The Information and National Orientation Minister, Hon. Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie has stressed that it is not just enough to be informed. “One needs also to have adequate and relevant information available in real time to enable one to take advantage of the opportunities all around.”

Addressing the first ever International Confab on Information and Infopreneurship at the National Theatre in Accra on Wednesday, August 14, 2007, she vouched her Ministry’s unflinching willingness to support any bold initiative aimed at deploying information as an effective tool for nation building.

The conference, which was a collaborative venture between her Ministry, Legacy and Legacy, and Otabil and Associates, was under the theme “Information as a resource for Career Development, Organizational Growth and Wealth Creation”.

Hon. Oboshie Sai Cofie reminded the over 1,400 participants that even though it is undisputable that ‘information is power’, those in whom this power is vested are equally charged with the inextricably linked responsibility of ensuring that information made available to the public is at all times accurate and factual. Recognition of this, she noted, will help diminish the speculative information that sometimes permeate the airwaves and take over some newspapers.

She cited the repeal of the Criminal Libel law and the enactment of the Whistle Blowers Act as some of the reform efforts calculated at making information available and accessible to the public. She reiterated her government’s commitment to the passage of the Right to Information Bill, noting that the office of the Attorney General and the Commissioner of the Statute Law Revision, Justice Crabbe, are working feverishly to ensure that the implementation of the law, when passed, will guarantee the right of the public to information.

An ace comedian, Kwaku Sintim Misa (a.k.a KSM), speaking to the topic: “Discovering, Developing and Marketing Your Creative Talent” said the best way to maximize people’s innate potentials was to use them in the jobs for which they are carved out for. He said “one’s greatest room for growth is in the area of one’s strengths.” He also urged the participants to exhibit passion in their work, in their quest to help develop the nation.

Speaking on the theme “Harnessing the Power of the Internet/ICT for Wealth Creation”, the CEO of Soft Tribe, an ICT powerhouse, Herman Chinery Hesse, revealed that immense business opportunities exist in developing countries than in advanced ones. This is because there are many things undone, and each of these represents a business opportunity. He called for an end to the brain-drain menace and to see Ghana, their motherland, as the land of opportunities for especially, E-commerce.

Other Speakers at the two-day included Rev. Dr. Mensah Otabil, a well acclaimed and international motivational speaker who also doubles as the founder of the International Central Gospel Church, and the Chancellor of Central University College. His mounting of the podium saw the auditorium rise to a thunderous applause and standing ovation. Mr. Phillip Sowah (CEO of One Touch), Pastor Errol Williams, and Albert Ocran of Legacy and Legacy fame, were equally powerful and insightful in their delivery on their assigned topics.

At the end of the two-day seminar, participants were issued with certificates of participation. There was a general consensus that these types of knowledge-based information seminars were needed on a regular basis in our dear country.