HOPin Collaborates with Ghana Tech Lab on Consultative Stakeholder Engagement
The emergence of technology has rapidly evolved over the years, creating solutions to complex problems of everyday people. From creating complex software and websites to building a simple interface or solution for the average market woman. The internet boom in the early 2000s witnessed an ever-increasing proliferation of solutions for organisations and individuals of all class, from the famous Amazon breakthrough. Facebook, Yahoo etc making these companies big overtime until then people did not appreciate the relevance of the World Wide Web. Alibaba which also to be born out of the internet revolution is one of the most valuable internet companies of all time and biggest eCommerce platform globally.
Web development has also evolved rapidly over the past few years as well. The industry has witnessed an astronomical growth especially for organizations or company as well as a skills-building solution for their customers. It has become a very lucrative venture due to the ever-increasing demand as a result evolving business system and needs to have an online presence.
A Consultative Stakeholder Engagement meeting was organized at the HOPin Academy premises on the 22nd of June 2020, themed; The Role of Web technology for Digital Transformation of The Local Economy for Job Creation and Economic Development. HOPin Academy is partnering with Ghana Tech Lab on the Pathways to Sustainable Employment PaSE project under the Young Africa Works Initiative with the MasterCard Foundation and the Ministry of Communication Ghana and World Bank Africa. The stakeholders were identified from the six pillars in the local ecosystem. This ranged from Markets to Governments and Regulations.
The engagement with the stakeholders sought to;
- Create a collaborative and consultative platform for stakeholders to drive the digital transformation of the local economy to achieve sustainable development through digital skills and entrepreneurship.
- Inform and identify current market needs of industries/ companies/job market and skills gap. This will help single out the needed intervention to help bridge/eliminate the gap.
- Facilitate and deepen relationships and collaboration among local players, to forge a focused agenda in the area of job creation for the youth and foster ecosystem synergy.
- Formulate local relevant policy and strategy for further policy advocacy and strategic engagement with regional and national policymakers.
In order to create a better understanding and appreciate the role of the web development technology in the local digital economy among stakeholders, a forum session was included in the meeting. Some of the stakeholders made extensive presentations on the key points below;
- Web Technology- Potential and Opportunity
- Key challenges and problems facing the industry
- Key existing market solutions and market needs
- Skills required to satisfy the current market needs
- Creation of potential new market by web technology.
The speakers of the various topics exposed participants to the numerous ways the web can support businesses and also improve its growth rate and profitability and how web development technology enhances new opportunities and growth.
We also had another session where stakeholders explained some of the existing and possible challenges to the growing web development landscape in Northern Ghana and went forward to proffer policy recommendations to these challenges.
The engagement was a success and we thank all the stakeholders for their time and commitment to this Initiative.