Omatek Boosts Ghana ICT Density

Aimed at bridging the digital divide across the length and the breath of the continent, Omatek Computers, a foremost computer brand and the first indigenous computer manufacturing company in Africa, has successfully berthed in Ghana.

With this new development, Omatek has become the first local OEM to be established in the country.

The Managing Director and chief executive officer of the company revealed in her speech at the commissioning exercise that Omatek is the first indigenous completely knocked down factory in Ghana.

Omatek, founded 21 years ago, started by training executives on one-on-one basis. By 1991, Omatek had become premium partners with the major foreign brands at the time and it launched its first locally assembled Omatek Computer Brand from Semi Knocked Down (SKD) assembly in Nigeria.

By 2003, Omatek established its first locally assembled (CKD) factory in Africa. Today, these factories are sited in Nigeria and Ghana.

Stating the benefits of citing the factory in the country, Mrs Seriki said, "Omatek will among other things pioneer youth recruitment and empowerment in IT, create several derived SMEs and generate massive employment in the country's ICT sector."

She further disclosed that Omatek now produces for i-Advance, a government scheme designed to make for easy acquisition of personal computers by all Ghanaians, especially those in the civil service.

"Omatek factory produces for i-Advance and delivers via resellers, especially via the project managers. They pick systems up from the factory and coordinate smooth distribution to the beneficiaries."

She hinted that the scheme has further been enhanced through Omatek partnership with the banks, stating also that millions of dollars have been set aside by the banks to ensure the success of the scheme.

"Beneficiaries will be able to pick up Omatek computers under the i-Advance scheme and pay over 12 months by installments."

The event also witnessed the launch of Omatek smallest notebooks for educational institutions.

She revealed that through partnerships with key manufacturers in Asia and the privilege of research and development with them, Omatek had come up with a new Omatek 8-inch notebook for the education sector.

The 8-inch notebook comes with 60GB hardisk, 256MB memory and is equipped with WIFI while the 10-inch one is specially designed for executives.

The Minister of Communications was happy with the presence of Omatek in the country and encouraged the company to make computer available to the people of Ghana at affordable prices so as to encourage computer ownership by the citizenry.

The commissioning of Omatek Computers Ghana was attended by top personalities, and more than seven ministers of various sectors.