An Economist and Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, has asked government, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to leverage on opportunities in the digital space to create jobs.

Speaking at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast meeting held Wednesday, July 16, 2021, Prof. Godfred A. Bopkin said this will help in bridging the unemployment gap in the country.

“The beautiful thing about digitisation and digital economy is that it offers opportunities for you to stand alone; rather than seeking to be employed, you could actually come out with your own start-ups,” he said.

The breakfast meeting saw experts in financial technology, the digital ecosystem, and academia exploring opportunities available to businesses in the sector.

During the event, the professor noted that though a lot of job opportunities lie within the sector, little has been explored.

“The opportunity for start-ups in the digital space is very high but if you look at the league in terms of tech start-ups, you don’t see Ghana ranking that high compared to Kenya, South Africa, and the rest of them,” he said.

That notwithstanding, he said regular skills upgrade is required in order to stay in line with the new trends in the digital space.

“If the digital economy is going to outpace the traditional economy for growth, certain inputs which include labour is required. But it may not take the traditional form that we have been used to and it will not take the existing skills that we used to have a year ago or two years ago. So it may be necessary that regular skills upgrade will be required,” he said.

Also at the event was the Chief Executive Officer of Hubtel, Alex Bram who touched on the role of government in the quest to achieve digitisation in the country. He noted that government has a leading role to play.

“I want to see government play a leading role in digitisation. I want to see government opening up the country to take more internet. I want to see government play a more leading role in changing our education set up, because we can’t continue to turn out thousands of political scientists every year and still expect to be competitive in the new world that is coming,” he said.