Mauritius into a smarter country.

Of course, I was never alone. During the past four years, I have been lucky to be able to work with some extraordinary people in Government, in parastatal bodies, in private companies and a number of individuals from the civil society. I would like to thank all of them.

Horizon 2030, that’s my motto 🙂

I created the Mauritius Linux User Group twenty years ago

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Twenty years ago, I created something new in Mauritius, a Linux User Group.

Here is the actual email I sent to a mailing list I had just created and which we would use for years to come. Remember, this was years before social networking:

From: Avinash Meetoo <>
To: Mauritius Linux User Group <>
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 09:47:22 +0400
Subject: [mauritius-linux] Announcing the Mauritius Linux User Group

******************************
The Mauritius Linux User Group
******************************

Hi !

I am very happy to announce the creation of a Linux User Group (LUG) in Mauritius (Indian Ocean). This user group, as stated in the "Linux User Group HOWTO", has the following aims :

* Advocate the use of Linux in the country. Talk about its superior design, the numerous software available (GNU, etc.) and the fact that it is freely available.

* Educate anyone wanting to become familiar with Linux. Help inexperienced users with installation and the day-to-day running of the operating system. In the long run, provide training for anyone wanting to become competent with Linux.

* Support anyone having problems with Linux. A discussion list has already been set up (see notes at the end).

* Make all Linux users (and lovers ?) meet. This is great to share experience and have a good beer :-)

The broader aim of this User Group is to coordinate Linux activities in the country as well as to serve as a liaison for the media (newspapers and TV).

For the time being, I would appreciate if current Mauritian Linux users as well as aspiring users could subscribe to the mailing list so that we can start discussing as soon as possible.

Thanks.
Avinash Meetoo.

As you can see, the key elements of a LUG are advocacy, education, support and socialisation. I was lucky that some like-minded individuals immediately joined the mailing list and, since then, have contributed a lot. In the email, I also sent some details about myself because, well, at that time, I was just a young guy fresh from university and only a few people actually knew me:

I am 27 and I live in Quatre-Bornes.

After 5 years of study in France, I was awarded a "Diplome d'Ingenieur en Informatique" (from INSA Lyon, http://www.insa-lyon.fr) together with a "Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies en Informatique" (from ENS Lyon, http://www.ens-lyon.fr).

I am now a Lecturer in Computer Science at the Centre for Business Studies of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

I have been using computers for a long time (since 1988 in fact). During my studies, I used a lot of different Unixes like HP-UX, Irix or Solaris. In 1996, I had my first encounter with Linux at a friend's place.

I returned to Mauritius in 1998 and some time back, I bought a 15Gb hard disk and installed Red Hat 6.2. Since then, I've upgraded to Red Hat 7.0 and everything is working wonderfully !

Lately, I've been having a lot of fun with...
... gnome, gtkmm, orbit, python, haskell (hugs), xmms, soundtracker,
etc.

What about now?

Twenty years later, a number of interesting things have happened:

Businesses in Mauritius have adopted open source software. Large companies have been moving their UNIX servers to Linux for years now, since the beginning of the 2000’s in fact. Telecom operators rely on Linux everywhere (e.g. MyT is Linux). The Government Online Centre has a lot of Linux servers running open source software. And small companies, who use cloud services a lot, use Linux (as the Google, Amazon and, heck, even the Microsoft cloud are basically thousands and thousands of Linux servers). The world runs on Linux and open source software.

The population has also adopted Linux and open source software. Android, the operating system created for smartphones and tablets by Google, runs on a Linux kernel in fact. This means that all of us who have an Android device is a Linux user. Smart devices at home such as smart TVs, smart speakers, etc. are also powered by Linux. And a lot of home networking devices such as routers, modems, etc. also run Linux. Linux is everywhere.

Interestingly, Mauritius has a National Open Source Policy, Strategy and Action Plan since 2014. I am very happy, of course, but not because I am a Linux geek. Rather, I feel that a sovereign country, especially in this age of technological disruption, needs to have a very well-thought strategy on how to become self-reliant (in terms of technology people, products and services) and open source is perfect for that.

What about the future?

Technological independence is something we can aspire to. We cannot, as a country, always depend on foreign solutions. We need to have our own solutions.

And this starts by training people. This is what I did when I was a lecturer and also when I launched Knowledge7 but we need to increase our throughput now. Mauritius needs its polymaths and engineers… like everywhere else. Without a critical mass of such polymaths and engineers, we will not be able to build the solutions we need. For this to happen, a paradigm shift needs to happen in the way we educate our people. We need to stop educating for passing exams but rather to become problem solvers. If it were me, I would eliminate all exams and base the decision whether to award a degree to someone on the merit of her/him actually having solved a real problem which was impacting real people.

Let’s create a critical mass of such problem solvers and let us give them free reign to make our country better.

For me, that’s one of the best ways forward.