Ghana is going digital, but are Ghanaians building the technology?

Ghana is undergoing a digital transformation at a rapid pace. The country's digital sector is expanding rapidly, with a 20.2 percent growth rate in 2025 alone. However, while Ghana is becoming more digitized, there is a growing concern about whether this digital shift is also creating local technological capability, companies, intellectual property, and jobs. The issue lies in who is actually building the technology Ghana is investing heavily in.

Ghana's Information and Communication sector is indeed growing, but the question remains whether this growth is resulting in Ghanaian software developers, technology firms, and locally owned intellectual property generating significant economic value. Currently, it is unclear how much of the digital economy in Ghana is truly owned by the nation.

Ghana does possess a pool of technological talent, evident in universities, tech hubs, fintech companies, startups, and independent developer communities. However, this talent alone isn't sufficient to foster technological sovereignty. Developers require markets, startups need customers, and tech companies need access to capital. Furthermore, the government, as the largest spender on digital services, must adopt policies that transform public expenditure into domestic technological capacity.

Government procurement could serve as a strategic economic policy tool. When a government entity spends millions on a digital project, it should not only consider the system's functionality but also inquire about the number of Ghanaian developers employed, the knowledge transferred, the intellectual property owned, and the percentage of the contract value retained in Ghana.

To ensure this, Ghana could adopt a Local Digital Content Policy. This policy could mandate a certain level of local participation in public-sector digital procurement, including local software development, technology transfer programs, training, maintenance, internships, partnerships with local institutions, and gradual transfer of technical responsibilities.

Additionally, developing a National Digital Production Account could help measure the local content in the digital sector. This could track the number of software developers and digital professionals, the annual revenue of Ghanaian software companies, the value of locally developed software, and the amount of ICT expenditure retained domestically.

In essence, the goal should not be to exclude foreign companies but to ensure that foreign investments contribute to a more technologically capable Ghana.