AmCham Ghana, on February 25, 2021, collaborated with TechGulf to host a virtual meeting on the topic; Assessing Ghana’s Technology Districts – (Facilitating FDI into the Sector) The Role of Overland Tandberg.
The speaker, Franklin Asare, CEO of TechGulf and Chairman of the AmCham Ghana IT Committee, presented an overview of TechGulf and its strategic partnership with the “best in class” data storage and archive solutions provider, Overland-Tandberg.
Franklin also made a strong case for the establishment of a well-defined technology district. He cited several benefits including, fast and reliable internet, jobs, and revenue for the government.
”African data should be stored, mined, managed, and leveraged in and for Africa, and we have the mandate as people, we have the mandate as professionals, to make sure that in our lifetime that happens. TechGulf is about our ability to do so by building the requisite infrastructure.”
He stated that it is TechGulf’s vision to build the continent’s leading data center to assist technology companies to establish a foothold and usher Africa into the future of ICT. ‘’We are here to support Ghana’s digitization agenda specifically, but generally do that for the whole of Africa because we are all in the same boat,’’ he added.
Mr. Asare also stressed the need for the government to be committed to the digitization drive and provide the needed infrastructure to improve the ease of setting up and operating digital firms to attract leading foreign multinationals. ‘’ As a political manifesto, you have to correct historic underinvestment in infrastructure and maintenance.’’
Overland-Tandberg’s role, he said includes, investing in critical technology infrastructures such as data centers, establishing a technology and innovation district to accommodate global tech players, academia and the local start-up ecosystem, as well as assisting global companies seeking to do business in Africa by providing a platform for partnership and investment.
Watch the full virtual event below.