University of Ghana introduces electronic cards

 The University of Ghana has introduced a multi-purpose customised card to  help students and lecturers of the university in their daily activities and transactions.

Under the initiative of Makyoung Limited, with support from VISA International, Global Technology Partners (GTP) and Zenith Bank, the 'UG-Cruz card' serves as identification and facilitates access to libraries, payment for services and access to cash cards globally wherever the Visa brand is seen.

 At a ceremony to launch the UG-Cruz card at the University of Ghana in Accra on Thursday, the Director of Makyoung, Mr Henry Benyah, said the UG-Cruz card was expected to present the university community with the flexibility and functionality of using one card, technologically designed and developed for multiple purposes.

“This innovation, which is the first to be launched in this country and, indeed with the present functionality design, the first in Africa, has been designed to enable users to utilise the card as a VISA pre-paid card for undertaking financial transactions worldwide on any of the 1.9 million VISA terminals around the world,” he said.

Mr Benyah said the innovation was designed to also cater for planned University of Ghana projects such as the toll roads, as well as administering the proposed student feeding programme currently under consideration by the university authorities.

According to him, the company decided to partner the University of Ghana because it deemed the university as one that had forward-thinking leadership who thought global and had a vision for the student community.

The Visa Business Development Manager for West Africa, Mrs Holly Jones, lauded the initiative of Makyoung for bringing such an alluring enterprise to Ghana.

She assured Ghanaians that VISA International would continue to support such programmes to displace cash and assist the country in its drive towards a cash-lite economy.

The Regional Director, Customer Relations of GTP, Mr Ike Anison, said Visa and GTP had the objective to spearhead the innovation of Makyoung by collaborating through the processes before the card could work.

“GTP is the processor behind this prepaid card that is being launched today. When cards are being used in the electronic payment scheme you need to have a system to process that transaction and that is where we come in,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, thanked all the companies that had contributed to the introduction of the card.