Since its foundation in 2020, EWIA has already established two companies in Ghana and employs 24 permanent staff and more than 40 freelancers. In addition to EWIA Green Investments West Africa ltd. in Accra for the energy sector, there is EWIA Infrastructure Ltd. as a German-Ghanaian joint venture for the construction of infrastructure projects. We would like to briefly introduce this branch of our activities to you today.
With our subsidiary EWIA Infrastructure, we take care of infrastructure projects that are supplied with solar power. Telecommunications is a driver of development all over the world and this is particularly true in Africa. Around two thirds of the 1.2 billion Africans use mobile phones. The telephone, the smartphone in particular, is a key to markets and services that would otherwise be inaccessible due to a lack of infrastructure. The resourceful Kenyan company M-Pesa therefore made it possible to transfer money by text message as early as 2007 - in places where people had no bank account at all. Hard to imagine in a high-tech country like Germany and massively successful across the continent.
The telecommunications industry in Ghana has contributed significantly to the growth of the economy in recent years. Due to the rising cost of grid electricity and diesel, more than 6,600 transmission masts are currently being built or upgraded (revitalised) with solar solutions. EWIA erects and builds complete mobile phone masts and infrastructure measures according to the specifications of engineering firms and mobile phone mast operators. EWIA provides materials and labour and takes care of assembly, deliveries, earthworks, concrete and steel construction work.
Socio-economic effects for the "underserved or unserved"
Our customer Rainbow Mobile Networks, which like EWIA is based in Accra, is also concerned with the social and economic impact that technology brings with it. Founded in 2013, the company was engaged by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), which is operated by the Ministry of Communications of Ghana. As the name "Rainbow" suggests, the network equipment provider has a sustainability philosophy (see here) and the use of green energy is part of this.
GIFEC and Rainbow have set themselves the goal of providing remote, rural areas in particular with access to telecommunications networks, i.e. mobile telephony and the internet. GIFEC maintains the Rural Connectivity Programme specifically for communities that are considered "underserved or unserved".
2500 people in Sagyimase will soon be online
In this context, EWIA Infrastructure is specifically equipping a 50 metre high telecommunications mast with PV, which Rainbow is erecting in Sagyimase in the Eastern Region, located between Accra and Kumasi. Seven EWIA Infrastructure employees are currently on site. As soon as the PV is up-and-running, around 2,500 people will be able to enter a new era.
Rainbow erects 500 more masts
The contract in Sagyimase has a volume of 155,000 Ghana cedis, around €11,000, and functions as a pilot project and kick-off. Of course, we will be delighted when 2500 people are online thanks to solar energy. But we also expect Sagyimase to have a learning effect, as Rainbow is installing around 500 more masts across the country that need to be equipped with PV. That would be very good business in every respect.
We will keep you up to date on the progress!