Digital leadership in the 21st Century is a must – VP Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has underscored the importance of digital leadership to the success of organisations and transformation of economies in the 21st century. 

Addressing leaders and captains of industries at the 6th Ghana CEO’s Summit in Accra on Monday, Dr. Bawumia stressed that digital leadership in the 21st century is crucial in order to ensure organisational success, and  ultimately, make greater contributions towards the digital economic transformation agenda of the government. 

He, therefore, urged captains of industries to provide effective and unwavering digital leadership in their various organisations. 

“Effective leadership has always been considered as a key factor in organisational performance. For an organisation to be successful in these times, the leaders of that organisation must set the tone from the top and must be willing to champion sustainable digital programs in their operations,’ Dr. Bawumia told the Summit, which discussed the importance of digital leadership in economic transformation. 

“It goes without gainsaying that the advent of technology, including social media, has changed the way that we conduct business. As business leaders, therefore, it is important that you guide your organisations towards digital transformation through creative and effective methods.”

Dr. Bawumia noted that from government’s experience, changing the status quo through digitization comes with stiff resistance by interest groups within the status quo, so business leaders ought to develop strong commitments, just as the government did, to be able to make the required transformation. 

“As a government, we realized very early on the need to transform our economy in that manner (digitalisation) and while the initial phase of this transformation, like all reforms, entailed some major costs, the benefits are already beginning to show. Digital leadership requires that we stay the course and not waver as we continue to invest in that direction.”

“We acknowledge that this is a painstaking process and will require a gradual adjustment that entails a lot of planning and behavioural change, but I am confident that the results will benefit all stakeholders and accordingly the pain will match the gain.

“I therefore will like to charge all of you gathered here today, as business leaders, to make deliberate efforts towards employing digital leadership in the running of your businesses and strive to complement the efforts of government in the realization of this goal.”

“As leaders of your various organisations, you need to build a culture of digital transformation to remain competitive.”

The Vice President noted further that the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals requires a concerted effort from both the private and public sectors,  and these efforts, he added, must be underpinned by digital leadership to yield results.

He shared with the CEOs the trajectory of government’s digital transformation and how the digital investment is impacting lives and the economy, and how it will be the bedrock for future economic development, especially in the aftermath of the current global economic challenges, which he said is forcing nations to rethink and be less dependant on others