In the past two years innovation hubs, incubators and accelerators have created support networks to give ICT entrepreneurs a better chance of survival.
iSpace came out of a conversation between Ghanaian developers for the need for a space to meet and the lack of reliable internet connectivity and decided to set up iSpace.
It is run as a social enterprise that offers developers, entrepreneurs and those in creative industries connections, resources and training. According to Oxford Street in Accraís Osu district and covering a floor, it gives a visible public presence to all three of these commonly overlapping communities
The idea of having creative industries alongside was that the media are not very familiar always with ICT and the developer community is currently largely but not completely invisible.
iSpace has attracted 6 start-ups and has a co-working space that can accommodate 60 people. It has enticed funding from the Indigo Trust and ATTI is part of the Google partnership for entrepreneurs. It also wants to be able to set up its own UX Lab to assist providence in research for developers before they start writing apps.
The OS and handset market is incredibly fragmented, making all but the development of SMS apps tough. Transaction processes remain in the hands of the mobile operators.
Diverse communities such as developers, entrepreneurs, creative industries, articulate what they need and argue for it. Funding fashions change and a lot of hubs will disappear unless they start tackling the fundamentals of building the ecosystem.