Josiah Kwesi Eyison Presents iSpace Foundation: A Technology Hub in Accra Focused on the Community

Josiah Kwesi Eyison presents iSpace Foundation, it’s competitive advantage, and explains why this technology hub is different from all other hubs in Africa or Ghana.

“What makes us different is that we are focused on the community. We are not trying to replicate any other person’s ecosystem, whether it be India, China, or Silicon Valley. We are very focused on the community because we identify the problems there that need to be solved. We focus heavily on capacity building, both from a technical point of view and a women’s point of view. No other hub invests in women the way we do. We did not start this because it is a cool thing to do. We started this three years ago before everybody started investing in women and girls. Women make up 52 to 53 percent of the population, so why would it make sense not to invest in them? We would only have to invest 80 to 90 percent of our resources. In capacity building, in the past, when we have had hackathons we have seen some great ideas. People win the hackathons, but no products come out of it. We did not have the skill sets that were creating those products. We then decided to be proactive instead of reactive by starting coding programs that would train people in different coding styles and give them technical skills. People might think they can go on YouTube and learn, but this is where people misunderstand the dynamics of our society. Data is very expensive. Even having access to a laptop is a problem, on top of the data cost. For someone trying to learn how to code, it is not that easy. It takes a long time. If you want to watch YouTube to learn how to code, and the electricity goes out, what do you do? We opened this space so we can take out all of those problems. Clients do not have to worry about data costs or energy. They are here to learn and to develop a skill that will be beneficial to their environment and their community. That is what makes us different from all the other hubs. We are not responding to a need to replicate Silicon Valley or create start-ups that want to be the next greatest thing in Silicon Valley. We just want to help and develop individuals that have the skills to solve social problems”, says Josiah Kwesi Eyison.

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