Denis Opudo
The year 2017 was a good year for the entrepreneurs in Ghana. The country’s entrepreneurs have every reason to be optimistic about 2018. Here are major events which took place Ghana the year 2017 that should instill hope in the country’s entrepreneurs.
In January 2017, the partnership between Crowdfooding based in UK and Impact Hub Accra with other several partners lead to the development of Chocothon, an event that is used in sharing of knowledge. The event brought together different stakeholders in the cocoa community that lasted for two days. During the event, IT programs and various bodies took part in software development which included interface designers, graphic designers and project managers partnered in depth on software innovation activities. It didn’t just end there in January. UKGCC collaborated with Hogan Lovells to host more than 200 business leaders for the first West Africa Business Leaders Forum in Ghana which was given a theme Financing Infrastructure Transport, Power, and Housing in Ghana.
February 2017 was also a good month for the country in that the Ghana tech founders spearheaded by UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce visited London to promote all that was to be given by Ghana’s technology sector during the Tech in Ghana Conference London hosted by the team at AB2020. British Council Ghana took delegates from 23 countries across Sub Saharan Africa and the UK together for the 1st Enterprise Africa Summit in March 2017. The summit happened to be in the same month with the Geeks On A Plane by 500 Startups and Lions at Africa. In the same month, eighteen Austrian companies in the company of an official delegation from the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber took part in a Trade Mission organized by The Commercial Sections of the Austrian Embassy in Lagos and Casablanca.
The best day is seen in the morning was replicated in April 2017, Clean Energy Summit Africa was brought to Ghana capital courtesy of Solar Media Ltd and its collaborators. In a two-day Data Protection Conference, Data Protection Commission held up Data Controllers and Processors the event meant to figure out ways safeguarding important human rights via data protection. May 2017 came with its unique goodies. The first yearly China Trade Week was launched in Ghana with an objective of strengthening ties between Ghana and China. The Demo Africa team came to Impact Hub for 2017 edition of Accra Innovation Tour was also held in May 2017. Ghana Mining and Energy Summit 2017 was held at Accra International Conference Centre between 31st May and 2nd June 2017.
The main events in June 2017 was a delegation led by Ghana president to attend the 2017 edition of Annual Ghana Summit – Oil, Gas, LNG, and Power. The event gave the country a blueprint for the gas and oil industry. The same period, UK-Ghana Trade and Investment Forum 2017 was also held. The international investors had a chance to know on what to invest on in Ghana. Water Africa and West Africa Building and Construction Ghana 2017 was held at Accra International Conference Centre.
The 6th Innovation Prize for Africa was held in July 2017. In the same month, there was The Africa Open Data Conference which brought light for, The Ghana Diaspora Homecoming Summit was held in the same month.
Social Thursday event series was announced by the British Council in August 2017. From 14th to 20th August 2017, the 7th annual CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival was held in Accra Ghana capital. GIPC assembled the investment community at its 2017 Investment Summit also in August. September 2017 saw the hosting of Social Media Week Ghana the event was meant to educate people on the usage of social media as a tool to promote and develop businesses. The Seedstars Africa group was present at Impact Hub Accra for 2017 edition of Seedstars Accra.
Various events were held up in October 2017 that included; Accra Fashion Week 2017 on the theme of The Buyers Opportunity was hosted by Fashion Ghana group. National Cyber Security Week 2017 was held by the Ministry of Communication. World Tourism Forum –Africa Summit was held at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra that brought together some tourism stakeholders. The third annual Tony Elumelu Foundation brought the month to an end.
Tech in Ghana Conference was held in November 2017 courtesy of a collaboration between AB2020 and Ministry of Communications Ghana. In the same month, West Africa’s 6th Clean Energy & Environment Exhibition and Conference featured an official “Made in Germany” pavilion for the fourth successive time and for the second time a Start-up corner for Indigenous Ghanaian companies.
The year was closed by three Presidential Visits to Impact Hub Accra and iSpace Foundation that saw the President of France, Mr. Macron and Dutch Prime Minister, Mr. Rutte, visiting the Impact Hub German President, Mr. Steinmeier visited iSpace.
