Public-Private collaboration needed to take advantage of AI – CEO Network Ghana boss tells participants at 8th CEO Summit
The Chief Executive Officer of the CEO Network Ghana, organisers of the CEO Summit, Mr. Ernest De-Graft Egyir, has underscored the need for Ghana’s private and public sectors to collaborate in navigating a rapidly evolving global landscape.
He said, economic diversification is crucial for resilience and sustained growth, while leveraging AI presents unparalleled opportunities for innovation and efficiency.
He maintained that by fostering a dialogue between CEOs from both sectors and emphasising high-impact learning, the summit seeks to inspire strategic partnerships and actionable insights to propel Ghana’s economic resurgence in the digital age.
Mr. De-Graft Egyir said this at the 8th CEO Summit held in Accra on May 27.
It is under the theme, “Reigniting Business and Economic Growth: Charting A Path Forward; Economic Diversification and Artificial Intelligence Transformation. A Private-Public Sector CEO Dialogue and High Impact Learning.”
The CEO Summit is a one-day high-impact business leadership summit for over 500 topmost CEOs and dignitaries across West Africa.
Since its inaugural edition in September 2016, the Summit has been highly successful, drawing over 2,000 CEOs and dignitaries from various countries and sectors, according to the organisers.
Speaking on the topic: “The AI Advantage: Why AI, Case Studies and Reality Check,” Mr. Antanas Bernatonis, Founder, WHY AI Agency, offered a deep dive into the AI Advantage, showcasing real-life case studies and providing a reality check on the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in business.
Mr. Bernatonis gave valuable insights into how AI is reshaping industries, unlocking new opportunities, and driving innovation.
He encouraged companies to invest in AI as it is no longer the future but “the now,” stressing that companies should focus on training, team plan and company-wide strategy to help enhance their productivity.
Mr. Darlington Akogo, Founder & CEO, Minohealth AI Labs, who spoke on “Charting a Path Forward: Leading in the New Age of AI,” emphasized the benefits of AI, if properly leveraged, especially in the health care sector.
Mr. Akogo said, in a country that had limited number of clinicians, with a 1:1000 doctor patient ratio, it was about time the health care sector focused on exploiting the benefits of AI.
The Minohealth AI Labs CEO said AI has proven to be very effective in diagnosis business, saving a lot of time and resources globally, adding that fast diagnostic results using AI had proven more accurate, leading to more survival rates and better life expectancy, aside its comparatively affordability.
Mr. Akogo charged companies to embrace the new age of AI by investing heavily in it.
The Chief Executive Officer of Telecel Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai in a key note address, on the role of AI in telecommunications to drive economic diversification” said the key strategy of the telco sector is to deploy Ai.
She said the new technology is key to unlock new avenues for growth, innovation, and efficiency for telecom companies, adding that AI-driven transformations in telecommunications serve as catalysts for broader economic development, empowering small and medium enterprises and facilitating new industries.
On how Telecel is deploying the technology, she said the company is heavily relying on bots, which had helped eliminate tasks, and free human interfaces.
She said the company has minimised the use of field engineers, who hitherto had to visit customers to diagnose complaints, adding that with technology, they receive jobs through AI and they executive.
The Telecel CEO called for cross sector collaboration among telcos, as Telecel is doing with players in the energy sector.
She encouraged CEOs to adopt the technologies to protect the relevance of their positions by tapping into new revenue streams that come with AI in order to attract new customers.
She, however, cautioned captains of industry to set ethical guidelines in their deploying of AI, especially the abuse of the technology, data privacy breaches.
“We need to advance responsibly,” she added.
The 8th Ghana CEO Summit & Expo will feature a Presidential Session where the Vice President of Ghana, HE Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Former President, John Dramani Mahama will discuss key topics such as resetting the economic agenda, private sector development, reigniting economic growth, economic diversification, digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Key questions will focus on strategies for sustainable growth, enhancing the private sector, leveraging business leadership for innovation, and promoting economic diversification to reduce dependency on traditional sectors.
