Members of the delegation included Hagen Maroney (Economic Counsellor, US Embassy), Ayesha Bedwei (Partner PWC and President of American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana), Isobel Afful-Mensah (Country Manager, Tech Hub 27 Holding Limited), Grace Osafo (Human Resource Partner, TechGulf) and Yaa Gyapong (Graduate Intern, TechGulf).
Franklin Asare, who is also the American Chamber of Commerce IT Committee Chairman, introduced himself and members of the delegation. He mentioned the strategic partnership between TechGulf and Overland Tandberg and confirmed that TechGulf is already selling data storage solutions in the country.
The proprietary Overland Tandberg products include the RDX product family which is designed to deliver cost efficiency to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) with growing data storage needs and the widely used, NEO LTO tape which is recognized as the standard for final data protection processes.
He highlighted that TechGulf had established 2 offices in Accra and had recruited a team of 25 personnel (including 3 interns).He also celebrated His Excellency’s “Year of Return” initiative and confirmed that Overland Tandberg’s strategic partnership with TechGulf was birthed from that initiative.Franklin Asare discussed the importance of youth empowerment to the project, the development of youth capacity, and partnerships with Ghanaian universities including Ashesi University, University for Development Studies, and the University of Health and Allied Sciences.
Ayesha Bedwei stated that embarking on the project by TechGulf and its partners would foster Ghana’s efforts to attain Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the focus on job creation and skills/capacity development for the youth (SDG 5 and 8).Isobel Afful-Mensah shared some key considerations requesting that the Executive Leadership provide some oversight to ensure policy alignment (both national and regional including AfCFTA) and increasing the ease of doing business to make Ghana a more attractive destination for tech entrepreneurs. She echoed that the project would deliver a long-term revenue stream for the local and national government and assist global companies seeking to do business in Africa by providing a platform for partnership and investment.
Hagen Maroney conveyed the U.S. government’s support for Ghana’s efforts to develop its knowledge economy in line with the Akufo-Addo Administration’s digital transformation strategy, and the importance of projects such as the TechGulf project to realize that vision. He shared the extensive work undertaken by U.S. technology players in Africa and highlighted the urgency of building technical capacity in Ghana.
The President welcomed the delegation and shared his excitement about the project stating that “the future of our country is digital and the sooner we get to that future the better.”He welcomed Franklin Asare and commended him for the work he had carried out at Oracle and the “infectious” passion with which he approached technology and empowering the youth.His Excellency was particularly keen that the team align the project with AfCFTA, which he noted as the single most important initiative since independence. His belief is that digital transformation will be critical to underpin the success of AfCFTA.
The Minister Designate for Communications and Digitalization Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in her remarks said that digitization is the obvious tool to build every economy. She reiterated that the 120MW data centre would rival that of Cape Verde and was eager to support the team to achieve that vision.TechGulf LLC is a leading US-based technology company headquartered in California, the USA with a strong commitment to delivering excellence through its Ghana operating arm, TechGulf Ghana Limited.
TechGulf is powered by an Africa-wide joint venture with strategic partner Overland Tandberg, and is the exclusive reseller of Overland Tandberg products as well as a priority reseller for world-class technology products from companies such as IBM, Dell, and HP.TechGulf and its partners, including Overland Tandberg, share a collective vision to deliver a comprehensive technological solution to complement the Government of Ghana’s Digital Strategy. In alignment with the Government’s vision, the team is committed to designing, financing, building, and operating a technology district with a 120 MW data centre.
TechGulf and its partners aim to position Ghana as a regional technology leader with best-in-class infrastructure, data storage/server space that is critical to unleashing the true potential of local businesses, and a pipeline of home-grown tech entrepreneurs who are able to navigate and thrive in the global market.