The Explosion of Fintech in Ghana revives MSc Fintech Development at Abertay by Dr. Kathy-Ann Fletcher, Lecturer at Abertay University, UK

International exchange programmes like ManaGlobal provide great opportunity for academic and research partnership as well as for exploring certain synergies in the marketplace that may not have previously been identified independently by the organisations. One such synergy relates to the growing importance of Fintech in the economy. Fintech which stands for Financial Technology is largely the term for digital transformation around the financial services sector. This sector which is expected to show a revenue growth of about 30% in 2023 (Statista) is visibly represented in Ghana through its leadership in Mobile Money (MoMo) and companies like ZeePay, which is using its success in Ghana to leverage introduction into Caribbean markets like Guyana and Barbados.

The Ghana Fintech Association was one of the organisations, I liaised with during my secondment in Ghana at the University of Ghana Business school. Through discussions with the team of the Fintech Association and Zeepay, I realised that financial technology and its various applications are growing in sophistication on the continent. Several market conditions are driving the demand for services provided by financial technology organisations. These include growing desire for small to medium sized organisations to trade with partners in other countries on the continent and further afield in the global market. These international ambitions translate to the need for more modern and secure means of transferring and receiving money from overseas clients and customers.

Additionally, as the economy in Ghana itself develops, Fintech provides a convenient and suitable way to manage payments that can be done on any mobile device regardless of sophistication either through applications on smart phones or SMS on the basic feature mobile phone. Mobile money in Ghana is being credited with widening access to financial services for many people for the first time. However, there remain challenges of expanding the use of mobile money and other forms of financial technologies within the wider Ghana marketplace. During my networking with the team from Ghana Fintech Association that included stakeholders from traditional financial institutions and new players in the Fintech sector, it was energising to see the passion and dedication to developing this sector for the benefit of the country.

While my area of digital marketing is on the periphery of this area, it still grabbed my interest as the organisations I spoke to in relation to my main reason for participating within the secondment were reflecting the same themes I saw with these companies. Themes such as interest in the global market, a growing confidence in expanding their companies and a need for governmental support and infrastructure to support this expansion.

On return to Abertay, I started to promote the Msc in Digital Marketing and E-Business that we will offer from January on my LinkedIn profile. Within this network is the head of the Ghana Fintech Association who then reached out to me and asked if we could further the discussions, we were having about the possibility of developing an MSc in Financial Technology and Innovations. This may not have been a driving thought when I started my secondment at the University of Ghana Business School, but it shows the power of such partnerships to drive innovation and co-creation of solutions that advance both of our institutional interests. Many discussions have been going on over the years with some reticence from the University based lack of clarity about the size of the market demand. However, when my Ghana Fintech Association contact reached out, I shared with the head of my department that this is indeed an area of growth in the world that we would benefit from leading, based on the insight I gained in the networking that was financed through the ManaGlobal project. Therefore, I am pleased to note that our School of Business here at Abertay recently showed that developing this MSc is a priority going forward and anticipate a strong co-creative practice between Abertay and our international partners in this process. Industry engagement is a large part of the Abertay DNA and we have recently started to partner with a range of international higher education providers. This intersection of industry engagement and international partnership could translate to quite a feasible programme at Abertay that started as the germ of a discussion in a networking session attended in Ghana during the secondment funded by ManaGlobal.

My time in Ghana and with the University of Ghana Business School, with innovative thinkers like Drs. Raphael Odoom, Sheena Lovia Boateng and Kobby Mensah, allowed me to meet exciting entrepreneurs who are doing great things for their industries and Ghana. Furthermore, they really inspired me in terms of their creative use of tech to sell cosmetics, music, fashion and a whole range of products and services. Much of this creativity is underpinned by the need to improve cybersecurity protocols but also to support the development of the financial technology services that can help to bring Ghana and its amazing people to the world.