PODCAST>> "AFRICA IN FOCUS:E-commerce in Ghana & Africa (2 September, 2014)

From Emmanuel K: "Dear friends, Kindly find the link to the podcast of #AfricainFocus show on Tuesday 2 September, which interrogated some important questions about E-commerce in Ghana. We leave the show getting a sense of how three Ghanaian organisations in Baahe.com; Zoobashop.com; and Rancard Solutions are all doing the very level best to ensure that Ghanaians get the opportunity to benefit from safe and secure online transactions. We spoke to ECOWAS' Stella Attakpah who offered a regional perspective on e-commerce, and gave an insight into how the Dakar-based Intergovernmental Action Group against Money-Laundering (GIABA) continues to offer Member States technical assistance and how governments must put structures in place to protect the buyers and sellers. As usual, we have different segments, including our regular AU/ECOWAS five minute digest; "Africa in History"; "Africa in the News". We also have #EbolaWatch updates from Kobby Blay, our registered nurse at Korle-Bu. We look forward to comments! Kind regards, Emmanuel" Click here to view (Emmanuel K shared these files using Dropbox. Enjoy!) © 2014 Dropbox

AFRICA IN FOCUS >> Coming up on 2 September, 2014: E-Commerce in Ghana & Africa: Challenges; Prospects; and the Future

E-commerce in Ghana & Africa: Challenges; Prospects; and the Future

Buying and selling. It is something Ghanaians and Africans do very well.

Extrapolate this to the virtual, and one finds that E-commerce offers an opportunity to buy and sell in radically-different ways. As the internet is increasingly used as a tool for business, it offers a quick way to connect producers and suppliers, and, possibly, serve as a panacea for local artisans.

As Berlin–based online retailer Jumia – a so-called Amazon counterpart – considers expanding to Cameroon; Uganda; and Ghana very soon, we want to use the 16^th edition of AIF to have a discussion about Africa and its new future of buying and selling. Already, given our informal sector, it is something that is second nature to many in Ghana, the sub-region, and the continent.

Even as we interrogate the issue of e-commerce, we want to ask hard questions about infrastructure; e-payment systems; and e-shipping opportunities in Ghana, the sub-region; and Africa.

And, also, even as we start with a localization of the issue, it is important to get a regional perspective. For example, ECOWAS has a legal framework on e-transactions; cyber-crime; and personal data protection, but they have all yet to be implemented by Member States.

Programmes Manager at the Dakar-based ECOWAS Agency, Intergovernmental Action Group against Money-Laundering (GIABA), will be offering us deep insights into the state of e-commerce and efforts to combat regional cyber-crime that will make e-transactions safer and more secure for citizens.

Guiding Questions to be answered:

·        What is e-commerce, and how is it an important driver of a country’s development?

·        Do countries like Ghana have sufficient enabling environment for e-commerce (Rancard/Surfline)

·  Does West Africa/Africa/Ghana have necessary infrastructure to facilitate E-commerce? (Surfline/GIABA)

·        How do e-commerce practitioners (like Zoobashop) set about protecting consumers and their data, even as they want to make business?

·        How do we promote E-commerce as facilitator of Africa’s integration? (GIABA)

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Henking Adjase, Surfline

Ø  Ato Ulzen-Appiah, Rancard Solutions

Ø  Albert Biga, CEO, Zoobashop.com

On the line

Ø  Stella Attakpah, Programmes Manager, ECOWAS agency GIABA (Intergovernmental Action Group against Money-Laundering), Dakar, Senegal @13h55

Ø  Dornu Narhkom, Baahe.com @14h20