Govt committed to promote local IT entrepreneurs
The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has said government will use its purchasing power to promote local entrepreneurs, particularly in the technology industry.She said the commitment to promote local entrepreneurs had informed government’s decision to use a Ghanaian company to roll out the national identification (ID) project.
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Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said this at the opening ceremony of "Tech in Ghana Conference", an initiative of Africa Business 2020 and hosted by the Accra Digital Centre (ADE), under the auspices of the Ministry of Communication.
The two-day conference offered an opportunity for IT entrepreneurs to showcase their products and service offerings to potential clients and investors, and as well as provide a platform for dialogue between the government, private sector, small scale enterprises and tech start-ups.
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Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said in the quest to push government’s Digital Ghana agenda, the ministry would continue to engage with stakeholders from the country’s tech ecosystem and explore how they could work collectively to make Ghana a leading tech hub in the sub-region.
The communications minister added that in an effort to support the vibrant local startup ecosystem, government was establishing Information Communication Technology (ICT) parks to promote entrepreneurship, attract private investment and enhance ICT research and development.
She explained that among their objectives was to encourage the transfer of knowledge and development of human resource capacity to meet the increasing digital demands of the country and to boost youth employment.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said in an effort to bridge the digital divide, community information centres had been established nationwide and would be equipped as e-service centres to bring government closer to the people.
“This will also provide basic IT literacy education to our rural communities and be the venue for accessing and paying for provision of government services in all those localities," she added.
She went on further to say that the introduction of the paperless port operations, the integrated e-immigration system and e-procurement, which were all at various stages of implementation, and the development of an inter-operability system to integrate government databases, all represented significant milestones in the nation’s journey to digitisation.
The acting Managing Director of ADC, Mr Eric Ofosu Nkansah, said the centre’s vision was to help position Ghana as a regional ICT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) hub, and a preferred outsourcing destination in the sub region and added that it would enable the country to leap into the digital age.
"Our mission is to provide the required infrastructure and support services to facilitate growth of the ICT and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sector, to augment the private sector’s role in providing relevant technology solutions to various sectors of the economy," he added.
Mr Nkansah said their services included office space for rent to IT and BPO firms, conference rooms, meeting facilities; whereas, one block of facility had been reserved for a Business Incubation Programme, to nurture tech start-ups and promote digital entrepreneurship among the youth.
He said other programmes included study tours, ecosystems meet-ups and conferences, angel’s networks, innovation contests and business plan competitions, among others; and expressed the hope to implement these programmes in partnership with the tech community.
