Ministry of Trade and Industry launches "Innovation Ghana"

Award winners (L-R): Naa of Roots by Naa, FashionistaGh, Ghana Decides, Dream Oval and Leti Games

The Ministry of Trade and Industry with support from Google has launched an “Innovation Ghana”, an initiative to get Ghanaians to appreciate the use of the internet and its impact on the Ghanaian economy.

Innovation Ghana is aimed at strengthening and encouraging local products and services created by Ghanaians for Ghanaians. The launching was also used to recognize six outstanding Ghanaian innovators, “Innovation Heroes”, who have used the internet to positively contribute to the economy by developing and infusing creative ideas into products and services.

Innovation Ghana was born from a study conducted by Dalberg and commissioned by Google which revealed the socio-economic impact and potential of the internet in Ghana and how small and medium enterprise (SME) owners expected that the internet would help them grow their business.

One of the key findings of the study identified that internet enabled services were having a positive effect on the public and private sectors in agriculture, health, finance, education, energy, transport and commerce due to improved information and supply management, more effective communications and extended service delivery.

The study also identified that without sufficient investment in infrastructure, policy makers faced limitations in their ability to drive socio-economic impact from internet use by citizens.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Haruna Iddrisu acknowledged the role micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) were playing in the socio-economic development of the country and the challenges they were facing.

He noted that it was against this backdrop that the government with assistance from the World Babk launched an online portal for the MSMEs to raise awareness of services being provided to Ghanaian SMEs.

Commenting on the Dalberg report, Mr Haruna Iddrisu noted that government would continue to support greater access to the internt by continuing to increase infrastructure and access in order to provide stable and high quality last mile internet access to all.

“Developing infrastructure will increase access to information and allow new products and services to be built. These are the foundations for an innovative ecosystem”, he added.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu also indicated government’s support to entrepreneurs in getting the needed funding, while creating access to markets and the ability to connect with markets, and providing them with a fair and transparent regulatory environment for them to operate.

The Innovation Heroes awards were presented to FaashionistaGh, an online source of information on the Ghanaian fashion industry; Let Games, the first game development studio in Ghana and second in Sub-Saharan Africa and Dream Oval, an internet and mobile apps developer that allows online payments and distribution of information via SMS.

The rest are Ghana Decides, a non-partisan project aimed at fostering a better-informed electorate for a free, fair and safe 2012 election using online social media tools; Roots by Naa, a company dedicated to creating handmade fashion accessories out of Ghanaian textiles and Ghana Trade; a national web based products gallery that features locally manufactured products and services.

Country Manager for Google Ghana, Estelle Akofio-Sowah congratulated the award winners for being creative and presenting solutions to the Ghanaian populace, adding that, “the innovation awards reaffirm the findings of the Dalberg report that the internet is a tremendous, undisputed force for economic growth and social change. Their stories will inspire the next generation of innovators to dream big, to dream now and solve the problems of today using technology and the Internet.”