The Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, tasked the new board of Ghana Digital Centre Limited (GDCL) to facilitate the operationalisation of the four
“Chairman and members of the Board, your immediate task, therefore, will be to oversee the successful operationalisation of Regional Innovation Centres (RICs) across the country to promote digital innovation and give the GDCL a nationwide reach in the process,” she urged.
She said this during her inauguration of the nine-member board to take charge of the affairs of the centre.
The board is made of key people in the industry and IT experts, with the chair being Mr Prince Ofosu Sefah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC).
The other members included; Mr Ernest Kumi, Mr Kojo Amissah, Mr Aloysius Adjetey, Ms Sharon Dede Padi, Mr Kusum Appiah, Mrs Benedicta Fosu-Mensah, Mr Kwadjo Baah-Agyeman and Dr Francis Blay.
The Minister noted how GDCL had been performing for the past five years, adding that over 15,000 youths have been trained and nurtured in various skills and development courses.
“It is refreshing to note that as the Company prepares to celebrate its fifth (5th) year of establishment, it is poised to extend its physical infrastructure beyond the capital – Accra into other regions around the country with the coming on stream of four Regional Innovation Centres to start with and more to follow.
“I am aware of steps being taken by the Company to expand its Accra office as it continues the search for strategic partnerships and funding to meet the growing demand for prepared affordable real estate in the industry,” she added.
Hon Ekuful assured the board of the ministry’s support and expressed her confidence in the board due to their diverse expertise.
She said: “I, therefore charge you to design and expedite sound policies and strategies with the Management team to enable the GDCL to discharge its mandate.”
The Chair of the board, Mr Sefah, in return assured the Minster of the board’s readiness to promote entrepreneurship and create digital jobs in order to accelerate economic growth and development.
GDCL was incorporated in 2017 by the government to relegate and place Ghana on the global map as a regional digital hub.
It is tasked to champion the development and management of Technology Parks and Digital Centres across Ghana to promote ICT-driven economic growth; provide world-class infrastructure and enabling environment to attract and retain ICT and IT-enabled Business Process Outsourcing companies to promote Entrepreneurship and Digital Job Creation for accelerated growth and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship through the provision of platforms for business incubation, business acceleration as well as digital research and development programme.
Others are to provide access to relevant ICT solutions for various sectors of the economy to cater for Ghana’s fast-changing ICT needs, through a partnership with the private sector and provide practical digital skills training in partnership with both the public and private sector.
