The President of Ashesi University, Patrick Gyimah Awuah, has described gaming and gamification as a major opportunity to project African culture and storytelling to the world while supporting the development of the continent’s economies.
Speaking at the MTN Digifest 2026 Gaming Conference in Accra, Mr Awuah said gaming could provide a platform for African stories and cultural experiences to reach audiences across the continent and beyond.
He said Africa’s cultural richness extends beyond language, with storytelling playing a critical role in shaping cultures and projecting them to the world.
According to him, gaming also presents opportunities to explore areas including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and robotics while creating environments where Africans can interact and share experiences.
“We think that engaging in games and gamification is really a big opportunity not only as we’re building economies, but also projecting Africa in the world in a very positive way,” he said.
Mr Awuah said the partnership with MTN was particularly significant because of the telecommunications company’s pan-African presence.
He said the network could enable games and stories developed through such initiatives to connect people in countries including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt within the same digital environment.
“You can imagine people in Ghana and Kenya and South Africa and Egypt in the same environment interacting with each other,” he said.
Mr Awuah added that this pan-African reach would allow developers to think and execute at scale, creating opportunities for African gaming initiatives to expand across markets.
He expressed excitement about working with MTN, describing the initiative as a beginning that could produce significant outcomes over the next five to ten years.
“This is just a small beginning. But I think we’ll come back five years, ten years from now and see really something grand that’s come out,” he said.
