GCNet Encourages Female Participation In ICT And Hosts Legacy Girls College

Accra: Nov. 4, 2019: Over 30 students from the Legacy Girls College have paid an educational visit to Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) to familiarize themselves with its operations. This is in recognition of GCNet as the ICT Company engaged in the provision of electronic solutions at the heart of the government’s digitisation journey.

The students who were led by their teaching staff had the opportunity to learn about the smart integrated electronic solutions which foster trade development, boost business competitiveness and improve ease of doing business as well as increase revenue mobilisation for national development for the benefit of the citizenry.

The students were taken on a guided tour of the facilities of GCNet including its Tier III Data Centre, Network Operating Centre, its new state of the art Cyber Security Laboratory and allied infrastructure.

The students were also told of the critical role played by GCNet in the deployment and integration of systems in the new terminal 3 project, which has transformed the maritime industry in the West African sub-region.

Receiving the students and faculty of Legacy Girls College, Human Resources Manager of GCNet, Mrs. Akosua Asamoah expressed the hope that with ICT increasingly being used across the continent to empower women, it will engender increased participation of girls, especially underprivileged females into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to overcome the phenomenon of gender stereotypes.

She recounted an encouraging development in Rwanda where a group of adolescent girls goes to schools to inspire more girls to choose ICT as a profession. Mrs. Asamoah emphasized that this would go a long way to motivate girls to make the most of the opportunities that ICT skills and knowledge provide.

During a courtesy call on the General Manager of GCNet, Mr. Alwin Hoegerle, he encouraged the girls to take their studies in ICT seriously since the world was now revolving around digital innovations.

The students also expressed their gratitude for the opportunity given them and noted they felt fulfilled with the visit to gain practical insight and looked forward to more of such tours in the future.

In Ghana, the Ministry of Communications has been spearheading a campaign to encourage more girls to pursue life-long professions in the field of ICT with interventions such as the National Girls in ICT Day, similar to the International Girls in ICT Day, observed on the fourth Thursday in April every year with firm support from the ITU.

GCNet has been recognised as the Trade Facilitation Organisation and the pioneer Single Window operator for the past 17 years at the centre of Ghana’s digitization journey with the provision of the platform and infrastructure that networks all parties to a single-window platform, ensuring efficiency, transparency and security in the trade facilitation and revenue mobilization ecosystem.

GCNet has continued to leverage on technology to reshape the trade facilitation and revenue mobilization space with an end- to- end smart e-solution for clearance at the ports and a unique position to provide a broad overview of business registration, domestic taxation, and international customs duties.

About GCNet

GCNet is a Public-Private Partnership that was incorporated on November 13, 2000. Its shareholders are Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), Ecobank Ghana Limited (EBG), Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) of Switzerland.

GCNet, an Innovator and Leader in the Provision of e-Solutions to Governments, has developed and deployed Ghana’s Single Window Platform for Processing Trade Transactions and Customs Clearances. The System is made up of a front-end Electronic Messaging Platform (the TradeNet) and a back-end System (the Ghana Customs Management System). The System allows for a 24/7 processing of declarations and is currently deployed at Customs Headquarters and all the key Customs Stations. Ninety-eight (98) percent of Customs revenue is collected through the System.

In addition to GCMS, linkage of other back-end applications (e.g. Automated Registration of Vehicles, Income Tax Declarations, Social Security Declarations etc.) is possible.

Close to Forty (40) Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB), Ghana Standards Authority, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ghana Investment Protection Centre (GIPC), Ministries of Trade and Finance etc.., access the TradeNet for various operational purposes.

Impact

To date, GCNet has invested some $80m in the business with coverage across the nation on the back of up to date infrastructure to ensure data integrity, business continuity and security in the space in which it operates

The impact has been a significant increase in the domestic tax revenue collection processed through trips^TM of GHS 15.7 bn in 2017, representing a thirty-two per cent (32%) increase over the same period in 2016 with the collection of GHS 12bn. This has been largely the result of the strategic geographical rollout of 67 tax offices currently using trips.

The Registrar - Generals’ Department (RGD) has witnessed significant improvements in turnaround time for business registrations, revenue and online transactions through the deployment of the e-Registrar. It generated some GHS 65.5m in 2017 through the e-Registrar portal deployed by GCNet.

Other Awards

Among other awards, GCNet has won include Best e-Solutions Provider for the Public Sector, Best ICT Company in Ghana, Best Digital Innovative Finance Product (Letter of Commitment – LOC) and Public Sector ICT Provider of the Year. These awards show the confidence reposed in GCNet by our stakeholders and the general public.

Certification

GCNet as a repository of government data continues to leverage on many international certification regimes including ISO 27001 for information security management and ISO 9000 for quality management to further ensure security standards and compliance.

GCNet went through a successful re-certification of ISO 27001:2013 for its GeGov operation and ISO 9001:2015 for the TradeNet Business. The company accordingly received the ISO 27001:2013 certificate for itsTradeNet business after a successful certification audit. The company continues to strive for international standards in all its business operation.