The two-day conference, which was organised by the UPSA, was on the theme: "Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Development in Africa: Information Communication Technology (ICT) As a Strategic Tool".

Professor Abednego Okoe Feehi Amartey, the Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, described the UPSA as a research-oriented university which challenges itself to solving practical problems in the society and Africa at large.

“In essence, the purpose for organising ICBMED is for challenging issues to be proposed, research solutions suggested and recommendations given.

 "It also seeks to build one of the pre-eminent global intellectual and professional platforms dedicated to discussing, analysing, and advancing solutions to the challenges facing the development of African business through business and management research and information dissemination," he said.

Speaking on the topic; “SME Development: The Role of ICT-Strategy and Innovation,” Mr Solomon King Adiyah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of eSolutions Consulting, said SMEs were the bedrock of economic development and must, therefore, be capitalised on.

He enumerated the various challenges facing SMEs in the country and said the lack of innovations and ICT were the root causes.

The CEO of EDEL Technology Consulting, Mrs Ethel Coffie, said there was the need for small businesses to incorporate technology in their business or risk losing them.

 "Not being innovative will kill your business, and you even close the opportunity to earn additional profits," she said.  Mr Derek Appiah, the Country Director of Microsoft Corporation, in the plenary address, said e-business was right for startups.  He explained the importance and need for security measures to be put in place as far as e-business in Ghana and the world are concerned.

Papers presented at the conference spanned various topics namely: Central Banking, Accounting and Finance, Communication and Public Relations, Corporate Governance, Information and Communication Technology, Information Systems Management and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.

At the closing ceremony of the two-day programme, Prof Charles Barnor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, said this year over 100 paper submissions were made and 74 were selected for presentation at the conference.  Another 18, he said, were presented by the Graduate School of the University, making a total of 92 papers received and vetted for presentation during the two-day conference.

UPSA's directors, heads of department and deans of faculties were present at the function including Reverend J.K. Antwi, the Director of Finance and Dr Ibrahim Mohammed, the Director of Research.