Digitizing Africa’s Economy: The Case for Blockchain and Digital Asset

On the 20th of April, 2022, TechGulf Ghana Limited held the second edition of its Digital Leadership Technology conference dubbed Digitizing Africa’s Economy: The Case for Blockchain and Digital Assets. This year’s conference aimed to establish the imperative for digitizing Africa’s economy and investing in blockchain technology and other digital assets. TechGulf keenly wants to present insights on how Blockchain and other digital assets can accelerate Africa’s economic growth.

The two-day conference, which started on the 20th of April, 2022, at 15:00 GMT, had a global participant turnout, very vibrant and diverse with representatives from countries such as the US, UK, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Haiti, and Kenya participating. Companies represented include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Accenture Federal Services, VXPASS, Netizen Capital, and Blocture among others.

Three-panel discussions were held over the course of two days. Each panel discussion focused on a unique area of digital assets. The first panel discussed the value of blockchain technology, the second-panel discussions focused on opportunities available to facilitate the development of Africa’s digital economy while the third panel deliberated on the infrastructure and investment required to actualize the potential of Blockchain in the sub-region. Seasoned Technology experts from across the globe served as panelists for the conference. The panels were moderated by Eric Kelly, Chairman, and CEO of Overland Tandberg, Dr. Evita Grant, CEO & Founder TecHustle Inc and Derrydean Dadzie Co-Founder DreamOval Limited.

The Keynote address was given by Dean Matlack, Commercial Counsellor, from the US Embassy in Ghana. In his address, he stated that Africa is uniquely positioned to support the large-scale adoption of digital assets. He also made mentioned that the Commercial Section at the US Embassy aims to support the growth of the enterprise blockchain in the application of agriculture product tracing, CO2 Carbon tracking, and Healthcare, just to name a few of such applications which sit in a broad category called “TradeTech”.

Dean Matlack also stated that blockchain could simplify business processes by tracking goods and supply chain, add value and promote Ghana’s exports such as artisan bars and roasted coffee. Another exciting area that the US Embassy is keenly monitoring is the potential for blockchain to be used for the settlement of international trade transactions. He concluded by stating, ‘We look forward to working with all of you to identify uses for blockchain digital assets and enterprise blockchain for your businesses, or agencies here in Ghana. We also look forward to helping you to connect to US companies that can provide world-class blockchain solutions.”

The event was wrapped up by Mr. Franklin Asare the CEO of TechGulf Ghana Limited. In his closing remarks, Mr. Asare emphasised that “we have keenly established the imperative for digitizing Africa’s economy and investing in blockchain technology and other digital assets and presented insights into how blockchain and other digital assets can accelerate Africa’s economic growth. We have also explored opportunities available in Africa’s digital economy ecosystem while exposing barriers and challenges that stifle the growth of the digital economy. We are determined to position Africa as a credible destination for investment in blockchain infrastructure and other digital assets.”

In his conclusion, he stated that the confidence in the future of Africa is unshaken. We believe that the time is ripe for Africa to make giant leaps into its manifest destiny.

The Dynamics Of Modern Health Data – TechGulf

The increasing need for data storage solutions within the healthcare industry today has come with extensive convenience and the oversight it has introduced in terms of data management, availability, protection, and adoption have proven vital to the industry. The knowledge of the dynamics of modern health data is essential for Healthcare institutions in Ghana in order to make the right decisions to be up to date and for future compliance. These are the relevant dynamics:

Data Growth

Managing exponential data growth is painstaking. Hospitals, in particular, struggle to keep up with the rapid growth of their electronic records. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are experiencing increasing demand for data storage devices and backup hard drives in order to manage rapidly expanding volumes of patient data. The demand for electronic health records and high-quality document imaging has necessitated the need for hospitals to protect their digital information.

Data Availability

Data loss in any health facility would be a huge tragedy. Hence, data management and storage measures to ensure this never happens must be implemented immediately. Sensitive data such as surgical videos, X-ray images, CT scans, sonographic results, cardiac catheterizations, patient files, and databases need to be protected and secured. The routine storage and transmission of large files such as CT scans, MRIs, and other diagnostic images and the rollout of electronic patient health records, system integrators require reliable and durable data backup solutions for all users.

Data Management

Data management tasks co-exist stressful healthcare delivery in today’s hospitals. The healthcare delivery project flows through patient data administration, coordination of examination dates, filing of laboratory results. This information must be secured against data loss which might be caused by various incidents. Consequently, X-ray pictures, cardiograms, or magnetic resonance imaging data have to be archived for several years. Additionally, patient data needs to be kept to get a long-term overview about the progression of a disease.

Data Adoption

Ghana’s Ministry of Health has mandated that public and private health care providers must transition their practices to electronic health records. The benefits are clear: critical patient histories and records follow patients no matter where they seek treatment, and that same paperwork is less likely to go missing somewhere in a transition or due to misfiling. This mandate is just one reason among many why the health care industry has become so data-hungry. Another is general legal preparedness since the careful handling of records is essential in such a risk-averse business.

Data Center

Thanks to modern technology, the health care industry is getting a top-to-bottom overhaul, legislation, and a changing demographic landscape. By the end of 2020, the health care industry was expected to spend close to $2.7 trillion per annum on IT infrastructure, including data centers.

This reflects a great change in the process health services are administered, making the availability, affordability, and uptime of data centers now a top priority to health system administrators.

An increasing number of patients are appreciating the importance of telemedicine. This is common in the mental health care space, where telemedicine uses technologies like VPNs and video conferencing software to remotely meet with patients.

The objective of the data storage management system is to ensure data is up to code with the world’s ever-evolving privacy and security regulations and best practices needed in order to realize the benefits of modern technology.