But the most common problem with the government's IT ventures is a mix of grand ambitions and incompetence, as the launch of Healthcare.gov in 2013 handily showed.
In addition to running various IT ventures, these individuals are becoming global spokespeople for African tech and mentors to some of its youngest aspirants.
He is behind a growing number of African IT ventures: Nairobi's iHub incubator, Ushahidi, BRCK, Savannah Fund, and recently launched design and protyping lab, Gearbox.
Excellent for touring on a shoestring, Lonely Planet is less reliable when it ventures outside its niche.
Each company is built to do a specific thing extremely well, and each company struggles when it ventures outside its comfort zone.
Perhaps your illustrious publication might be more careful when it ventures away from its "home turf".
"The Publisher" has its parched passages, most notably when it ventures into the thickets of Luce's "big" ideas.
Wave was also about interacting with people online, which continues to interest Google as well, as it ventures into social networking, most recently with its acquisition of Slide, the social apps maker.
The flotation of its investment vehicle confers the legitimacy of market scrutiny on La Caixa as it ventures abroad while allowing it to retain its special status at home.
Moreover, as it ventures overseas, Rakuten faces stiffer competition at home: its nearest rival, Yahoo!
As it ventures abroad to take on the likes of Toyota, its sales per employee are only one-fourth as high as Toyota's, figures Jardine Fleming Securities in Seoul.
