BIG News they say are frequent when they are bad and infrequent when they are good. With the recent expose of Judicial corruption in Ghana by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and the gloomy mood of Ghanaian citizens, it is about time someone put a smile on the faces of all Ghanaians and reassure them that it is not all lost.
The good news was announced at the Annual Kente Festival, held at Porchester Hall, in West London on 7th November. Hosted by top radio host Kwaku Owusu-Frimpong, the event was attended by celebrities including Kyeiwaa and Ekow Smith-Asante - both top names in the movie industry in Ghana. Also present were Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, Minister of Tourism and a representative of the Ghana high commissioner, Mr Victor Smith along with TV show host Nana Churcher of the Nana Churcher show and Chief of Bonwire, famous for the Kente cloth.
The BIG news, was the unveiling of ActionGhana - Ghana's first international donations and crowdfunding platform. Addressing the audience, Founder and Chairman of ActionGhana.com, Mr Douglas Oppong talked about the many businesses, NGOs and community projects which are be-devilled with the "lack of finance" problem.
According to him, ActionGhana will help businesses, NGOs, communities and political parties to raise funds transparently and not have to wait for government or foreign donations all the time. Four major parties have websites custom-designed exclusively for them.
These are: ndc2016.org, npp2016.com, ppp2016.org and cpp2016.org. He further mentioned that ActionGhana are yet to discuss with each party how to move forward with the management of the platform, donations, etc.
In a discussion with Mr Victor Smith, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK (and Ireland) at the Ghana High Commission in London the following day, Mr Oppong referred to Barack Obama’s innovative ways of raising his 2008 and 2012 campaign funding as being the idea behind the four sites for the political parties. He also sights US website Kickstarter.com and UK website, Crowdcube.com, as being the idea behind the section for businesses and social enterprises.
According to Mr Oppong, in the 21st century, the power of technology is so great that it can be used for anything humanly possible including fund-raising.
“There is no excuse for us in Ghana to continue to rely on government to finance projects we can finance ourselves. There is no excuse for businesses and NGOs to rely on foreign investors or donors; nor for political parties to rely on any cash-wielding individuals”.
“With ActionGhana, we have built a platform that will help raise funds from within the Ghanaian communities at home and abroad and from our international investor and donor communities. If the Americans and Europeans can do it, then, "YES WE CAN!" - Ghanaians can also fund projects through the power of technology and the will of the people.”
Douglas Oppong was a guest of the Ghana High Commissioner, with the CEO of Ms Tourism, Mrs Delphine Brew-Hammond and the Winner of Ms Tourism 2015, Ms Nuratu Kassim.
ActionGhana plans to launch officially before Christmas in the UK, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands. Launches in USA and Canada are also planned. The grand launch will be held in Ghana in the new year. The platform can be accessed at http://www.actionghana.com.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/ email:[email protected]
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