Ghana’s technology minister, Samuel Nartey George, urged local innovators to build home-grown fintech tools instead of importing them, speaking at the Accra launch of MobileMoney FinTech Limited’s new Momo FinTech Lab this week.
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations described the initiative as a test of whether Ghana can build its own financial technology rather than relying on solutions developed elsewhere. He said the government wants young Ghanaians to see local problems as opportunities to build solutions rather than wait for outside fixes, pointing to universities, innovation hubs and independent developer communities as sources of untapped talent.
MobileMoney FinTech Limited Chief Executive Officer Shaibu Mohammed said the three-month lab aims to widen access to fintech skills beyond Accra, where the country’s tech opportunities have concentrated. The program will bring together academics, startups, investors, regulators and financial institutions, and George linked it to the government’s broader digital agenda, including the One Million Coders Programme and ongoing digital identity reforms.
George paired his call for innovation with a warning on consumer protection. “When money is involved, trust is not optional. It is the product,” he said. He argued that regulation must keep pace with new technology without smothering it, and that banks need to rethink how they finance tech startups, since such businesses require patient capital rather than the collateral-heavy lending used for industrial firms.
He said the lab’s success would ultimately be judged not by attendance at its launch but by the ventures, mentorships and investment it produces, with a focus on practical gains such as instant payments for traders and easier credit access for farmers.
