Dr Prince Alvin Kwabena Ansah Honoured as IT & Digital Executive of the Year
In a year marked by rising demands for digital governance and efficiency in Africa’s trade corridors, Dr Prince Alvin Kwabena Ansah, the Technical Lead for the implementation of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), has been awarded the IT & Digital Executive of the Year at the Ghana Executive Awards 2025. The high-profile event was held at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra on Friday evening, under the theme “Celebrating Leadership, Individual and Team Excellence, Building a Stronger Ghana”.
The award recognises Dr. Ansah’s pivotal role in engineering one of Ghana’s most ambitious digital infrastructure rollouts, the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), a centralised platform that has revolutionised customs operations in the country.
“This recognition isn’t just for me; it’s for my team and every African entrepreneur daring to dream big. We are not just building products; we are building a brand that is here to stay, inspire, and compete globally,” Dr Ansah told the media shortly after receiving the award.
A Quiet Disruptor in Ghana’s Digital Trade Transformation
A seasoned software engineer with over two decades of experience in IT security and computer networking, Dr Ansah has remained a low-key but highly influential figure in Ghana’s digital transformation agenda. As the Technical Lead for the implementation of the ICUMS, he has led the design and deployment of the system, which replaced legacy customs clearance processes and ushered in a more transparent, efficient, and secure trade ecosystem.
The results have been visible. Since its rollout, ICUMS has significantly reduced processing times at Ghana’s ports, curbed leakages in customs revenue, and improved compliance with international trade protocols. Analysts say the system has become a model for the region, reinforcing Ghana’s position as a logistics and customs benchmark in West Africa.
What distinguishes Dr Ansah’s approach is not just technical brilliance but strategic execution. Working across ministries, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and border agencies, his leadership ensured cross-sector alignment, a rare feat in public sector digitalisation projects.
Building from Code to Country
Dr. Ansah is also the founder and CTO of WorkSmart Limited, a Ghanaian tech firm specialising in automating business and administrative processes. The company has become a key player in helping institutions, both public and private, transition from paper-based workflows to smart, integrated platforms.
His dual leadership at the ICUMS and WorkSmart offers a compelling case study in homegrown innovation. WorkSmart serves as a digital laboratory for organisational automation; ICUMS anchors state-level infrastructure transformation.
Observers argue that this blend of entrepreneurial and executive leadership reflects a broader shift in Ghana’s innovation landscape: a pivot from donor-funded ICT projects to nationally driven, commercially sustainable solutions.
Recognition at a Time of Digital Reckoning
The Ghana Executive Awards, widely regarded as one of the country’s leading platforms for honouring business and institutional excellence, focused this year on the role of digitalisation in shaping national competitiveness. In this context, Dr Ansah’s award carries weight beyond personal merit; it signals a wider acknowledgement of the strategic importance of digital leadership in governance, logistics, and economic planning.
The citation noted his “visionary leadership in using technology to enable trade, enhance public sector efficiency, and strengthen Ghana’s position in the global economy”.
With global trade becoming increasingly data-driven and compliance-intensive, digital customs systems like ICUMS are no longer optional; they are essential. And as Ghana prepares for deeper integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), robust, secure, and scalable trade systems will define the country’s competitiveness.
A Broader Institutional Victory
While the spotlight has fallen on Dr. Ansah, the win also reflects positively on the implementation of ICUMS, a customs solution, which is the end-to-end customs single-window system. Since its deployment, the ICUMS has successfully maintained high system uptime and user adaptability despite growing trade volumes and complex regulatory shifts.
With the increasing focus on digital public infrastructure across Africa, industry watchers see Dr Ansah’s role in the implementation of the ICUMS as part of a broader African blueprint for tech-enabled development.
As Dr Ansah modestly noted on the night, “This is not just about systems and software—it’s about sovereignty, service delivery, and setting new standards.”
