Africa must become creator of digital technologies — Promak CEO
Africa must move beyond being a consumer of digital technologies and position itself as a creator in the global digital revolution to drive economic growth, financial inclusion and job creation, the Chief Executive Officer of Promak, Mr Peter Frimpong-Manso, has said.
He said responsible innovation, effective regulation, increased investment and stronger data systems were critical to ensuring that the continent derived sustainable economic benefits from digital transformation.
Mr Frimpong-Manso made the call at the opening of the Digital Assets Summit Africa (DASA) 2026 in Accra yesterday, held under the theme: ‘From Policy to Prosperity.
He said blockchain, stablecoins, tokenisation and digital infrastructure had the potential to expand financial inclusion, unlock investment opportunities and create jobs across the continent.
He urged regulators, policymakers, financial institutions, technology companies, investors, academics and young people to collaborate to build a trusted digital ecosystem capable of transforming Africa’s economic fortunes.
The Head of the Virtual Assets Department of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Philip Kwaw Sebvabe, said innovation could not thrive without public trust, while trust could not be sustained without clear and effective rules.
Mr Sebvabe noted that Ghana was no longer preparing for a distant virtual-asset future but was already part of a growing market involving millions of people and significant financial flows.
“The implementation of Ghana’s legal and regulatory framework for virtual asset service providers would be critical to protecting consumers while allowing responsible innovation,” he said.
He stressed that participation in a regulatory sandbox should not be interpreted as market-wide authorisation or endorsement, explaining that the sandbox was a controlled environment for testing business models and safeguards.
He said Ghana’s objective should be to build a digital-asset market that created productive economic value rather than simply increasing the number of tokens in circulation.
Potential benefits, he identified, included faster cross-border payments, lower settlement costs, improved trade, tokenisation and the creation of skilled jobs.
He, however, warned that innovation without adequate controls could heighten financial, cybersecurity and illicit-finance risks.
Mr Sebvabe urged industry players to make consumer protection an integral part of their products, while calling on regulators to provide clarity and coordination.
He also encouraged educators and the media to help the public distinguish genuine innovation from speculation and scams.
The Director of the Africa Centre for Statistics at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Professor Samuel Kwabina, said reliable and integrated data systems were equally critical to Africa’s transformation, particularly in strengthening public-sector accountability and development planning.
He said reliance on outdated population census data made it difficult for African countries to accurately understand demographic changes, plan effectively and allocate resources.
Prof. Kwabina called for a continent-wide microdata architecture linking national identification, civil registration, health, education, finance, procurement and other information systems to provide comprehensive and usable development data.
He also urged countries to address institutional power struggles, resource constraints, human-capacity gaps and data-sharing challenges, while prioritising data sovereignty, public interest, productivity and accountability.
BY NELLY QUARCOOPOME & HILDA NSAMI
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