Vodafone Ghana CEO Patricia Obo-Nai has emphasised the need of making digitalization available to all people, especially the most disadvantaged members of society.
Patricia said, "What we should see in our scope of work is that we're changing lives... touching lives by the very technology that we develop and the way we use it." Patricia was speaking at the 2023 Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition plenary session in San Diego, California.
During her plenary session titled "Harnessing Digitalisation for Effective Social Change," Patricia presented Super Care, a digital platform that has made a huge difference in the lives of persons who are speech impaired or deaf. She described how the Vodafone Ghana team developed specialised packages, educated certain customer-facing staff, and hired sign language specialists to assist this.
She also discussed Instant Schools, a platform for learning that provides access to e-learning resources for students and instructors in Ghana at all levels of school. In Ghana, more than 25,000 students now have access to the internet and may participate in basic curricula at home or at school.
Patricia also gave the example of how technology is enhancing the health of expectant mothers in the area. Due to poor roads and limited transportation options, more than 20% of pregnant women experience haemorrhaging while travelling to the hospital. Women may now obtain free transportation to the hospital by contacting transport officers by USSD, thanks to collaboration with the governments of nations like Tanzania and Lesotho.
Patricia outlined some of the major obstacles to digital connectivity in Africa, including inadequate network coverage, low device adoption, low levels of digital literacy, and a dearth of pertinent digital content. She emphasised the necessity of greater cooperation between the public and private sectors. "This problem cannot be solved by one organisation or business. To make sure that we don't leave anyone behind, we must all work together, she remarked.
Patricia emphasised the need for digitalization efforts to take into account the particular difficulties that women and girls experience, mentioning initiatives like Code-Like-A-Girl and the Female Engineering Scholarship Scheme Program that both work to dispel gender norms in the STEM fields (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).
She urged guests in her last remarks to concentrate on leveraging technology to have an effect and promote long-lasting social change.
The largest international conference and exposition for experts in optical communications and networking is the Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC). The programme is extensive, including everything from technical workshops to the exhibition, from research to the market, from components to systems and networks. To network, teach and learn, establish contacts, and advance the industry, OFC attracts visitors from all around the world. During March 5 to March 9, 2023, San Diego, California, USA, hosted OFC.
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