Institutions and individuals who have distinguished themselves in e-Commerce, online retail and payments industry, would win awards after strict assessment. Mr Paul Asinor, the Event Director of OML Africa, said the Ghana e-Commerce Association would be launched with support from e-Commerce Foundation at the awards ceremony on November 30, to be attended by the Founder.

With that, every e-Commerce site would be given a patent approval by the Safe.com to ensure the safety of online shoppers, saying that competitors were currently being tested whether they were secured websites.

Mr Asinor explained that the patent would tell whether a particular site was genuine or not, however, he advised shoppers to be extra careful while doing business online as there were scammers.

He urged business owners in Ghana to take advantage of the award to make Ghana a hub of online business. E-Commerce in Africa generated 16.5 billion dollars in 2017, according to Research Firm Statista, and forecasts 29 billion dollars by 2022.

Mr Asinor who launched the 2018 Awards event called for the fast track and effective implementation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to enable e-Commerce to thrive. He said by so doing, it would contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Country, adding that goods would be delivered safely and at the convenience of those who patronised such services.

Mr Boadi assured Ghanaians that e-Commerce had come not to close down businesses but to get them running. It would help buyers get access to a variety of products and they can shop on different platforms beyond Ghana without having to travel.

Mrs Anita Wiafe-Asinor, the Owner of Delilah Secret, an online lingerie shop, and a member of the awards committee, appealed to the media to tell the success stories of online shopping rather than focusing on the negatives in order not to scare the public.

She noted that online shopping was an avenue for entrepreneurship for the youth without a physical store and with a little money, where they can sell locally, nationally and worldwide.  Mrs Wiafe-Asinor assured the public that none of the nominees would be able to buy their way through as the judges would strictly go by the criteria.

Winners would be selected through a 60 per cent judges’ selection and 40 per cent public vote.

Among the awards are best male eCommerce, best female ecommerce entrepreneur, best online retailer of the year, best social media campaign, best eCommerce mobile money platform, best online food delivery platform, best online real estate site and best online taxi.