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A former President of Germany, Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff, has praised the proposed 24-hour Economy initiative, calling it an "excellent idea" to help offer a significant boost to the country's economic growth.
Mr Wulff, who served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012, explained that the initiative when implemented efficiently will enable Ghanaian firms to seamlessly provide services to global companies around the clock, fostering economic collaboration and growth.
He said a 24-hour Economy initiative has the potential to become a hallmark of Ghana's economic prowess in West Africa, serving as a game-changing opportunity for the region in general.
“We don't have much time difference between Germany and Ghana, so the work can be done here during the day.
“But if the company (Ghanaian firms) get clients from America, then they would also provide night services, so they would generally always be ready to provide services.
This could become a trademark of Ghana. It is an excellent idea,” the German former President said to the media when he visited the AmaliTech office in Accra.
The former President was part of the dignitaries that graced the inauguration of President John Mahama on January 7, 2025, and used the opportunity to assess the progress of AmaliTech after the Germany-based firm expanded into the Ghanaian market.
AmaliTech is an information technology (IT) service company based in Germany, the United States (US), Ghana and Rwanda that offers training for graduates and provides them with jobs.
The firm’s trainees are into software development, quality assurance and data science, among others, in the digital space.
In Ghana and Rwanda, the firm, which started operations in 2019, now employs about 500 people.
The former President said he was impressed that so many young IT-trained people in Ghana worked for a German company and advised German clients in the future fields of artificial intelligence, intelligence and data security.
“I was able to see that the many young people who are well educated in Ghana can be of help to Germany.
And then it is to the advantage of both sides, the German side and the Ghanaian side. And that is an absolute success model,” he said.
He explained that Ghana was one of the countries with a good education system and very motivated, well-educated young people.
“As is well known, the number of young people in Europe is declining sharply, we, therefore, need the brains and the quality of training of young people from Ghana in order to ensure appropriate innovations in our companies.
“It is a win-win situation for Ghana and for Germany that young Ghanaian women, men and women run a German company and advise German companies.
The language of the Internet, which is spoken as a native language, also helps in Germany for the economy,” he said.
The Director of Operations at AmaliTech, Mathew Opoku-Darkwa, said the youth who had the ability to understand the digital language were the country’s biggest resource and for that reason, there was a need to train them for the global market.
He said Ghana needed to take deliberate steps to capitalise on the shortage of digital talent in Europe by producing skilled personnel for that market.
“With the shortage in digital talent in Europe, the only missing element is for us to train and develop more people to take advantage of the market,” he said.
Mr Opoku-Darkwa said AmaliTech was ever ready to work around the clock once the demand was available.
“We believe that the 24-hour economy would work efficiently with a solid infrastructure.
For us in the IT space, we need reliable electricity, Internet and talent.
“Once we have all the impetus, we think that we can work efficiently in the government’s 24-hour economy policy. And so, we are looking up to its implementation,” he added.
