Government entities and the private sector are said to prioritise awarding contracts to foreign IT companies, a situation that is leaving local companies malnourished.
President of the ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) Clarence Gama revealed this today, Thursday, during the opening of the grouping’s two-day conference.
Gama said that despite the necessary expertise in the local companies, the priority goes to foreign IT firms.
“One of the key challenges that has been there for so long is that local ICT companies are not benefiting from big IT expenditure in Malawi,” said Gama.
Meanwhile, Gama expressed optimism that the conference would help change the status quo.
In response on behalf of the government, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, Dr. Mcdonald Mafuta Mwale, said “I wouldn’t say it’s a nature of trust, but we just need to work together interms of them certifying their people and to have that comfort to give us, to makesure that we can use them”.
Mwale further appreciated the progress that the ICT sector has made in the financial sector, where mobile money operators and payment systems in the Central Bank all rely on digital platforms.
One of the corporate sponsors, National Bank of Malawi, through its Head of Digital Financial Services, William Kaunda, said they decided to fund the Expo with K20 million as an appreciation to the ICT sector for its greater contribution to the Bank’s growth.
The two-day Expo is being held under the theme Accelerating Malawi’s Digital Economy; Innovation, Inclusion and Sustainable Growth.
