Dr Mandla Lamba, a Green technology expert, has called on government to invest more in the green technology space in the country.

According to him, the green technology space in Africa is still far from perfect and there is the need to pay close attention to its growth. Mr Lamba explained that the progress in such sectors will be futile without government’s support.

“As a continent of Africa, we are still very behind. Technology is going to do great wonders for the people of Africa in general but it’s not going to happen without the involvement of government and government playing its part. We can come with all the creative solutions that our people need. Without the support of government, those solutions will not work in an environment where infrastructure is lacking. The biggest problem in Africa is infrastructure”.
Dr Mandla Lamba

Growing up in a place where people used “paraffin to cook”, Mr Lamba questioned when this will change. He indicated that this will never change until people who come from those areas change themselves.

“So, when I looked at the power outages in South Africa and some of the elements of the greater population… still don’t have electricity, even the ones we have in the civilized homes still have to go sometimes four [to] five hours without electricity… You realize then that it’s an urgent call for someone to act…”
Dr Mandla Lamba

Touching on the challenges encountered in Africa with regards to technology assimilation, Mr Lamba revealed that there is a problem in Africa where people are losing jobs on a large scale. He explained that those jobs are not going to come back considering what the “world is bringing”, such as artificial intelligence. According to him, this will not bring people much jobs as against jobs of the “old order”.

“There are jobs that AI won’t do [which] that will be done by humans. But if you look at the number of jobs that AI won’t do, it’s not much. So, we had to come up with something that would also create jobs. Then we looked at the issue of petrol prices that continues to skyrocket in Africa. It is crazy…”
Dr Mandla Lamba

Green technology investment in Ghana

Explaining why Ghana is attracting investors in areas of Green technology, Mr Lamba explained that Ghana has a “great deal of offer” for companies who want to venture. He believes that the country has great potential of being at the forefront of the “new wave” when it comes to green technology.

“The process of artificial intelligence and the green revolution is a transition but we want to be there when the whole process of transition happens and Ghana happens to be one of those countries”.
Dr Mandla Lamba

Touching on the opportunities that his company, Agilitee Africa, will bring to the youth of the country, Mr Lamba expressed optimism about the impact of the green revolution. This, he noted, is because it’s a new phenomenon with few universities teaching about it.

“So, when you come to an economy with something like this, it becomes an equal opportunity for everyone… There’s a lot that we are bringing to Ghana in terms of employment that will be very good for the economy”.
Dr Mandla Lamba