Connectivity is generally assumed to be a passport to opportunity and economic upliftment, but the experience in Africa suggests the opposite may be true. This is according to African ICT delegates attending the recent Acacia Conference in South Africa. Riff Fullan of Bellanet, a non-profit organisation funded in part by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), argued that ICT is, in fact "as likely to worsen poverty as to alleviate it." The evidence suggests ICT has exacerbated existing inequalities, added Fullan.