Adopt digital technology to build resilient businesses —Vice President

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has urged business leaders to enhance their operations by integrating digital technology to drive business evolution and resilience.

He said innovative digital technology was critical in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and, therefore, imperative for businesses and decision-makers to employ it in their operations and in governance to revitalise the economy.

Vice President Bawumia gave the advice in his keynote address at the Fifth Ghana CEO Summit in Accra on Monday.

The two-day event is on the theme: “Digital Transformation: Powering Business and Government Reset for a Post-Pandemic Economic Resilience; a Public-Private Sector Dialogue.”

It afforded policy-makers and business leaders the opportunity to have healthy conversations on ways to revitalise the economy.

It was organised by the Ghana CEO Network Limited, in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, State Interest and Governance Authority and the University of Ghana.

Vice President Bawumia said government’s digitisation policies were yielding fruits as mobile money transactions hit GHc569 billion last year after investing US$4.5 million in rolling out the mobile money interoperability payment system.

The number of holders of Tax Identification Number (TIN) had increased from 750,000 to 15.5 million as at the end of 2020 while more than 15 million Ghanaians had been issued with Ghana Cards.

“Our government remains focused on building an economy that is underpinned by digitisation,” he said.

“We have made progress on our enablers. We are beginning to see the dividends in passport services, driving licence, the integration of the National ID with Health Insurance, with the implementation of initiatives like mobile money interoperability, the paperless port systems, digital property addressing system and many others.”

“We have also interfaced the Ghana Card with the Ghana Revenue Authority and so the Ghana-Card number becomes the Tax identification number of everyone resident in Ghana.”

Dr Bawumia said the integration of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to the CID database was currently ongoing, which would help employers to easily check the criminal records of people they intended to employ.

“I will like to use this opportunity to charge all key decision makers of businesses gathered here today, to take advantage of this summit to forge key partnerships that will constitute a formidable force in our bid to reset business and the economy,” he said.

“The fight is against the common enemy and not against each other. The exchange of ideas and resources is cardinal if we are to emerge victorious from the negative conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Some chief executives in public and private organisations were presented with awards for their meritorious contributions to the economy.