Fintech

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, however, lauded the central bank for creating the enabling environment through legislation for Ghana to now have one of the most dynamic financial technology (Fintech) industries on the continent, with 71 licensed players creating loads of jobs and also driving financial inclusion through innovation.

She would note that the fintech industry has made payments at all levels very convenient, safe, and transparent and brought accountability to simple stuff like religious (church offerings) and social (funeral) contributions because funds given for such purposes could easily be tracked.

Continental Payment Cards

According to her, the talent and innovations in the fintech industry clearly show that there is no reason why Africans should keep using international payment cards like Visa and Mastercard and keep paying steep fees of up to 3.5% of the amount transacted, which end in foreign banks.

“Why can’t we develop our own local and continental cards and reduce the fees for our people and keep all of that money within the continent to finance our development,” she asked.

“We have done it with mobile money, and I believe we can do it with payment and credit cards,” she said.

The Minister believes even that need presents enormous investment opportunities for Ghanaians in the diaspora to collaborate with the players in the Ghanaian fintech industry to create such solutions for the continent.

Covid-19

According to her, Covid-19 gave rise to the adoption of digital technology in Ghana, which became the silver lining for the country amid the devastating impact of the pandemic.

She noted that Ghanaians could transition to digital platforms much easier and quicker because the government had, since 2017, started implementing its digital transformation agenda, which came in handy when Covid hit hard.

Ursula Owusu mentioned the paperless port system, digital address system, Ghana card, mobile money interoperability, Ghana.gov, GhanPay, GHQR, e-procurement portal, e-justice system, smart workplace, drones for medical delivery, and many others, all geared towards making government run more efficiently with less human intervention, reduced corruption, and improved revenue collection.

She said the government has since rolled out several digital technology interventions in education, health, agriculture, and other areas to sustain the high digital adoption level among citizens and its attendant exponential growth in internet usage.

According to her, the government also gave out free spectrum to Vodafone and MTN to expand their capacities and effectively cater to the congestion that resulted from the boost in data consumption, adding that operators with 2G licenses were also allowed to deploy 3G technologies in an unserved and underserved area without any additional licensing fees to allow easy access to high-speed data connectivity across the country.

Ghana Cares

She touched on the Ghana Cares Obatampa program, saying it was designed to stabilize, revitalize and create jobs and prosperity for Ghanaians over three years in the post-Covid era.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful told summit participants that the Ghana Cares program is in two phases – a stabilization phase that runs to the end of July 2020 and a revitalization phase from 2021 to 2023.

“The first phase focused on stabilizing the economy, including food security, supporting businesses and workers, strengthening the health system, and passing legislation to facilitate quick economic recovery.

“The second phase will focus on supporting commercial farming, attracting educated youth into agriculture, building Ghana’s night manufacturing sector, developing engineering machine tools and ICT digital economy, developing Ghana’s housing and construction companies and renewing and optimizing the implementation of government flagships and key programs…” she stated.

She said the government is confident that the phase two programs will move Ghana into the industrialization and manufacturing phase, which presents many investment opportunities for Ghanaians in the diaspora to form partnerships with foreign and local businesses and take advantage of them.

The Minister notably laid out some investment opportunities in the technology sector that she believes Ghanaians in the diaspora can collaborate with locals and take advantage of.

AfCFTA Hub

She mentioned the AfCFTA Hub, for instance, saying that Ghanaians in the diaspora can create business hubs and connect with the recently launched AfCFTA Hub in Ghana so they could easily access SME producers and suppliers, as well as financiers and regulators in a one-stop-shop situation.

Accordingly, such businesses can access even more opportunities through the hub to the rest of Africa and even make and receive payments in all currencies on the seat.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful was quick to diffuse the notion that the Ghanaian government favors Chines companies like Huawei and ZTE when it comes to investment in the tech sector, saying that the Chinese usually offer a cost-effective solution. However, there are still numerous opportunities that remain untapped in the industries.

Canadian exports to Ghana have grown by 8.97% annual from US$23.8 million in 1995 to US$372 million currently, while Ghana is doing around SU$100 million worth of exports to Canada, and the Minister said this provides the opportunity for Ghanaians at home and in the diaspora to partner and do more to bridge that gap.