The highly anticipated 5th CEO summit has been launched.
The summit is organized by the Ghana CEO Network. This year’s submit is slated for May 17-18, 2021. It will take place at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra.
This was announced on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at an official media launch at Kempinski hotel in Accra.
The theme for the 5th edition of the CEO summit is “Digital Transformation: Powering , Business and Government RESET for a Post-Pandemic Economic Resilience. A Public-Private Sector Dialogue”.
Explaining his reason for settling on the theme in his keynote address, Ernest De-graft Egyir, Executive Officer of the CEO network said there was the need for Ghana to have a digital economy act to serve as the main pivot to organize all the digitization initiatives of the government.
“Covid-19 has irrevocably changed our world and companies now face an urgent choice, they either go digital or go bust. The digital dividend is gigantic but the digital divide is very gaping hence why we (the network) chose this theme so now is the time for a great reset of Ghana’s economy”, Mr. Egyir said.
“On the 17th and 18th of May, we are going to have panel discussions bothering on important topical issues. We will discuss the theme under the digital economic panel; how we will set our economy and businesses after the pandemic where key experts and practitioners will share ideas”. Mr. Egyir added.
Speaking at the launch was the official chairman of the media launch, CEO of Margins group, Mr. Moses Baiden focused on the benefits covid-19 had brought in the digital space amid taking lives of thousands.
“In 2020, the whole world shut down but the acceleration of the impact of digitization could not have been orchestrated much better than tragic events that took the lives of people but at the same time, laid bare the economic advantages that digitization brings. We saw an increase in every sector in deepening of the digital transaction speed and in other sectors, we saw a negative impact. What then can government and private businesses do to reset the clock so countries in Africa like Ghana can take full advantage of what we have learnt in this pandemic?” he quizzed.
Also present at the launch was first deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana, Maxwell Opoku-Afari who said that In spite of the tremendous achievements towards building a financial
inclusive society through digitisation, the COVID19 containment measures put
in place at the height of the pandemic by the Government highlighted the
digitization gap and brought to fore the extent to which this gap can be
exploited by businesses for economic efficiency and growth.
“Let me be clear that this transition will not be an easy one as there will be costs associated with changing business models. But this is where businesses will have to be resolute and remain steadfast in the pursuit of their ideals and take a long-term view of where they want to see their operations a decade from now. I am fully aware that some businesses are beginning to internalize
this new normal and are taking adequate steps to adopt digital technology in
their operations to ensure their relevance as well as grow their business traffic” he said.
Meanwhile, in a speech read on his behalf Asamoah Boateng, Director General, State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), disclosed that the theme for this year’s summit resonated and aligned with SIGA’s quest to drive President Akufo-Addo’s post-pandemic economic recovery efforts with special emphasis on the “public-private sector dialogue” aspect.
“This is a game-changing opportunity for Government and CEOs of state-owned enterprises to deepen our strategic partnership with the private sector. Such a partnership provides opportunity for both sides to learn from each other best practices, policy propositions and leadership insights that
inspire business and economic transformation. Through such exchanges, we can explore pathways to addressing the economy’s most significant challenges”, Mr Boateng added.
He used the opportunity to urge CEOs to participate in the Ghana CEO Summit and see it as a great place to identify new business opportunities with Ghana’s most influential business leaders as well as gain exclusive insights on the most promising investment projects in Ghana.
The CEO Network is a coalition of over 200 business leaders that connect with the purpose of improving and promoting good business and professional ethics.
Every year, the network and its partners organize Ghana’s foremost business conference, Ghana CEO Summit.
-By Sharon Brown-Acquah