Ghana once again affirmed its supremacy in technology as a local company outshined a number of well-known and respected global brands to annex the coveted Best Technology Initiative Award in Africa for the year 2013.

It was all joy in the South African city of Sandton at the 2014 Card & ePayment Africa Awards, an annual event to recognise and reward excellence and cutting–edge innovation in the card and electronic payment market in Africa as a definitive platform to celebrate unparalleled excellence and outstanding achievements in the industry across Africa.

It was attended by an array of dignitaries representing renowned brands and technology driven blue chip businesses across the continent and beyond.

The awards ceremony was organised by the Card & e-payment Africa Awards Secretariat in South Africa.

The Ghanaian IT company, Innovative EPS Ltd operating the PAYZONE brand, which has been in existence for only three years, beat high profile companies including British banking giant, Barclays Bank and Access Bank Plc with its much hailed PayZone e-payment platform.

For a company to qualify for the annual award, it must first be nominated by public voting and verified later by a highly renowned panel of judges.

Briefing journalists after the awards ceremony, the Chief Operations Officer of Innovative EPS, Mr. Bernard Anyan-Mensah said “the honour will definitely spur us on to higher heights”.

The Executive Chairman of the company, Mr George Boateng predicted high economic boom should the government take advantage of the numerous opportunities offered by technology in various economic fields.

He told a section of South African media that technology is the only solution to Africa’s economic woes and therefore asked governments on the continent to pay greater attention to that sector.

“The PAYZONE platform alone is more than capable of becoming the single largest fund mobiliser for central government aside the huge potential to generate jobs for between 500,000 and 1 million people in Africa within the next 5 to 10 years”, says Mr Boateng who led a three-member Innovation EPS delegation to the awards ceremony in South Africa.

He likened the platform to google, whatsapp, facebook and other ICT companies, stressing on their ability to accelerate economic transformation within the shortest period.

Innovative EPS Ltd has been working on developing virtual business transaction payment systems, using its PayZone payment platform, all in their bid to help create a cashless society.

Even though PayZone is yet to be officially launched, many patrons have lauded the convenience and proximity advantages the platform provides for its growing customers.

The PayZone platformwhich currently hosts all the telecommunication networks in Ghana, facilitatesthe purchase of direct airtime top-ups on its Self–Service payment kiosk and are currently deployed at various locations in the Greater Accra Region (e.g. 37 military hospital, GHAPOHA, Accra Mall, University Campuses, etc.).

The company is currently holding discussions to enrol Electricity Bill Payment (Post & Pre-paid), Ghana Water Bill Payment, hosting of Internet Service Providers Payment, Lotteries, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, Tax payment, Banking & Finance, Micro Finance & Insurance, Airline and Event Ticketing, among others.

The platform is capable of hosting 1,600 services concurrently.

It currently has a growing patronage of about 80,000 to 100,000 per month and in the next 5 years, Innovative EPS hopes to expand to other African countries”.