After flying around the world for seven years as a paratrooper in the Canadian military, Ian Howard decided to trade his gun for a computer.
After finishing a degree in environmental sciences at the University of Waterloo he wrote in a proposal, "wireless technology has the opportunity to bridge the digital divide. Poor nations, who do not have the infrastructure for interconnectivity as we do, will now be able to create a wireless infrastructure."
As a reward, Geekcorps sent him to Mali as the Geekcorps Mali Program Manager, where he led a team equipping radio stations with wireless interconnections and designing content sharing systems.
He is now a consultant on the project as well as to other Geekcorps programs. 
The Smart Technology for a Smarter Business Program is a highly practical training curriculum that enables small business owners and managers to build smarter businesses with technology. Unlike traditional training experiences that focus on either technology or business, the program targets the integration of both. Multi-faceted, innovative, and experiential, the program addresses 19 different business topics, in 5 different languages, and includes case scenarios, virtual entrepreneurs, technology demos and activities, facilitated discussions, and computer-based simulations. It introduces up-to-date technologies in the marketplace that are accessible worldwide.
Geekcorps’ international technology experts teach communities how to be
digitally independent by expanding private enterprise with
innovative, appropriate, and affordable information and communication technologies.