Kwami Ahiabenu,II Knowledge Chief

Rural and Community Banks serve as a key catalyst for the development of rural economies. Kwami Ahiabenu ll Currently, there are 144 licensed rural and community banks working to serve unbanked and underbanked populations in difficult-to-reach parts of Ghana. For an entity to be licensed as a rural bank or community Bank, the bank of Ghana (Ghana’s Central Bank) requires a minimum paid-up capital of GH¢1,000,000 [116,666 USD]. The operations of rural banks, are regulated throu g h a “mini”-central bank, the APEX Bank. This bank is unique in that it is a public limited liability company which has Rural & Community Banks as shareholders. When it comes to the technological applications used by rural and community banks, the APEX bank plays a crucial role, for example, it provides e-Banking, electronic channels such as Ezwich electronic payments system and payment distribution system (PDS) services to its member banks. However, the advent of Financial Technologies (FinTech), which desc...

  Digital identities have become important in our information society as they offer an easy way to navigate the increasingly complicated data and information spaces we have to deal with. Thus, instead of having a physical, academic certificate, passport, or driver’s license, the world of digital credentials opens the door to having verifiable digital footprint options across several applications. Simply put, digital credentials are the electronic version of paper-based credentials showing evidence of accomplishment, clearance, qualification, or competence with sufficient in-built mechanisms to enable authentication. Digital credentials provide information on issuing authority, its characteristics, purposes of issuance, and validity period. For example, instead of sending a paper-based certificate for a job application or school application, the digital credentials are transmitted with the same information on paper-based ones, including additional data such as the user’s biometric d...

A nine-member Governing Council for the African University College of Communications (AUCC) has been inaugurated in Accra.  The Council, which is chaired by Professor Kofi Asare Opoku, former Director of the Kwabena Nketia Centre for Africana Studies, includes Professor George Oduro former, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Dr Edith Dankwa, entrepreneur and proprietor of Business & Financial Times, Ms. Shirley Tony Kum, Corporate Communications Manager of Vivo Energy Ghana, Professor Pashington Obeng, formerly of Ashesi University, Mr. Paul Fabalona, a chartered accountant, Dr. Akosua Abdallah of the National Commission on Culture, and Mr. Kwami Ahiabenu II, Executive Director of Penplusbytes. Performing the inauguration, Founder of AUCC, Honorable Kojo Yankah, welcomed the team with diverse but very relevant professional backgrounds and charged them to build upon what previous councils have contributed to chart AUCC through challenging moments to today. He h...

By Kwami Ahiabenu   Recruitment of human capital can be an arduous and time-consuming process, especially if you have to go through thousands of job applications to find the right candidate for a position. Some recruiters can get overwhelmed with the tons of job applications to process; therefore, they do not bother going through these applications and instead rely on other means such as reference, especially from existing employees. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) supports recruiters by managing various aspects of collecting, sorting, and processing job applications based on a filtering system. Due to decreasing cost of the ATS technology, even small organizations are now increasingly relying on it, with  https://bit.ly/3cOquRH  projecting the ATS market size will reach USD 1.81 billion by 2023. Once the AT S , narrows down job applications to a smaller number, recruiting staff members will often continue with the application process. How does it work? The process usu...

Payment is a key function of our economy, allowing for the exchange of goods and services. Traditionally paper money and coins were the most dominant forms of payments, recently digital payments are making inroads.  The global  COVID-19  pandemic has had the unintended effect of accelerating the use of other forms of payments aside paper money and coins. This is because paper money and coins are said to be conduits for the transmission of COVID.  The World Health Organization (WHO) is known to have issued a warning at the beginning of the  COVID-19  pandemic that paper money could carry and spread the virus.  Though this assertion is not totally conclusive, there is no harm in reducing risks associated with contact-type payments. National public health officials have taken to advising that people make use of payment options that reduce contact with persons or devices, such as POS, since contactless payment opportunities make it safe for both consumers ...