Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday, 15 October 2018, launched the Ghana Online Mall to provide an extensive market platform for indigenous businesses as well as small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).
The online platform which was under the auspices of the Ministry of Business Development; and the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), was to serve as a market for Ghanaian businesses and SMEs to thrive.
By The Numbers
At the launch, Director of Business Support at NEIP, Owusu Karikari said Ghana Online Mall will provide over 10,000 e-spaces for registered local businesses to showcase their wholesome products or services to the outside world at no cost.
Where Are We Now
In 2020, the platform was taken offline and currently cannot be accessed. No official reason has been given for its closure but we suspect that the response to the platform did not meet expectations.
The electronic platform was funded by the government of Ghana and it enabled entrepreneurs to upload, at least, five standardised and certified products or services on the platform free of charge.
Our View
We’ve have been proponents of a more private sector-led approach when it comes to the creation of online platforms for the public. The Ghana Online Mall project becomes another casualty of the Government trying to lead the charge when it should be more in the position of creating the environment for online platforms to be built securely.
The Ghana Online Mall model could be republicated by several players in the Ghana tech ecosystem. A great example of this is the Ghana.Gov which was built by some players in the space.
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