Herman Owula Kojo Chinery-Hesse (18 November 1963 – 17 September 2024) was a Ghanaian technology businessman and the founder of theSOFTtribe, the oldest and largest software company in Ghana.[2][3][4] He was popularly known as "the Bill Gates of Africa".[5][6][7] Chinery-Hesse also made the list of 15 Black STEM Innovators.[8] In March 2019, he was introduced as the Commonwealth Chair for Business and Technology Initiatives for Africa.[9]
In 1991, Chinery-Hesse co-founded theSOFTtribe, one of the leading software houses in Africa. Over the years, the company has pioneered a number of groundbreaking products in the following areas:[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]
Hei Julor!!! a low-cost, mobile-based, mass market community security alert system for Africa
Government payroll systems
ERP systems
Nationwide utility e-billing systems
Point of Sale Systems
Electronic payment systems
In addition to theSOFTtribe's proprietary payroll system, Akatua, other software products his firm introduced to the local market were Gbefalor (a travel package), Battor (forex management), Nzama (stock management), Eziban (restaurant management), Efuom (farm management), Bimbilla (a general ledger), and e-Susu (software for microfinance/peer-to-peer savings and credit)[19]
His project "Afrikan Echoes" is aimed at creating African audiobooks app for global consumption, such that for the first time ever Africans are in a position to tell their own stories to a worldwide audience.[20] He was an assessor for the Commercial Courts of Ghana.[21] He was also a real estate investor, with business interests in property development joint ventures in Ghana and Sierra Leone.[19][22]
Personal life and death
Chinery-Hesse was married to Sierra Leonean lawyer, Sadia Atami Chinery-Hesse (née Clarke) [23][24][25] and they had two children, Nii Tettey and Naa Densua.[26] He died on 17 September 2024, at the age of 60. Chinery-Hesse was buried at the Graceland Memorial Garden, in Berekuso, located at the foothills of the Aburi ridge, near Accra.[19]
Honours and recognition
Chinery-Hesse and his company have won numerous awards and accolades, including World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer (2008), the GUBA award in the UK for Exceptional Achievement, the Ghana Millennium Excellence Award for IT, the Ghana Club 100 Award for the Most Innovative Company, the "SMS" App of the Year Award, the Mobile World Lifetime Achievement Award and the Best Entrepreneur in Information and Communication Technology. He also won the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Texas State University, the first and currently only African recipient of the award.[2] The City of San Marcos, Texas also gave him the honorary key to the city.[19]
He was also honoured at the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ghana Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards (GECEA) and the African Innovation Award for ICT Leadership and the Ghana Legacy Honours.[19]
Chinery-Hesse was also bestowed with a honorary chieftaincy title by Ghanaian traditional leaders in recognition of his contributions to national development and technology. [19] He was also adjudged the Microsoft African Partner of the Year.[27]
He was named one of "20 Notable Black Innovators in Technology", one of Africa's "Top 20 Tech Influencers", among the 2Top 100 Most Influential Africans of our Time", and one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" by Foreign Policy Magazine.[29][30]
^"The African Hacker". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. August 2005. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
^blackentrepreneurprofile.com. "Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse". Black Entrepreneurs & Executives Profiles. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
