What We Want From The Ghana Tech Ecosystem in 2019

The Ghana Tech Ecosystem, although small in stature compared to countries like Kenya and Nigeria, is steadily growing and has managed to get some wins under it’s belt this year.

From the attention and funding of agriculture startups like Agrocentra and Farmerlineto tech hubs like Impact Hub and iSpace receiving international visits, Ghana’s tech ecosystem is slowly maturing and gaining ground locally and international.

However, there’s still a ways to go for the Ghanaian tech ecosystem. Here are a couple of things that we want to see from the Ghana Tech Ecosystem in 2019:

1. More Collaboration

Sometimes, it seems like Ghanaian tech startups work in isolation or in “silos”. There doesn’t seem to be much news of collaboration between two or more startups working together on a solution or to grow the specific sector they’re in. What we wish to see in 2019 is more collaboration whether it is forming an advocacy group or teaming up to create a solution for Government. 

Maybe some tech companies can offer to partner to work on some government e-projects….

2. Open Source Data + General Data Availability

It’s hard to actually measure how big the Ghanaian tech ecosystem because there is a lack of data readily available in the ecosystem. As stated earlier, there is not much documentation or open data on how startups are doing in terms of workforce, finances, projects etc.

Hopefully in 2019, companies in the tech ecosystem will be willing to share more of future plans and data which can be used to help measure what is happening in the space. Maybe more companies can have internal blogs where they can share news about their upcoming products or breaking news.

3. More Mergers/Acquisitions/Partnerships

It would seem that there are lots of companies and startups all working on fixing the same solution. There’s a lot of duplication or similar apps in the Ghana space and that makes the whole space crowded with not much innovation going on. (Do we really need 5 fintech apps which all go the same thing…)

It would benefit the space to see more acquisitions or general partnerships. between two or more companies which have different strengths and weaknesses.

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4. “Inclusive” Technology Conferences

Every year, there are conferences which take place with different themes all related to technology. From most of our coverage from these technology conferences, one can’t help but feel like it’s not as “inclusive” as it should.

Most are targeted are big companies, leaving most of the young entrepreneurs and young startups who could benefit greatly from the network opportunities.

Even with panel discussions at these conferences, more startups should be given the chance to partake so the general audience can get more understanding of what young startups are enduring.

Speaking of panels….

5. More Interactive Presentations And Panels (At Tech Events And Conferences)

To be honest, from most of these tech conferences we cover, we fear that they might be becoming repetitive in nature in how they handle their panels. The same goes for keynote speakers.

There might need to be an emphasis on presentation of data or slide presentations from speakers or their area of topics. 

For the panels, maybe a bit of more “digging” by the moderator depening on the topic being presented.

6. More Tech Media

Commendation has to be given to CitiFM’s Phillip Ashon for being one of few journalist in the mass media space points doing stories on tech in Ghana. But we feel like there needs to be more technology media and journalists to report AND analyze tech news stories in the Ghanaian space for the average consumer.

So these are just some of the things that we would like to in 2019 in the Ghana Tech Ecosystem. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.