Visa Ghana has said key among its targets as 2019 wraps up will be to ensure that the government-led Year of Return initiative is backed by a reliable cash-lite ecosystem.

Country Manager for Visa Ghana, Adoma Peprah, said in December this year, when the Year of Return climaxes, through 2020, Visa Ghana will fine-tune its processes to promote Ghana as an important tourist destination.

The Year of Return is an initiative of the Nana Akufo-Addo administration that is intended to encourage African diasporans to come to Ghana to settle and invest in the country. The government says it expects some 500,000 diasporans to visit Ghana.

“I am looking forward to the Year of Return; I am looking forward to people visiting Ghana to be able to use their Visa Cards, so I am excited about December and what that means,” she said.

She revealed that in 2020 Visa Ghana will consolidate its achievements by partnering with fintechs and other relevant institutions that can ensure Visa’s big vision of promoting a cash-lite ecosystem is achieved.

Adoma Peprah made these revelations during an exclusive interview with Myjoyonline.com on the sidelines of the Tech in Ghana Conference at the Accra Digital Centre.

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Currently, according to Adoma, Visa Ghana has some 19,000 merchants strategically dotted across the country as part of its commitment to leading the nation toward a more secure, trusted payment system

“We know that Ghana has a sizeable amount of unbanked people. As a result, we work to ensure that we make financial services available to these people, in order to grow and stabilise the economy, and lead Ghanaians to a place of financial empowerment. We aim to bring some of the latest digital advancements here to encourage evolution in the financial space

“The goal for me is to ensure that every time consumers have a payment need here in Ghana, there is a Visa technology ensuring these needs are met in a secure and convenient manner,” she said

Adoma Peprah said Ghana remains a key partner of Visa’s vision and commended the Akufo-Addo-led government for promoting digitisation in many sectors of the country.

“Ghana presents a very exciting opportunity for Visa because of how vibrant the market is. Ghana is one of the countries in West Africa with the fastest growing digital payment platforms. Consumer spending habits and e-commerce penetration have also provided us with a great opportunity to showcase our innovative technology and provide unique solutions to a broad range of people

“We identify with the sentiments of the NPP [New Patriotic Party] government and also the Vice President [Dr Mahamudu Bawumia] himself, digitising and moving towards cash lite and cashless society and that is something that is of great importance to us. This is because it is at the heart of our vision,” she said.