Why ICT investments go to Ghana -ACS boss

THE stable political climate in Ghana in recent years has been responsible for the volume of IT investment in the country, says Jim Charles, Site/Country Manager, ACS Ghana.

Charles who spoke to Vanguard last week in the Ghana offices of ACS, also added that the good state of infrastructure in Ghana was another important attraction to the country.

ACS is an American out-source company based in Ghana which processes data for companies in America using cheap labour from the West African country. Charles spoke gloriously about the investment climate in Ghana stressing that the government knows what it takes to attract foreign investments. Said he: Do you know that the president of the country calls me here sometimes to ask me how we are faring; I also get calls from MPs (Members of Parliament) who want to know whether we are encountering problems on a weekly basis. Even though we have not had a cause to complain to the president, the fact that he calls is a source of encouragement to us.”

Charles said that because of ACS confidence in the Ghana investments, the company had concluded plans to build its own accommodation in Accra. He said that by the nature of the work of ACS, it had a prejudice for working in a serene and academic environment. The office complex that the company plans would therefore be a campus with all the trappings of a university.

“This project would cost millions of dollars and the company would only spend that kind of money if they have a long term view of an investment,” Charles explained.

He further explained that the state of infrastructure in the country was good enough to attract IT investments, stressing that in instances where it is not perfect, they have always got assurances from the government that there would be improvement. He cited the case of E1s which he said weren't available in Ghana about a year ago. He said that because of the commitment to improving the infrastructure base of the country, E1s were now available for the company to use. Charles said that the nature of the operation of ACS makes it expedite that the infrastructure in the country where they operate be good. The service provided by ACS makes it imperative that they are up 24 hours of the day.

To ensure that they do not encounter down-time, the company has backup sites in other parts of the world including India and Guatemala in South America.

ACS currently employs about 1,700 workers in its Ghana operations. Of this, Charles says that 1,698 are local staff. He said that the experience of the company over the years is that the Ghanaian workers are highly competent and hardworking. He contended that the company does not intend that the staff strength grows beyond 2,400 because of its policy to keep its operations trim. He said that this is so because the company does not want a situation where it becomes impossible to handle the volume of transactions that might emanate in case of any disaster. When there is a disaster, the work in the affected office is passed on straight to the company providing backup which has to add up the work to its existing workload.

Charles said that the company had a policy of not competing for jobs with local companies. So the company does not have any local West African client on its list. He said that part of its mission in Africa is to assist human capital development and not to struggle for jobs. The company, he said, contributes to the development of the local economy by ensuring that it does its procurement from competent local sources.