By Francis Kokutse

Accra, May 30 (IANS) Inspired and aided by India, the Ghanaian government is taking measures to make information technology (IT) a key driver of its economy and transform the country into the IT hub of West Africa.

To achieve its aim, the government says it is determined to make IT popular among youth.

Communications Minister Haruna Iddrisu said the government is spending $5 million on an ICT project to empower youth.
As part of the project, to begin this year, offices of the defunct State Housing Corporation (SHC) will be transformed into an IT hub. Similar centres will be established in all the 10 regional capitals beginning with five this year.

Iddrisu said the initiative was aimed at making the country a manpower pool for industry requirements and an attractive place for global business process outsourcing.

India has a key role in the development of the IT sector in Ghana, providing in March assistance of $800,000. There have also been several Indian-assisted projects to promote IT in the country.

Among these is the main training centre, the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE), which came up Dec 9, 2003, as an outcome of then President John Kufuor's discussions with Indian leaders during his trip to India.

Ghana provided the infrastructure to house the computer hardware, software and other communication equipment, while India supplied the initial instructors, who helped in drawing up the curriculum.

"The centre came into being after the then UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, who was inspired by India's achievement in the IT industry, decided to find a way of replicating this success across Africa," its director general, Dorothy K. Gordon, told IANS in an interview.

"After just eight years, one can say the IT industry (in Ghana) has started to take off and the centre has become a hub of IT activities," she said.

Gordon clarified Ghana's move into the IT industry "was not intended to take away India's long-time role but to assist Indian companies that are looking for alternative locations".

In addition to the AITI-KACE, a number of Indian companies have established themselves in the country and are either providing business solutions or helping to train the country's IT professionals. Among them is the Intercom Programming and Manufacturing Company Ltd Ghana (IPMC Ghana) which has been rated among the Top 10 of Ghana Club's 100 top businesses.

"The company came to Ghana 19 years ago and has become very successful in the business of IT products distribution, IT solutions and training," its CEO Amardeep Singh Hari told IANS, adding that the company is one of West Africa's largest IT companies with 400 plus workforce and a footprint in 19 locations.

"With its $5 million worth of local IT inventory and $30m turnover, IPMC is facilitating the growth of IT infrastructure and serves over 8,000 businesses in the region supported by more than 50 suppliers globally," he added.

The company has won several awards, including the Ghanaian government's "Top IT Hardware Supplier" award, and currently is the partner of leading computer firms like HP, Dell, IBM, Acer, Cisco, Microsoft and others.

"With the company's expertise in IT infrastructure technologies, IPMC provides support across enterprise ranging from high end server, storage technologies, local area network/wide area network setups and end-user devices - PCs, laptops and printers," Hari said.

In the area of IT training, IPMC has been offering work-based training which has enhanced the skills of over 10,000 students every year.

"I choose the centre because of its job-oriented IT courses. In addition, the centre also partners with Greenwich University of London for degree programs in computer science and business studies and it gives me the opportunity to get a British university degree without stepping out of Ghana," Jacob Addo, a student of the IPMC training centre said.

Another Indian IT training centre operating in the country is NIIT Ghana.

"From a humble beginning in 2000, the institute has expanded to seven centres within 10 years of operations. More centres are in the pipeline," managing director Kapil Gupta said.

He said the institute has the capacity to train over 10,000 students and professionals alike. In March this year, its latest centre was inaugurated in Tamale in the northern region.