Visitors to Application Technologies' office are greeted by 20 African masks on the wall. Each has a color pattern unique to a particular village in Cameroon, the home country of the high-tech company's founder and chief executive officer.

Rebecca Enonchong has lived in the United States for 20 of her 35 years but has not forgotten her roots. She has done more for her homeland than just hang its artifacts on her walls, opening an office in her native country.

Enonchong is one of 20 native Africans -- many are female executives of technology companies -- who planned to spend three days in Kampala, Uganda, beginning Monday to discuss how to develop high-tech industries in the countries they left behind. They intend to meet with government and business leaders, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs.

"There's a link and an attachment to the continent that you can't get rid of," Enonchong said in her office on the eighth floor of a suburban Washington office building. "You just fall in love with this beautiful continent and say, 'I can't let it suffer. What can I do?"'

-----
Full Article
CNN.com