Ghana to host 3i Africa summit May 13th.
Ghana is set to host the maiden 3iAfrica Summit, a three-day event that aims to drive digitalisation and technology in the financial sector to enhance inclusion.
The summit, an initiative by the Bank of Ghana, Development Bank Ghana, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is expected to bring together about 4,000 business executives from around 80 countries.
The theme of the summit is “Unleashing Africa’s FinTech and Digital Economic Potential,” and it will focus on transforming Africa’s economic landscape through sustainable, long-term capital allocation.
The event is designed to provide a platform for policy discourse, global alignment of intellectual resources, entrepreneurial endeavours, and investment networking.
According to the Director of Fintech and Innovation of the Bank of Ghana, Kwame Oppong, the summit is part of the Bank’s intent to help development in Africa.
Mr. Oppong believes that digitalisation can drive innovation and growth on the continent.
“It’s part of our intent to help development. The opportunity that digitalisation has on the continent is innovation. the right investment can scale to provide services both locally and internationally. If you look at the journey of fintech whether by bank or non-banks like mobile money providers, it has helped us achieve policy objectives”, he said on Breakfast Daily on Citi TV.
The summit will also focus on other areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), its use in daily life, and how it can be used responsibly to protect consumers’ data.
He added that there will also be discussions on agricultural technology and its potential to improve the agricultural sector in Ghana.
The Bank of Ghana believes that the adoption of technology in the financial sector can improve the delivery, efficiency, convenience, and inclusivity of financial services in Africa.
The summit is expected to provide a platform for stakeholders to deliberate on ideas for creating a sound and safe financial system and also attract a large number of participants from around the world.
“There are many interesting areas that will be discussed at the summit and one of the things we are doing is not make this a tech conference from the conversation perspective. Because that’s how you lose the whole country. If you talk about AI, people do not even realise that your daily life is integrated with AI, your phones, your tablets, how is it being used responsibly?”
“How are you protected as a consumer, so your data isn’t abused and how can it be used positively to impact you? For instance, if I’m an SME, how can it help me access loans, without collateral, which is a very big challenge for our SMEs? There will be a focus on SMEs. We’ll have discussions on agricultural technology that will help our agricultural sector bring productivity.”
