BusyInternet invests $2million in Ghana

Over two million dollars have been invested so far in the Ghanaian economy by BusyInternet indicating its confidence in the local economy despite skepticism of global investors in Africa.

Of the two million dollars, 45% funding is from Ghanaian investors; Fidelity and Databank while the remaining 55% is by an American private company and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Africa still holds a strong attraction for genuine IT investors and a large green market indicates unexplored commercial potentials.  Since it foraged into Ghana for business about three years ago, Busyinternet runs on systems custom-built by SOFT, a strong indication of its willingness to encourage indigenous assembly of computer systems.

Busyinternet is already fine-tuning plans for IT Africa, an annual fair organised by the technology services company to showcase what it called an “African IT excellence in telecom, computer and software solutions.”  It is also working on expanding its service reach among Ghana’s 15 million people.

The fair since its debut in 2001 has been providing a platform from which African IT resources and experiences can be pooled together to form the crucial link to propel Africa in general and Ghana in particular into the global IT community. Over 40 IT companies were present with more than 2000 visitors recorded per day at the first IT Africa Fair in November 2001.

Its promoters tout BusyInternet Ghana, a high-tech community centre, as the largest privately held technology centre in Africa. Its three owners companies namely Fidelity, Databank and BusyInternet International, have since the company first opened shop in Accra about three years ago helped it to create an enabling environment to stimulate growth in the ICT industry in Ghana. BusyInternet has conference facilities, fully serviced offices, a restaurant and bar, a 24hour copycentre and the fastest Internet café in Accra.

It has established itself as Ghana’s most thriving technology services company with a range of events, training, debates, in addition to growing a vibrant community of IT entrepreneurs and offices, the BusyInternet story has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and is a key African initiative focused on transforming African economies to meet the opportunities of the digital age.

Ghana has a few Internet service providers and hundreds of Internet cafes dotted all over the country, with Accra alone having over 170 cafes. With its local business partners, BusyInternet is expanding on its existing facilities which include a state-of-the-art public Internet access hall, with over 100 high speed flat screen computers, fully serviced office space, training rooms, executive browsing cubicles and an ISP facility dubbed Busyaccess. 

The IT Africa fair is organised in such a way that all SMEs in the IT sector have a chance to exhibit their wares to the media and the public, and network amongst themselves. It offers a low-cost alternative to other annual fairs that are sometimes beyond the reach of many of the smaller solution providers and entrepreneurs that are just starting out and make up the most exciting segment of the technology industry.

“We are consistently aiming at providing services in line with our mission to provide the best public ICT services in Africa with an exceptional customer service to create a fun, challenging and rewarding place to work as well as assist in the socio-economic development of Ghana. We are committed to build a rich community experience for entrepreneurs and ICT enthusiasts, to create a company that reflects the values of the community and to provide value to our shareholders,” said BusyInternet’s Managing Director Estelle Akofio-Sowah whose responsibilities include overseeing the staff strength of over 90.

BusyInternet is the brain child of new York based Mark Davies, founder and board chairman, who has had the urge to launch a high speed Internet access facility in the heart of Accra, Ghana, one of Africa’s most competitive internet environments.  Since starting business in Accra with its partners, the company has sought to develop a network for education specialists, digital entrepreneurs and investors.

Akofio-Sowah further highlighted on the company’s business model: “Our unique approach is to create an environment with the very latest infrastructure so that stakeholders can focus their efforts on building their ideas, rather than struggling with the expense and difficulties associated with connectivity, power, and equipment.  More importantly, Busy seeks to create a community of like-minded entrepreneurs where proximity breeds innovation and shared services.  Busy has already hosted companies that specialize in software development, business process outsourcing, web development, connectivity, distance education, and digital entrepreneurship.”

Busyinternet has helped in the formation of the Cyber Café Association of Ghana and is working in collaboration with PPAG and A5 Coalition to offer an interactive and educational programme on the last Saturday of every month, HIV/AIDS infection as a way of creating awareness on the dreaded health phenomenon.
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