INTERVIEW

“Ghana's market is small but rewarding”

There are no big computer factories inside Ghana nor are there IT markets with the kind of vivaciousness you could get inside Taiwan or Singapore. But the market is gradually opening up, competition is increasing every other day and companies are beginning to realise that there is more to knowledge solutions than selling brain boxes. It is a reality that is already fully established in the market of neighbouring Nigeria, touted as the continent’s potentially biggest destination for IT solutions. Inside Ghana, six years old computer vendor Fairgreen is gradually turning to reflect the unfolding realities in a market embracing new waves of competition. CEO Gifty Boahene speaks with IT Edge on doing IT business in black Africa’s first independent republic. Reach Gifty Boahene: green@africaonline.com.gh

 When did you start?

 I started in April 1998, six years ago.

Six year is a long time in the life of a technology company. How would you rate the market in those six years and what have been the challenges?

The very obvious challenge is the dropping margin. Our margins are dropping every time. I think it’s because of the competition. Many people have entered the industry and everyone is clamouring for the same few customers. Naturally, prices keep dropping to get these few customers to patronise you and not your rivals. Basically, you have to differentiate yourself from the rest, event with that it is not easy but that’s the challenge.

Any special challenge because you are a woman?

Actually yes. I think I have gone beyond that now. Initially, there was that challenge. When you enter any office or give your proposal, even before they read it because you are a woman, sometimes they pretend to be listening to you but actually they are not.

For you a woman, when you enter somebody’s office - all the buyers until recently were men- you are well dressed and all that, a man looks at you which is natural, you had better make sense in the first two minutes you are in his front otherwise, his mind would start wondering off because you are probably the third or fourth person meeting him that day on the same issue.  For us in this industry, we sniff out where the deals are so in a day or one week, four to possibly 10 people have come to see that person on the same deal.

So when you enter as a woman you better be ready to talk sense and to show that you have a good knowledge of the industry. There are times when people want more than what you are selling, it is up to you to prove that you are a very professional woman.

So nobody takes advantage of your gender?

Sometimes they try to, even in negotiation with you, what they would not do to a man, they try to get certain terms out of you.

So for a woman you have to put in extra efforts.

In a nut shell, the IT market in Ghana has been rewarding to you despite being a small market?  

Yes it has been rewarding in spite of being a small market. The IT industry is still going and there is still a huge potential. Some people sometimes say the market is getting too saturated, in a way they are right because people have moved away from just wanting computers on their desks to wanting more solutions. So you better be in the solution providing business otherwise you won’t get mush out of the industry.

Beyond selling brain boxes, what solution does Fairgreen offers?

Right now we are doing a lot of networking. As for cabled network, we have been doing that since 1999 and it has been growing. But we are training ourselves to do more than cabled network.

Right now, we are able to do fibre wireless network and at the beginn9ing of this year, we have implemented a wireless network solution at the office of the president and in the cabinet office. It has been very successful and is working as we speak. We are looking away from just pushing boxes to providing solutions and we are still training ourselves and coming up with giving total solution packages. 

Who buy from you most, the public or private sector?

Both. Ghana is a very small market and the government is the biggest spender. In recent times, we have sold quite a bit to the public sector but this has been through donor-funded projects. The private people have been with us, they buy from us and are always there. On the government, because of the problem of payment, we always stick to the donor-funded project.

For a woman in IT business, what are the difficulties of doing business in an economy like that of Ghana?

In this economy, I’ll say that our biggest challenge is finance. We have grown no doubt. We expect to double our turnover this year. We are trying to expand our client base that would mean some injection of funds. If you have a 100 per cent increase in your client base, it comes to needing more money to finance all the contracts and other things, and that money is not easy to get.

Not even from the banks?

Until recently, it was very difficult to get money from the banks. Now, they are advertising for people to come for loans and all that. But it is the rate that is scaring people in a market where margins are dropping and financials are going so high. You have to create a balance or you end up in a deep mess. How to get that balance is in itself a big challenge.

Invariably you don’t go for the loans?

You will have to look at various options. Are you going to the bank for the loan or to get more people joining you by way of equity?  You have got to look at them to look at which one is most convenient. Every option has its own strength and weakness. Take the option of bringing in more people.

It is scaring to grow a company from what it was to a situation where you will become accountable to people who just breezed in with their own money and they don’t know how you have struggled to build the company from the scratch.

But you don’t really have a choice if you want to grow. At some point, you just would need people to come in with fresh ideas and capital to enable you deliver certain services and meet newer challenges or competition. The thing is to choose well in settling for an option, bank loan or equity.

So what’s the next level for Fairgreen?

We must move away from just pushing boxes to providing total solutions. We must be ready to provide solutions to clients in all areas of their information needs and not just to sell computer hardware.

In terms of policy formulation, has government been able to adequately encourage companies like yours?

Government has done well but I would not say very well. Some efforts were made in the last budget to reduce the burdens of operating companies like ours but not exactly in terms of tax rebate or relief but just some level of understanding to make our operations less difficult. But more can be done pointedly in the area of tax relief.

So what else can be done?

I think it is more in the area of implementation. There are budgetary statements that are made that gladden our hearts but in the area of implementation, you find out that three or more months down the line, the implementation has not been done to make us start enjoying the benefits of whatever measures the government has taken.

What exactly do you want from the government?

Government should look at how we can grow the business in terms of home-grown or indigenously developed equipment and solutions. As I speak now there isn’t a single locally assembled computer that is doing very well in the market and it is not because they are not good or that we can’t have better equipment but it is because there are too many overwhelming difficulties in the way of local entrepreneurs. Government has a responsibility to be more supportive of local consultants and solution providers.

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