SPOTLIGHT: How to fill the shoes of Colombian ICT minister Diego Molano?

In recent months it has been common to read negative headlines regarding politicians in Latin America with an abundance of stories of corruption, abuse of power and excessive salaries.

Colombia's outgoing ICT minister Diego Molano has been a shining light in dark political times and his resignation this week has provoked a huge response on social media and local press lamenting his departure and praising his achievements.

"What a shame that @diegomolanovega is leaving. I think he was the best minister. A man of integrity, no scandals and not seeking the limelight," wrote Carlos González on Twitter.

"@diegomolanovega what a void you are leaving in the government. How wonderful it is to have public servants that are as committed to the development of the country as you," wrote Daniela Garcés in another Twitter post.

Molano was quoted by local press as saying he was leaving the ministry to move to Washington DC from where he will work on academic and consulting projects. David Luna has been chosen as his replacement.

A MAN OF THE PEOPLE

As a testament to his impact on the ICT sector over the last five years, the landing page of Colombia's ICT ministry website is dedicated to the achievements of the minister.

I interviewed Molano during his visit to Mobile World Congress in 2014 and was struck by his sincerity and his vision of promoting technology not for technology's sake but ensuring that it has a practical application that can be used for social and economic development, lifting people out of poverty and giving them tools to build a better future.

"Technology is a tool. But it's very important that it has an impact on people, that it has an impact on education and healthcare and that it leads to policies that allow teleworking and that this ultimately benefits people and that they don't become slaves to technology," Molano said in an interview with CNN last month during a visit to Chile.

Molano was always keen to get his hands dirty. The ICT (Mintic) ministerial website was updated on a daily basis with photographs of the minister opening new centers and visiting the people they will benefit. He had his own website and was considered in and outside of Colombia as a bit of an accidental rock star.

VIVE DIGITAL

Molano served as ICT minister during the first administration of President Juan Manuel Santos and 2010-14 and kept his position when Santos was reelected last year.

The minister is best known for creating Vive Digital, a government inclusion program that has been lauded internationally and emulated elsewhere in Latin America.

Like any visionary politician, Molano designed the program to be multifaceted spanning multiple sectors and to extend beyond the time of any particular administration.

Molano recognized that technology is more than just the infrastructure but a whole value ecosystem and engineered a four-pronged strategy: infrastructure, services, users and applications.

Connecting people to basic infrastructure has been the main focus over the last five years, using a blend of fixed and mobile technologies, installing thousands of community access centers in remote areas and putting computers in the hands of school children.

The service level has entailed connectivity subsidies for low-income families and a major e-government drive obliging all areas of the public sector to offer public services to citizens online. It also introduces progressive concepts such as e-waste recycling and regulation obliging operators to share telecoms infrastructure.

The next four years will focus more on capitalizing on that infrastructure and converting Colombia into an exporter of value-added digital content, applications and services.

Last week, Mintic assigned 25.3bn pesos (US$10.7mn) for two programs to finance local software companies to obtain globally recognized certifications of quality and to develop solutions for the healthcare sector.

The end game is ultimately for all of this to lead to a more digital savvy population and culture using technology to provide better facilities for citizens, including disabled people, introducing concepts such as teleworking and generally to stimulate growth of the local economy.

On balance, Mintic figures show that during the first term of President Juan Manuel Santos the government surpassed its goal of increasing by fourfold the number of broadband connections, with the total rising 342% to 9.7mn, for a penetration of 21.7% of the population.

It's no coincidence that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckberberg chose Colombia as the first Latin American country to launch his Internet.org social internet access program.

Naturally, comments on social media have expressed concern whether Molano's successor will be able to fit such large shoes and also wonder whether the next minister will have the same level of genuine commitment to development or be just another politician.