Ghana’s digital economy the foundation to build back stronger and better – StanChart CEO
Ghana’s digital economy, can serve as a strong foundation on which the Ghanaian economy can build back stronger and better, Mansa Nettey, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank has said.
According to Ms Nettey, the digital economy presents to government, the opportunity to leapfrog the country’s development, create jobs for citizens and initiate economic recovery and growth for the country.
“I believe that even with our challenging circumstances (prevailing macroeconomic challenges) as a country, the digital economy is a strong foundation on which we can build back stronger and better.
“I believe that this era presents us with the greatest opportunity to leapfrog our development, drive change for our people, create jobs for our youth, initiate economic recovery and growth and bring hope to our people,” said Ms Nettey at the 2nd Standard Chartered Digital Banking, Innovation and FinTech Festival 2022 on Wednesday, October 26.
Revenue from Ghana’s digital economy is projected to hit $905m by the end of 2022 per data made available by Statista.
The African continent’s digital economy is projected to grow to $108 billion by 2025 and expected to grow further to $712 billion by 2050.
In 2016, the digital economy the World Bank notes was worth an estimated $11.5 trillion worldwide, equivalent to 15.5 percent of global GDP.
It is however, forecasted to reach 25 percent in less than a decade, far outpacing the growth of the ‘traditional’ economy.
Speaking further at the FinTech Festival, Ms Nettey urged for more partnerships and collaborations between FinTechs, Telcos and banks, noting that it is only through partnerships between FinTechs, Telcos and banks, that the country can scale up and achieve its digitalisation and financial inclusion goal.
“A key milestone in Ghana has been the collaborative work between the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) and the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhiPSS) which led to the roll out of the innovative industry wallet called Ghana Pay. There are several other collaborations that have spawned significant initiatives and innovations,” she added.
The FinTech Festival, Ms Nettey noted, will explore opportunities that exist in using digital technology to unlock Ghana’s and by extension Africa’s economic growth and focus on regulations that protect and enhance digital trade.
“We will delve into the future of banking, money, and payment systems in solving the complex financial inclusion challenges on our continent,” she said.
The 2nd edition of Standard Chartered Bank’s Digital Banking, Innovation and Fintech Festival 2022 themed “Powering Africa’s Digital Economy: Platforms | Players | Policy”, focuses on Africa’s digital transformation by engaging local and international players who are powering Africa’s digital transformative agenda.
The 2022 Fintech Festival features a series of plenary sessions that will explore the opportunities for co-creation by industry players to embrace digitization and the extent to which platforms and payments are currently creating value and helping industry players to be agile amidst the disruption.
Further more, in a session dedicated to women in technology, participants will discuss the urgent need for women-owned businesses to tap into the enormous opportunities offered by technology adoption and explore investment opportunities to help female owned businesses scale further and faster.
In addition to a great line up of insightful panel sessions, this year, in line with its brand promise to be “Here for good”, Standard Chartered has curated an exciting innovation and lab crawl as well as a Fintech Exhibition with participating Fintechs from Singapore, UK, Africa and Ghana.
