The Accra Digital Centre has been awarded at the recent ITU Telecom World Awards 2019 event which took place in Budapest, Hungary. This is an annual event organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the association of major telecom companies around the world.
The Accra Digital Centre was given the ITU’s Global Ecosystem Best Practice Award. A mini technology park, the Accra Digital Centre is an initiative by the Ghanaian Government set up under the Ministry of Communication.
The Centre was set up by the government to bring out the digital potentials of the country through pushing and encouraging digital entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Telecommunication Development Bureau is the department of the ITU that recognises and gives awards to hosts of Technology Innovation with best practices that enable innovators to develop ICT-oriented solutions.
Such solutions that can be globally recognised and scaled are then awarded by the Telecom Development Bureau of ITU. Thus, the Accra Digital Centre was given the prestigious Global Ecosystem Best Practice Award in line with such focus.
The Centre had been recently transformed by Min. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful and her Communications Ministry for the last two years. The Digital Centre, prior to the Minister touching it, was a vacant structure without any computer or furniture. Then being led by the Managing Director, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, innovations started and now we have a globally recognised digital hub of excellence in Africa.
The Global Ecosystem Best Practice Award given to the Accra Digital Centre was received by the Managing Director, Ofosu Nkansah and the Centre’s Head of Operations, David Antwi Ofori. The Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who has overseen the success of the Digital Centre was also awarded for her “exceptional commitment and participation as a valuable partner in ITU Telecom World events”.
Some achievements of the Accra Digital Centre
The Centre has accrued some achievements under its belt. Since its inception, the Centre has created thousands of digital and ancillary jobs for the youth. It is also working with about 40 tech firms and SMEs.
Also, the Accra Digital Centre has trained over 3,000 youth in various digital training programs hosted at the Centre. It also has a startup incubation program and supports hundreds of tech startups through the government’s Innovation Project at the Centre.
Disadvantaged people are not left out. The Centre, under its impact sourcing programme, has training programs in digital skills for disadvantaged youth.
The impact sourcing programme has given people have the potential but come from low-income backgrounds the opportunity to fit in the basic digital jobs arena. Such jobs are available at the Centre itself and the broader tech ecosystem.
The Accra Digital Centre, the tech park of Ghana, seeks to go on assuming best practices in the tech ecosystem to build the innovation capacity of the country.
Gradually, the Centre will be able to support more technology startups and SMEs. And this will surely help position Ghana as the innovation hub of the West African sub-region.
