Looking for a good IDE? You've just found the best.
What's in it for You
IntelliJ IDEA lets you code without a hitch. It practices a non-intrusive, intuitive approach to help you write, debug, refactor, test and learn your code. Thanks to its deep understanding of languages and technologies, IntelliJ IDEA provides a second pair of hands for you when you need them. Playing the game by your rules without ever getting in your way — that's what we believe is the key to a productive and pleasant development.
What's in it for Your Team
IntelliJ IDEA creates a convenient environment where all team members can work together efficiently. Transparent integration with a wide range of version control systems allows team members to stay in sync with each other's changes, ensuring that all contributions are properly put together. IntelliJ IDEA can coexist with other popular IDEs such as Eclipse and project management tools such as Maven, so your team can use each tool where it's best applicable. To further improve the overall team productivity, IntelliJ IDEA cooperates with JetBrains TeamCity, a powerful continuous integration and build server.
What's in it for Your Company
IntelliJ IDEA enables your company to deliver complex software products meeting high quality standards and tight project schedules. The IDE constantly validates code quality and offers instant fixes for found problems at all levels — from individual statements to the overall architecture, by using advanced code inspections and dependency matrix analysis. Be it a coding pattern issue, potential performance problem, or contract violation, IntelliJ IDEA displays a warning and fixes the issue, helping you produce clean, top-notch code in less time than ever.
ASPOSE מוצרי נמכרים בישראל על ידי חברת אי.אס.אל. מערכות תוכנה בע"מ צוות מיומן ובקי בשימוש בתוכנה יעמוד לרשותך בהסברים ויעוץ בבחירת המוצר המתאים ניתן לקבל גם שרותי פתוח ומיקור חוץ לפרטים נוספים, הסברים והצעות מחיר טלפון 03-6122918 info@eswlab.com
At Aspose you will find that you have a wide variety of feature-rich components at your disposal. These components fall intofour categories. With our File Format Components, developers can create applications in .NET or Java, which can open, edit, create and save some of the most popular file formats in business. We have on offer an excellent line of data visualization components,as well as, quite a few Utility Components. Last but not least, our growing set of SSRS Rendering Extensions are a must have for any one looking to generate reports in multiple formats from MS SQL Server Reporting Services. For those of you who are looking to purchase multiple components together, we offer our suite products, which are both convenient and economical.
All components come with extensive documentation featuring numerous demo applications enabling you to get up to speed in no time. To download a free evaluation version and for more information about each individual components, please follow the links given below.
Product Suites
For the convenience of those developers who want to use multiple components from Aspose, we offer four different Product Suites. By getting multiple components in the form of a suite, you will be able to take advantage of the enormous discounts that are made available for these suite products.
With the help of File Format Components, developers can easily and efficiently incorporate advanced file processing functionality into their .NET or Java applications. The file format components offered by Aspose enable you to programmatically create, edit, open and convert files in formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents.
Aspose introduces 5 unique Rendering Extensions for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. Using these rendering extensions, developers can easily export their RDL reports to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents. Moreover, it is also possible to add barcodes to the exported documents.
Aspose offers a unique solution to JasperReports developers to export their reports in a wide range of output formats with high fidelity. At the moment, developers can export their reports to PowerPoint documents only but with the addition of more products in this category, more output formats will also be supported in future.
The Visual Components offered by Aspose allow you to generate ad-hoc query and enable you to visualize your data in the form of a chart or present it in a grid. You also have fully featured editor at your disposal. In addition to this you can easily incorporate barcode functionality into your application.
You will find that we provide some of the best Utility Components for spell checking, recurrence patterns, network protocols (SMTP, POP3, MIME, IMAP, FTP, DNS, ICMP and WHOIS), workflow engine and extending the features of ASP.
לחברת אי.אס.אל מערכות תוכנה בע"מ, דרוש תכנת דוט-נט בעל נסיון של 2-3 שנות עבודה בפועל, לעבודה מגוונת ומאתגרת המשלבת שימוש בטכנלוגיות המתקדמות ביותר. חובה ידע גם ב- VB.netוגם #C, ידע בקומפוננטות צד שלישי כגון: Dundas ,Devexpress - יתרון מהותי. נסיון במערכות פיננסיות יתרון. העבודה גם בסביבת ASPוגם ב- Winforms
משרה מספר 11
לחברת אי.אס.אל מערכות תוכנה בע"מ, דרוש תכנת דוט-נט בעל נסיון של 2-3 שנות עבודה בפועל בסביבת winforms, לעבודה מגוונת ומאתגרת המשלבת שימוש בטכנלוגיות המתקדמות ביותר.
חובה ידע גם ב- VB.net.
ניסיון ברכיבי צד שלישי כגון: Dundas ,Devexpress– יתרון
ניסיון במערכות פיננסיות - יתרון.
Mathematica Player is an innovative new take on viewer applications.
Rather than just a reader, like Acrobat Reader, or a thin runtime, like Flash Player, Mathematica Player has the full Mathematica engine embedded right there--ready to make documents come alive or to power applets. (Of course, don't forget it can read notebooks too!)
Because Player-interactive documents are so easy to make using Mathematica technology, thousands of these are already freely available at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project--with more supplied each day by researchers, educators, students, and professionals.
Yet there's one aspect that's just like other players: it's free. Download it now.
Mathematica Player is an innovative new take on viewer applications.
Rather than just a reader, like Acrobat Reader, or a thin runtime, like Flash Player, Mathematica Player has the full Mathematica engine embedded right there--ready to make documents come alive or to power applets. (Of course, don't forget it can read notebooks too!)
Because Player-interactive documents are so easy to make using Mathematica technology, thousands of these are already freely available at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project--with more supplied each day by researchers, educators, students, and professionals.
Yet there's one aspect that's just like other players: it's free. Download it now.
Fractal Edge
VB.net and C# .NET devloper for ASP and Winforms projects
Objective Systems - ASN.1 tools
Dundas-Data Visualization.
The FMR trading system Digital Dashboard
Our customer is a local Hedge Fund , the fund operates on behalf of a global investment bank and specializing in utilizing special opportunities in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange options market. a.k.a. "the MAOF market". The fund is using (like most Israeli traders) the FMR options trading system.
The problem: The FMR is an excellent trading system that does exactly what it should efficiently and fast!, but the FMR system lacks advanced Data Visualization capabilities. The FMR system is suitable for a single trader activities but does not give a managerial overview that allow you to view status in dozens of accounts at one glance and see the overall position of the fund in terms of P&L , required margins and compliance to the fund's own rules and the stock exchange rules.
The Solution:
The E.S.L's Dundas development team tailored a specific Digital Dashboard using various Dundas technologies and based on data feed from FMR's APIs. The Dashboard allows the trading room supervisor and the compliance officer to view the overall picture of the fund's activity using an interesting visual cues, for instance the security margin of the position is shown as a fuel gauge, the volatility and standard deviation of the options are shown as a volt meter etc.. The product is constantly updated and modified as the customer's requirements evolve over time, experience is accumulated and trading styles changes . The product is using the Dundas Ajax and ASP.NET technologies and the Dundas financial and statistical formulas.
IBM Rational Build Forge Express Edition by IBM Rational Software
Automate and accelerate the build and release process. IBM® Rational Build Forge automates and accelerates build and release processes to enable iterative development, high-performance builds and streamlined software delivery. Through an adaptive framework, it helps development teams standardize and automate repetitive tasks, optimize hardware resources and connect disparate development tools to increase staff productivity, compress development cycles and deliver high quality software, quickly. Build Forge Enterprise Edition - Includes Standard Edition features plus distributed development features, server management and more.
IBM Rational Build Forge Standard Edition
Automate and accelerate the build and release process. IBM® Rational Build Forge automates and accelerates build and release processes to enable iterative development, high-performance builds and streamlined software delivery. Through an adaptive framework, it helps development teams standardize and automate repetitive tasks, optimize hardware resources and connect disparate development tools to increase staff productivity, compress development cycles and deliver high quality software, quickly. Build Forge Enterprise Edition - Includes Standard Edition features plus distributed development features, server management and more.
IBM Rational Asset Manager
Helps create, modify, govern, find and reuse any type of development assets, including SOA and systems development assets. IBM® Rational Asset Manager can increase application development productivity and enable developers to reuse software development related assets. For example, Rational Asset Manager allows you to create, discover and trace service assets throughout the SOA lifecycle. The software also helps you monitor asset integrity and utilization through a defined, enforceable and auditable process that includes fine-grained permissions and review approval flows.
IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software
Accelerates J2EE and Portal development and improves code quality. IBM® Rational Application Developer extends Eclipse with rapid development. It helps Java developers rapidly design, develop, assemble, test, profile and deploy high quality Java/J2EE, Portal, Web, Web services and SOA applications. IBM Rational Application Developer is integrated and optimized for IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM WebSphere Portal Server products and includes test environments for these products. It uses robust capabilities to create SOA applications, including the ability to automatically create necessary SOA components such as WSDL and WSIL files.
. בישראל Virtual Iron חברת אי. אס.אל. מערכות תוכנה בע"מ משמשת בכנציגות רשמית ו "שותף מוסמך"של אנו שמחים להציע שרות מקומי תנאי אשראי ומחירים מיוחדים לפי המחירון הישראלי נשמח לעמוד לרשותכם - ניתן ליצור קשר בטלפון 03-6122918 או לפנות במייל info@eswlab.com קישור למאמר השוואה בין
Virtual Iron provides cost-effective, production-ready server virtualization software for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The solutions deliver comparable capabilities to VMWare without the cost and complexity. Learn the difference between Virtual Iron and VMware.
Virtual Iron is recognized as the leading server virtualization solution alternative to VMWare and the solution of choice by small / medium sized enterprises. By selling Virtual Iron you will:
This site provides additional information on Virtual Iron and how easy it is to sell and use their line of solutions. Please contact your Lifeboat Distribution representative for more information.
View our free Virtual Vignettes on our Training webpage
WANT TO LEARN MORE? Click below to gain more insight into the benefits of Virtual Iron. If you have any questions regarding any of these resources, please contact your local rep or send us an email at info@eswlab.com
בישראל Virtual Iron חברת אי. אס.אל. מערכות תוכנה בע"מ משמשת בכנציגות רשמית ו "שותף מוסמך"של אנו שמחים להציע שרות מקומי תנאי אשראי ומחירים מיוחדים לפי המחירון הישראלי נשמח לעמוד לרשותכם - ניתן ליצור קשר בטלפון 03-6122918 או לפנות במייל info@eswlab.com
כולל קו מוצרי Arcesso כל מוצרי InstallShield נמכרים בישראל על ידי חברת אי.אס.אל. מערכות תוכנה בע"מ מחירים אטרקטיבים,שרות מקצועי ואדיב, תשלום בשקלים ותנאי אשראי המקובלים בישראל לפרטים נוספים,הסברים והצעות מחיר הנכם מוזמנים לפנות אלינו גרסאות דמו ל 30 יום זמינות מ: דף הורדת התוכנות
InstallShield
Reduce Development Time with Support for the Latest Technologies
InstallShield® is the industry standard in Windows installations on any system including servers and mobile devices. InstallShield® is available in Premier and Professional editions with Express to follow at a later date.
The new release supports Microsoft’s latest technologies — Windows Vista, Windows Embedded CE 6.x, .NET 3.0, SQL Server, and even the beta of Windows Server "Longhorm". Windows Vista includes a number of security improvements (UAC) which can result in an installation experience that repeatedly prompts the user to enter their credentials -- InstallShield allows installation developers to “Optimize for Windows Vista” for a great first impression. It also includes tools that greatly assist with testing installations against Microsoft's Windows Vista Certification guidelines. InstallShield also supports SaaS environments with IIS 7.0 and SSL. And because of InstallShield's vast experience we were able to add a new "InstallShield Best Practices Validation Suite" that makes it simple for any setup author to follow installation best practices.
AdminStudio
How IT Prepares Reliable MSI and Virtual Packages for Deployment
AdminStudio provides systems administrators with an easy way to prepare reliable software packages and virtual applications for conflict-free deployment, offering a complete suite of automated MSI packaging, virtualization, customization, and testing tools. AdminStudio enables enterprise IT teams to implement a structured software packaging process that helps ensure consistent, trouble-free software deployments and decreases application management costs. Web-based management tools enable IT to share resources and centrally manage the software packaging process. Whether you’re migrating to Windows XP or Vista, preparing packages for rollout via a new software deployment solution, implementing ITIL, or adopting Windows Installer or application virtualization, AdminStudio gives you the tools to do it quickly and easily.
InstallShield Express
Designed to Meet your Individual Development Needs
Recognized as the industry's leading, quick and easy installation-authoring solution, the new Express Edition now supports Microsoft's latest tools: Visual Studio® 2005, Pocket PC Windows Mobile 5.0, .NET® Framework 2.0 and MSBuild.
InstallShield Collaboration
Powerful Functionality
Often times, a late-in-the-game scramble for installation and configuration data introduces unnecessary confusion and delay, which ultimately translates into installation problems at customer sites. InstallShield's new Collaboration module supports a new industry practice that will dramatically improve product quality.
InstallAnywhere
Top-Rated Performance, Quality and Usability
InstallAnywhere is the solution of choice among multiplatform installation developers worldwide. It delivers the ideal combination of ease-of-use and powerful functionality for creating professional multiplatform installations in minutes.
- כולל קו מוצרי Arcesso כל מוצרי InstallShield נמכרים בישראל על ידי חברת אי.אס.אל. מערכות תוכנה בע"מ מחירים אטרקטיבים,שרות מקצועי ואדיב, תשלום בשקלים ותנאי אשראי המקובלים בישראל לפרטים נוספים,הסברים והצעות מחיר הנכם מוזמנים לפנות אלינו גרסאות דמו ל 30 יום זמינות מ: דף הורדת התוכנות
What is Mathematica 6 Professional ?
Long recognized as the world's most powerful mathematical software system, Mathematica has steadily grown in breadth and depth to become today an unparalleled platform for all forms of computation, powering innovation in research, development, and education. With thousands of original algorithms and a tightly unified overall design, Mathematica spans projects of all sizes--from simple calculator operations and educational demonstrations to large-scale systems deployment and maximum-power supercomputing.
Due to the scope and depth of Mathematica, the list of likely customers is long and diverse. Potential users include engineers, statisticians, mathematicians, scientists, economists, financial analysts, researchers, hobbyists, artists, educators, students, and many others.
Current users
Mathematica is relied on today by millions of enthusiastic users around the world, from students and hobbyists to key figures at Fortune 500 companies, leading universities, government agencies, industrial research labs, financial institutions, technology companies, medical institutions... the list goes on. For a glimpse at the diverse range of people using Mathematica, visit our user profiles page.
Special information for professionals, educators, and students
Today, software users are demanding more from software engineers. The pressure to deliver more features with higher quality in less time has never been greater. As the complexity of software systems increase, so do the challenges you face. These challenges go hand-in-hand with an increasing number of tedious tasks that consume precious time and conspire to erode your creativity and productivity. We create development tools that are specifically designed to help you meet these increased demands for quality and functionality, by boosting productivity while eliminating tedium.
In the end, you are the ultimate judge of a product's capabilities and no hype or hyperbole can change this fact. We are so confident in our tools, that we back them with a 60 day no questions asked money back guarantee. If within the first 60 days of ownership you are not entirely satisfied with any purchase you make from Developer Express, you can request a refund - and it will be honored, no questions asked.
With Developer Express Technologies, you can build your best, everytime!
CodeRush is a powerful Visual Studio® .NET add-on that enhances the developer experience by accelerating developer and team productivity via an integrated suite of technologies. Details
Refactor!™ Pro is the defacto standard refactoring toolset for Visual Studio. It fuses a language-independent state-of-the-art code shaping engine with a revolutionary and highly-optimized user experience. Unlike other refactoring solutions that target the system architect, Refactor! is designed to help all developers craft and sculpt their code with the speed and efficiency needed to meet their line of business demands. Details
XAF allows you to quickly and efficiently create multi-platform and feature rich business applications. Because of its its highly modular architecture, flexible UI generation and reporting engine, XAF radically improves both development speed and overall product quality. Details
Click the following links to learn more about our VCL components:
IBM Rational Build Forge Enterprise Edition by IBM Rational Software
Automate and accelerate the build and release process. IBM® Rational Build Forge automates and accelerates build and release processes to enable iterative development, high-performance builds and streamlined software delivery. Through an adaptive framework, it helps development teams standardize and automate repetitive tasks, optimize hardware resources and connect disparate development tools to increase staff productivity, compress development cycles and deliver high quality software, quickly. Build Forge Enterprise Edition - Includes Standard Edition features plus distributed development features, server management and more.
IBM Rational Functional Tester Plus by IBM Rational Software
Functional and regression testing solution covering a wide variety of software applications. IBM® Rational® Functional Tester Plus is a cost-effective solution, combining IBM Rational Functional Tester and IBM Rational Robot. Functional Tester Plus provides testing teams with a comprehensive functional, GUI and regression testing solution to test a wide variety of software applications; including Java/J2EE, Web/HTML, Web-services-based, .NET Winforms and Webforms, and other thick client technology-based applications.
Avi Choen
Avi Choen dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Mauris mollis cursus dolor. Vivamus sapien nunc, vestibulum eget, facilisis vel, luctus at, nunc. Nam ullamcorper volutpat elit. Vivamus sit amet velit eu sapien dignissim mattis.
IBM Rational Software Architect by IBM Rational Software
Provides integrated design and development support for model-driven development with the UML. IBM® Rational Software Architect is an integrated design and development tool. IBM Rational Software Architect leverages model-driven development with the UML for creating well-architected applications and services and helps with understanding and evolving applications across teams.
Provides flexible defect and change tracking across the application development life cycle. IBM® Rational ClearQuest® change management products help you manage the software lifecycle more effectively. Automated workflows control and enforce development processes, from requirements definition through production. By making process enforcement transparent, IBM Rational ClearQuest software helps organizations stay focused on what they need in order to deliver value to the business.
IBM Rational Software Modeler by IBM Rational Software
Simplify your model-driven development experience. IBM® Rational Software Modeler is a robust UML 2.0-based visual modeling and design tool. It enables architects, systems analysts, designers and others to specify and communicate development project information from several perspectives and to various stakeholders. Modeling tools can automate repeatable activities and help improve the productivity and overall maturity of the development process. That’s why system architects, system analysts and system designers leverage the capabilities of the IBM Rational Software Modeler product to help visually model and design their systems.
IBM Rational ClearCase by IBM Rational Software
Software asset management for medium to large projects. IBM® Rational ClearCase® software configuration management products enable you to effectively manage and control software assets to help you deliver better applications faster and at lower cost. With IBM Rational ClearCase features such as version control, baseline management, and build and release management, you can provide all team members with instant, controlled access to the information they need to create, update, build, deliver, reuse and maintain the software critical to your business.
IBM Rational Rose Modeler by IBM Rational Software
Modeling tool for analysts and software architects. IBM® Rational Rose Modeler is your choice if your needs are for UML modeling software. Maximize your design skills and software architectures with full support of Unified Modeling Language (UML) v1.4 for creation of software applications. Rational Rose Modeler provides a common modeling language and environment for faster creation of quality software, it offers analysis patterns support based on "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software" and includes a separately controllable model components feature that enables more granular management and use of models. Rose Modeler integrates with other IBM Rational lifecycle development tools, can integrate with any SCC-compliant version control system, including IBM Rational ClearCase and delivers Web publish models and reports to improve communication across the extended team.
IBM Rational Rose Developer for Visual Studio by IBM Rational Software
A UML based, model-driven development tool for Microsoft Visual Studio developers and teams. IBM® Rational Rose Developer for Visual Studio is a full visual-modeling environment based on UML which speeds up development and supports round-trip engineering. The Visual Basic language support add-in enables Rose to model and generate code for applications written in Visual Basic whilst the Visual C++ language support add-in enables Rational Rose to model, generate, and reverse engineer code for applications written in Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.
IBM Rational Robot by IBM Rational Software
General purpose test automation tool for client/server applications. IBM® Rational Robot lets testers automate the functional and regression testing of .NET, Java, Web, and other GUI-based applications. It automates regression, functional and configuration testing for e-commerce, client/server and ERP applications. IBM Rational Robot is used to test applications based upon a wide variety of user interface technologies, and is integrated with the IBM Rational TestManager solution to provide desktop management support for all testing activities.
IBM Rational RequisitePro by IBM Rational Software
Enables the creation, analysis and management of requirements and use cases. IBM® Rational RequisitePro keeps project teams on track by enabling the creation, analysis and management of application requirements and use cases. RequisitePro is a powerful and simple-to-use product that promotes better communication, enhances teamwork and reduces project risk. It combines the familiarity and ease of Microsoft Word documents with powerful database capabilities for more effective requirements analysis and interrogation and gives teams the ability to understand the impact of change. IBM Rational RequisitePro ensures everyone on the team remains informed of the most current requirements information to ensure consistency and provides Web-based access for distributed teams.
IBM Rational PurifyPlus by IBM Rational Software
Runtime analysis for faster, more reliable code. IBM® Rational PurifyPlus™ is a runtime analysis solution designed to help developers write faster, more reliable code. Runtime analysis includes four basic functions: memory corruption detection, memory leak detection, application performance profiling, and code coverage analysis. IBM Rational PurifyPlus packages support for all four of these functions in a single product with a common install and licensing system.
IBM Rational Performance Tester by IBM Rational Software
Identify the presence and cause of system performance bottlenecks. IBM® Rational Performance Tester is a multi-user load testing and performance testing tool for validating Web application scalability. IBM Rational Performance Tester creates, executes and analyzes tests to validate the reliability of complex e-business applications. Use it to improve application performance, perform better capacity planning, and develop more scalable applications.
IBM Rational Functional Tester by IBM Rational Software
Advanced, automated functional testing of Java, Web and VS.NET WinForm-based applications. IBM® Rational Functional Tester is an automated, functional and regression testing tool. It provides testers with automated capabilities for data-driven testing and a choice of scripting language and an industrial-strength editor for test authoring and customization.
island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island) and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, which is commonly translated into English as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, which are self-governing but in free association; Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica). New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation, situated about 2000 km (1250 miles) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. During its long isolation New Zealand developed a distinctive fauna dominated by birds, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and the mammals they introduced. The population is mostly of European descent, with the indigenous Māori being the largest minority. Asians and non-Maori Polynesians are also significant minorities, especially in the cities. Elizabeth II, as the Queen of New Zealand, is the Head of State and, in her absence, is represented by a non-partisan Governor-General. The Queen 'reigns but does not rule.' She has no real political influence, and her position is essentially symbolic. Political power is held by the democratically elected Parliament of New Zealand under the leadership of the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government.
חיים מנצור
פלפס יפרסם לקראת חג המולד ספר בשם "נבנה להצליח", בו יכתוב על ילדותו ועל דעותיו בנושאי תחרויות ספורט
Header One
FREETOWN (Reuters) - Women carrying corn on their heads and children selling peanuts stop to stare as a leggy model in a tiny, blue dress strikes a pose outside a steel-doored clothes shop in Sierra Leone's capital. Adama Kai, a fashion designer trained in New York and Paris, organized the photo-shoot to promote her new store and company, Aschobi Designs. The 25-year-old has eschewed job prospects in the developed world to come home and follow her dream. "Maybe I have more opportunities as a designer over there, but I'm making a bigger statement over here," said Kai, who was born in New Jersey but moved to Sierra Leone shortly afterwards and lived there until she was four.
"In the same way that Ralph Lauren stands for America, Chanel for France, and Versace for Italy, I want Aschobi to stand for African fashion," she said. Her store is tucked between a small printers and a newspaper office in hilly Freetown's hectic downtown. "I know this is the last place you'd expect to find haute couture. But I want to replace all of this darkness of the past with beauty," she said. Sierra Leone, ranked the world's least developed country by the United Nations, is recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war that shocked the world with images of drugged-up child soldiers hacking off villagers' limbs with machetes.
An estimated 30-50 percent of skilled Sierra Leoneans fled the conflict, in which 50,000 people were killed. But slowly some of those people are trickling back -- mirroring a continent-wide trend that has seen educated Africans return to take advantage of business opportunities in fast growing economies. "Everybody thinks I should be in Paris, London or New York," said Kai, who attended the same fashion school as designers Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan. She worked in New York as a styling assistant on Flaunt magazine and later handled creative portfolios for a management agency. "I've given up a lot to be here and I miss Paris and the fashion life in America. But this is really important to me," said Kai, who launched her business in January. "This is my only job. This is my life actually."
HOMEWARD BOUND Sierra Leone may be one of the world's poorest countries but President Ernest Bai Koroma said in March foreign investors were showing fresh confidence and the former British colony could become a leading investment destination in West Africa. The economy is expected to grow by 7 percent this year, after between 6.5-7 percent last year. But around 57 percent of its people still live on less than $1 a day. Most of Sierra Leone's 750,000-1 million-strong diaspora are still abroad, and the remittances they send home are worth around $250 million a year. The money is vital but Koroma's government, elected last year, wants a more direct contribution and is seeking to lure people home to help develop a country with unspoilt beaches, agribusiness potential, diamonds, iron ore, gold and the world's largest reserve of rutile -- an ingredient in paint pigment. An estimated 50,000 have returned since the war ended. "We have a lot who are returning who are very successful with the experience and skills the country needs, but of course the salary is not there," said Michel Sho-Sawyer, a presidential adviser and director of the new Office of Diaspora Affairs. Sho-Sawyer, who lived in the United States for 20 years before returning in 2007, earns 60 percent less than he did as a doctor abroad. "A lot of them are even leaving family behind, but they're making these sacrifices to come back and help the development of the country," he said. Regular power cuts, malarial mosquitoes and rudimentary living conditions can be a drag for returnees, but many are drawn by a desire to make a difference. It is a similar story next door in Liberia, recovering from its own war which like Sierra Leone's was fuelled by diamonds and marked by extreme brutality. Marie Wilson fled Liberia as a refugee during a 1989-2003 civil war. After 12 years in the United States, where she worked in a grocery store in Charlotte, NC., she returned and has built a business selling imported U.S. rice. Wilson calls Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who worked abroad as a World Bank economist and came back to stand for office, "a role model for women in Africa." "I do not like to talk about politics. All that I like to do is business, business, and business ... All over the world, we talk about gender equality and one way to promote this is to help women entrepreneurs," Wilson said.
"JUST COME" Coming home can be tough. Freetown's returnees are known derogatorily as JCs, Krio dialect for 'jus cam' -- just come. "Many people here have this resistance factor to returnees because they feel that, unlike those in the diaspora, they themselves stayed here throughout the war and suffered and now they should get all the jobs," Sho-Sawyer said. When she was four, Kai moved with her mother, who worked for the United Nations, to Ethiopia. At 13, she went to a boarding school in the United States. She later studied fashion for two years in Paris and one in New York. The designer, who employs between three and 12 tailors depending on her workflow, is regularly called a JC. "They see it in your face -- you look fresh and wholesome -- and they hear it in my accent. I probably have to be living here five years before people accept me." Dressed in a brown suit with her hair twisted into dreadlocks, Kai knows she stands out in the Freetown crowd.
Her designs are even bolder -- a profusion of greens, oranges, yellows and pinks in bold shapes, the clothes combine expertly draped African prints with modern design influences. "It's like all of it was inside waiting to burst out for so long. I am African and that in itself is a statement. It's the idea you carry yourself in your clothes: you wear the pride of the textile," Kai said. Her dresses cost between $30 and $100 -- a princely sum in a country where average gross domestic product per capita is $216. In her shop, also called Aschobi Designs, middle-class Sierra Leoneans and expatriates browse the clothes hanging from wooden racks, surrounded by stacks of international fashion magazines, including editions of Vogue from all over the world. "I think what I am doing is in line with anyone coming here to open a school or a hospital: I know it is enriching this country," said Kai. She did not say how much she had invested in her venture or give details of her earnings except to say that she is not yet making a profit. But she has big plans and hopes to start exporting her clothes to the United States next year.
She has some potential outlets already lined up and also hopes to stock shops in West Africa. "I'm probably going to be losing more money than I'm making for now but I want to start selling wholesale. The market in Sierra Leone is very small. People who have money tend to spend it abroad," she said. "But profit will come. I know I'm going to be a very wealthy lady one day." (Additional reporting by Alphonso Toweh in Monrovia; Editing by Alistair Thomson and Clar Ni Chonghaile)