CEO of Afrifanom formerly known as Vokacom Company Limited, Nana Osei Kwasi Afrifa has lamented the lack of confidence in Ghanaian software developers or tech companies in producing solutions for various sectors of the economy.

Although stakeholders keep preaching the use of Ghanaian innovations to push local start-ups and businesses, both private and public sector institutions continue to patronize foreign software or apps to solve local problems.

Speaking at this year’s Ghana Internet Conference organized by the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA). Nana Afrifa was hopeful that the phenomenon will soon be dealt with.

“The lack of trust in Ghanaian ICT companies has been around for a long time. Of the 20+ banks in Ghana, none of them is using a banking system that was developed by a Ghanaian. If nobody is using or is willing to give us the opportunity to use our system, how are we ever going to collect the data, to begin with? This lack of trust pertains not just in the private sector, but in the public sector as well where we all contribute to the money used to purchase those solutions,” he lamented.

This year’s Ghana Internet Conference, under the theme, ‘Ghana’s data space, localization, protection and economization’, was organized to highlight ways by which Ghana’s data space can be harnessed.

The event was hosted by the Academic City University College on Thursday, November 25, 2021.

Other Panelists at the conference included Advocate for Data as a Force For Good, Amerley Ampofo; Chief Manager for Regulatory at the National Communications Authority, Ing. Alfred Gaisie, and the Director of Regulatory and Compliance at the  Data Protection Commission Dr. Patrick Adonoo.