President Nana Akufo-Addo has appointed the former Deputy Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Prince Sefah, as the new CEO of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC).

He takes over from Kofi Asante, the immediate past CEO of GIFEC, who is now retiring from active service.

Mr Sefah's appointment took effect from Monday, August 9, 2021.

He is expected to bring to GIFEC a renewed drive, innovation, strong industry experience, operations management and technological acumen toward achieving its clear vision of promoting universal access to digitisation.

Aside from lauding the President for appointing yet another youthful person for the top position, some industry watchers on social media believe the choice of Mr Prince Sefah as CEO of GIFEC is timely and very strategic to boost the work of the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.

The Minister is given a renewed mandate to lead the President's agenda to fast-track the digitalisation of the Ghanaian economy; and work frenetically and systematically to establish a new Best-in-Class Phone SIM registration process across the length and breadth of the country, towards weeding out SIMs used by fraudsters.

Ghana is considered the leading telecommunication and digital hub in the Sub Region, and the appointment of Mr Sefah by the President as the new CEO of GIFEC will help the drive for the implementation of the Universal Access to Digitisation programs of this government.

Profile

Mr Sefah is a multi-faceted IT Executive who has about 25 years of professional experience in areas such as Manufacturing, Banking, ICT, Oil & Gas and Telecommunications sectors in Central & Western Canada and Ghana. He previously worked in senior IT Management roles at global Corporate Giants like General Electric and Citigroup.

In Akufo-Addo's first term, he was a Board Member of the Accra Digital Centre, where he chaired the Board’s Technical and Operations Committee under the Board Chairmanship of Mr Kofi Asante.

He has also been a Board Member of the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana since 2017.

Mr Sefah possesses a BComm (Information Technology Management) from Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada and a Master of Business Administration (Human Resources Management) from the University of Ghana, Legon.

He is currently pursuing a Senior Professional in Human Resources, International (SPHRi) Certification.

The new GIFEC boss is a multi-faceted Technology Leader who has completed many IT Industry Certifications and Training; attended many Trade Shows, Workshops, and Conferences.

He is the recipient of an Economics Book Prize (on the Economy of Developing Countries) awarded by Ryerson University.

Mr Prince Sefah has achieved an Advanced Leader (Silver) and Advanced Communicator (Silver) designations from Toastmasters International Organisation (TMI).

He won several awards in Speech and Evaluation Contests and Leadership Awards during his time in TMI.

Mr Sefah attended St. Peter's Secondary School for his A' Level and Nkawkaw Secondary School for his O' Level, before migrating to Canada for over two decades until his return to live in Ghana a few years ago.