Transcript TIT BITS ON PAYE TAX

TOPIC:
WHAT HAS BEEN THE DRIVER
OF TECHNOLOGICAL
PROGRESS IN THE SOFTWARE
SECTOR IN GHANA
Yeboah Sraha
ASST. Human Resource
Director, Affiliated Computer
Services, Ghana
MAIN DRIVERS
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Enabling environment
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Government Initiatives
Improved macroeconomic environment
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Demand for software products
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Availability of skills
ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
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Good Governance
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Four consecutive democratic elections since 2000
Freedom of speech and association.
Establishment of commercial and fast track courts
Business confidence is high & soaring among
Corporate Executives.
Ghana is seen as the 9th most attractive place to do
business in Africa and the 1st in the West Africa
region.
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ENABLING ENVIRONMENT Cont.
Improved Macroeconomic Environment
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Between 2000 and 2005, economic growth increased
from 4 to 6%; inflation dropped from 40 to 10%; the
cedi depreciation fell from 50 to below 2 %.
Private remittances increased from about $600m in 2000
to $ 4.7 b February 2006.
ENABLING ENVIRONMENT Cont.
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Government Initiatives
Developed a comprehensive Ghana ICT Policy – 2003
 Introduction of e-learning in schools & colleges.
 In collaboration with Microsoft and Intel, the government
has produced an assembled PC in Ghana called
‘Discover’ which sells at an affordable price of $300.
This is in pursuance of a program known as ‘Ghana
digital inclusion computer-based program for all’. The
program is meant to promote the usage of PCs by the less
endowed citizens in Ghana.
 Expansion of ICT infrastructure eg. Fiber Optics &
Broadband
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GHANA’S IT SECTOR
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The sector started evolving in the early 1990s.
Currently there are about 10 software
companies of varying sizes.
The sector’s customers are Ghanaian
businesses and firms in the sub region.
The sector’s development was promoted by
Ghanaians both within and without.
DEMAND FOR SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS
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Growth of Ghanaian businesses
Businesses desiring to enhance efficiency and
reliability
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Desire to reduce waste through a reduction in
headcount.-
Businesses desiring to accurately gather
business intelligence/analysis which forms the
basis for growth of businesses.
AVAILABILITY OF SKILLS
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Growth of ICT training institutions in Ghana
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NIIT
IPMC
Kofi Annan ICT Training Inst. Etc.
Relocation of Ghanaian ICT professionals
from abroad.
Knowledge transfer by multi-national
companies in the country.
Organization of ICT-related workshops and
seminars to promote ICT development in
Ghana by ICT companies.
ROLE OF LOCAL & FOREIGN
FIRMS
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They are designing custom made soft wares for their own
use and also for other companies in and outside Ghana.
Offering training programmes for Ghanaians.
There is a limited collaboration between some foreign
training institutions and local software professionals
through the sharing of information & best practices to
grow the sector.
The sector is very small with high concentration in Accra;
the sector is however increasingly growing. There is a
huge demand locally which has not been fully exploited.
Limited presence of foreign software companies.
CASE STUDY 1:OUTSOURCING
(ACS)
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Has increased employment from 60 employees in the year
2000 to 1926 employees as at April 2006. About 3,110
percentage increase.
The company processes about 30,000 claims per day.
There has been a lot of knowledge transfer within the
company. The IT Manager has received a lot of training in the
US about soft ware development and he has equally trained his
team.
The company has been able to instill good working ethics
within the workforce ie time management, productivity etc.
Pays premium salaries and benefits. Our payments are very
competitive in the market.
Provides a number of business linkages for auxiliary
organizations.
CASE STUDY 2: TELECOM
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The telephone penetration rate is improving steadily.
The number of people using both cell phones and
telephones increased from about 250,000 in 2001 to
about 3million in 2005.
The sector is offering a lot of jobs for the youth e.g
Mobile phone to mobile phone services
Provides a lot of business linkages in the economy
especially advertisements and sponsorship
programmes.
The establishment of a Technology University by
Ghana Telecom
CONSTRAINTS TO THE SECTOR
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The Ghanaian market is not large enough to support
software development which is mainly capital
intensive and strives on economies of scale.
Inadequate number of professionals to support the
rapid development of the sector.
Lack of standards in the market to ensure that
products are of the required quality acceptable to
consumers.
Lack of financial support to ensure the rapid
development and deployment of software in the
economy.
Lack of R&D to feed the sector
THE WAY FORWARD
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Government needs to sponsor software houses to
promote the development of quality software
solutions for Ghana and the sub region.
Offer scholarships for IT related courses and ensure
that a critical mass of IT professionals are trained
within a specified period. Should replicate the Kofi
Annan ICT center in all regions.
There is the need to establish a strong R&D outfit to
provide modern technologies and competitive
information to the sector.
Vigorous provision of ICT infrastructure across the
country.
Con’t
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Government needs to provide logistical support for
software companies that are exporting solutions to
other countries.
There should be special tax incentives for ICT
companies.
Government should patronize the products of the
local developers and challenge them to develop
solutions that address current development needs.
Government should quicken the development of the
technology park development project.
SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES BEING
USED BY GHANAIAN FIRMS
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Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Access etc.), Oracle, ,Microsoft
Navision, Coral Draw, IBM DB2, Open Source: MySQL, Linux
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LOCAL SOFTWARES 
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Human Capital Management –
Investment Management Software - Asset/Portfolio Management
Software, Mutual Fund Management Software
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Accounting Software,
Manufacturing Supply Chain- Accountmate Manufacturing, Persol
Retail Manager, Persol Mobile Sales force, Inventory Management
Hospitality Management Software-Front Desk Manager, Restaurant
Manager, Call Manager