At the U.S. Africa Business Forum in Washington, D.C., Fidelity Bank announced the choice of IBM to manage its technology infrastructure and services. The five-year deal will help the bank deliver advanced customer services and secure its reputation as a dynamic financial services institution in West Africa. The bank is seeking to enhance its operational efficiencies as it embarks on a new strategic direction, developing growth plans and strategies for new markets, products and services. Fidelity

Ghana’s current housing market slump should be seen as an opportunity by developers to start producing low-cost housing because that market is still viable, HFC Bank’s General Manager of Mortgage and Consumer Loans, Charles Bonsu, has said. “I don’t think that any real estate company will be folding up anytime soon. This is an opportunity for developers to come down-market and start serving the lower end by building properties that are more affordable,” he said. Speaking at the fifth HFC-Multi

Ghana yesterday joined Benin, Cape Verde, and Georgia as the first countries to have successfully signed a consecutive compact of the United States’ Millennium Challenge Account. The second compact signed by President John Mahama will allow Ghana to draw up to US$498.2 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an innovative and independent US foreign aid agency that is championing a global campaign against poverty. Ghana’s previous compact, a US$547 million aid, was tailored to boost

A four-day conference held at Legon, Accra, assembled tertiary students from various educational institutions and universities in the country -- spearheaded by the Awake Christian Men’s Network (ACMN), a non-denominational network of Christian men dedicated to raising visionary servant-leaders for the transformation of homes, institutions and governments. Christened, Men of Integrity and Power Conference, it is an annual international men’s event aimed at positioning men to assume the full responsibility

Government’s job appears cut out for it in assuring the business community of an economic turnaround as confidence in the business environment has sunk to an unprecedented low. At 90.13 in the first quarter, business confidence was already considered low; but the second quarter results of the AGI’s business barometer report indicate that the situation has worsened sharply to an all-time low of 22.42. The Business Barometer Indicator measures the level of confidence in the business environment;

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has started a dialogue with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to access data from their over-200 satellites that hover around the earth to provide critical information for smallholder farmers in Africa. The ground-breaking process has already begun, with the first meeting taking place in Accra recently led by Molly E. Brown, a research scientist and geographer with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in the United States,

The Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Toni Aubynn has reiterated that the country’s mineral sector still holds potential for investors who want to venture into mining. He said the sector abounds with lesser-known minerals which have not been fully explored and exploited such as kaolin, solar salt, clay, marble, mica, limestone, iron ore, zinc among others. He further hinted that recent airborne geophysical findings in Ghana have indicated the occurrence of some additional minerals:

A large number of people who hitherto were trooping into the cocoa-growing belt of the Brong Ahafo Region to eke a living on cocoa farms are now engaged in illegal mining, an alternative “thriving economic activity” in the Ahafo community. Settlers predominantly from the three Northern regions who have flooded communities such as Kenyasi, Ntotroso, Hwidiem, Gyedu and other adjoining villages are mostly into illegal mining, also known as “galamsey”. Paradoxically, many of those who used to

The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPPS) is calling for a policy that discourages cash-based transactions as the country seeks to promote a cashless economy. Over 80 percent of businesses in the country are micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises, controlling over 50 percent of the total cash in the economy. However, the majority of them have no bank accounts nor use any card-based product. This has created difficulty for government in fashioning out a way of roping-in the