By Francis Ntow
Accra, May 20, GNA – The 3iAfrica summit has ended with a call for stronger partnerships between governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders to turn ideas into actionable plans for Africa’s sustainable development.
Many of the participants who spoke with the Ghana News Agency described the summit as a laudable step in drawing African experiences and transforming them into policies and programmes for the continent’s growth.
They called for an all-encompassing approach to generate catalytic domestic capital among banks and investors into impactful innovations of Africans, including infrastructure development.
They also urged governments across the continent to create an enabling regulatory framework to enable Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) who provide financial and digital technology services to thrive.
That, they said, would help in quickening intra-continental trade, and increase cross-border payments to strengthen local currencies, engender financial inclusion, and generate employment for the continent’s youthful population.
“This summit has created synergies; at the vendors’ booth, there have been a lot of investor conversations, connections between policymakers and customers, which is a good start,” Ms Awurabena Agyeman, Co-Founder, Wear Ghana said.
The young entrepreneur added that, “this is very positive, but it should not end here. Let’s now act build spaces for businesses, and it’s time to do it ourselves as a continent.”
Speaking exclusively with GNA, Mr Kwamina Duker, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Development Bank Ghana (DBG), said the summit had demonstrated that the continent has people who can transform it.
“The main thing is the collaboration that we’ve seen over the last three-days; we have everything here to make it happen. We have the businessmen, policymakers, banks, so let’s make it work,” he said.
Mr Kwame Oppong, Director, fintech and Innovation, BoG, who presented the key outcomes at the end of the summit, also echoed the call for all stakeholders to act upon the decisions that had come out of the conference.
“Let us harness the boundless potential unveiled here, translate inspiration into action and ensure that the spirit of collaboration and innovation that defined this summit becomes a permanent fixture in Africa’s digital narrative,” he said.
The 3i Africa Summit is an initiative jointly developed by the Bank of Ghana, the Development Bank Ghana, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, supported by Elevandi.
The summit spearheaded discussions on addressing key growth and investment opportunities, and explored how market players in the financial ecosystem are leapfrogging in digital transformation with a call for action.
During the summit, Ghana signed a US$100 million deal between DBG and Proxtera – a Singaporean fintech company, to make loans easily accessible to Ghanaian SMEs through a digital platform.
There was also a partnership agreement between Fidelity Bank and Proxtera, to provide a comprehensive digital solution, including finance and business skills to SMEs through the Ghana Integrated Financial Ecosystem (GIFE) platform.
GNA