It was a night of honour, innovation, and reflection at the 10th edition of the MOBEX Africa Innovation Conference and Awards 2025, where Margins ID Group and its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Moses Kwesi Baiden Jnr, were celebrated for their groundbreaking contributions to Africa’s digital identity transformation.
The prestigious event, held under the theme “Driving Digital Sovereignty and Innovation for Africa’s Future”, brought together technology leaders, policymakers, and innovators from across the continent to celebrate excellence in Africa’s digital evolution. Margins ID Group’s recognition came as a tribute to more than three decades of relentless innovation, leadership, and advocacy for data sovereignty across Africa.
The company’s work, anchored in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.9 — Legal Identity for All — has positioned Ghana as a continental model in trusted identity systems and digital governance.
During the conference, Mr. Moses Baiden Jnr delivered an inspiring address that vividly captured Ghana’s journey in building a sovereign, trusted digital identity infrastructure and the central role Margins ID Group has played in that transformation.
“Identity has become the operating system of modern governance,” he declared, underscoring how the Ghana Card now serves as “the trust layer for the digital economy we are building.”
He recounted how Ghana’s foresight in treating identity as a national priority, rather than a reactionary measure, laid the foundation for a secure, inclusive, and interoperable system.
“We did not wait for identity to become a crisis before we treated it as national infrastructure,” he said to loud applause. “Our biometric architecture was built, operated, and secured locally. That was not luck — it was design.”
Today, Ghana’s biometric identity system has enrolled more than 19 million citizens, creating a single national source of truth that integrates key sectors, including healthcare, taxation, education, transportation, border management, and financial services.
According to him, this achievement is not merely about numbers but about building a system that allows the country to operate with verifiable citizens rather than assumptions.
“Every institution can now anchor its decisions in certainty,” he emphasised, adding that Ghana’s sovereignty in managing its digital identity architecture has become one of its greatest national assets.
Mr. Baiden explained that the impact of the system is already visible across multiple sectors.
In healthcare, the biometric identity framework has reduced fraudulent and duplicate claims, saving the state millions in public funds.
In revenue administration, the system has expanded the number of registered taxpayers without introducing new taxes, by simply eliminating anonymity in transactions.
In the financial sector, audit trails generated by identity verification have curtailed impersonation and improved regulatory oversight.
In transport, duplicate driver identities and fraudulent renewals have been eliminated, while in border management, biometric verification has enhanced security and expedited processing times.
He warned, however, that the rising sophistication of Artificial Intelligence and deepfake technologies poses a new kind of threat, making digital identity the critical firewall against impersonation and synthetic identities.
“The threat has moved from forgery to simulation,” he cautioned. “Without a biometric source of truth, even advanced governments are struggling to handle this rise.”
Mr. Baiden stressed that Ghana’s digital identity ecosystem is not experimental but fully operational. “Where others are piloting, we are integrating,” he said.
“This positions our country not only as a national success but as a continental reference point.”
He called for stronger institutional alignment and enforcement to ensure that the nation reaps the full benefits of its investment in digital infrastructure.
“The next phase is not technical; it is alignment and enforcement,” he said, urging Ministries, Departments and Agencies to make verification the standard at the point of service delivery.
“When verification becomes the default, fraud moves from loophole to dead end.”
He concluded his address with a passionate appeal for Africa to build its digital future on foundations it owns and controls.
“Africa cannot build a digital economy on external infrastructure,” he said. “It must build on what it controls and can sustain. When identity becomes the gatekeeper of access, the country becomes fairer, more efficient, and more secure. That is the Ghana we are building.”
Adding to the evening’s insightful discussions, Mr. Kwesi Baiden, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Margins Group, offered an equally compelling presentation on how the company’s innovations in biometric verification are transforming financial access and inclusion across Ghana and the continent.
He explained that through Margins’ technology, identity verification has evolved from a bureaucratic obstacle into the foundation of financial empowerment.
Built around the Ghana Card, the company’s real-time verification infrastructure now allows banks, fintechs, and government agencies to confirm identities instantly and securely, eliminating doubts about who is transacting and why.
“The Ghana Card is not simply a means of identification,” he explained. “It is the trust layer for the digital economy we are building.”
For years, many Ghanaians, particularly those in rural and informal sectors, were excluded from formal financial systems due to the absence of reliable identity documentation. That narrative, he said, is changing rapidly.
“Today, anyone enrolled in the national ID system can open a bank account, register for mobile money, or access microcredit because their identity can be verified instantly and securely.”
Kwesi Baiden noted that the results of this transformation are profound.
Banks and fintechs are now onboarding customers faster and with greater confidence, reducing fraud and operational costs.
The Ghana Revenue Authority has expanded the taxpayer base without raising taxes, simply by making anonymity impossible. Microfinance institutions and savings groups can now verify clients biometrically, unlocking access to loans, insurance, and digital savings products for informal traders, farmers, and artisans who were once invisible to the financial system.
“When verification becomes the default, fraud moves from loophole to dead end. That’s how inclusion grows through trust and accountability,” he remarked.
He further explained that every verification event leaves a traceable digital audit trail, creating transparency and confidence across financial transactions.
This innovation, he said, is helping to combat impersonation, identity theft, and fraudulent claims that have long undermined trust in financial systems.
Ghana’s verification model, he added, is now being studied by several West African countries as a blueprint for inclusive financial transformation.
“Africa cannot build a digital economy on external infrastructure,” he reiterated.
“It must build on what it controls and can sustain. When identity is locally owned, digital participation is locally secured.”
Beyond the technical and financial achievements, Kwesi Baiden highlighted the broader social impact of Margins’ work.
He said financial inclusion is no longer just about access to banking or mobile money but about access to verified trust.
The company’s verification ecosystem now underpins critical functions such as taxation, social welfare, cross-border remittances, and e-commerce.
It is bridging the gap between the formal and informal sectors, allowing millions of citizens to become financially visible for the first time.
“The strength of our achievement is not in how many cards have been printed, but in how many lives are now financially visible,” he said.
“When identity becomes the foundation of inclusion, economies grow stronger and fairer.”
As the applause filled the conference hall, it was evident that the honour bestowed upon Margins ID Group and its leadership was more than an acknowledgement of corporate success — it was a celebration of vision, sovereignty, and national pride.
Through innovation rooted in local expertise and ownership, Margins ID Group has shown that Africa’s digital destiny can and must be shaped by Africans themselves.
In the words of Moses Baiden Jnr, “Ghana has not only built the digital infrastructure for a modern state but is now positioned to lead Africa in identity-enabled governance — anchoring trust, protecting value, and empowering citizens in the digital era.”
The awards at MOBEX Africa 2025, therefore, were not merely a recognition of technological excellence but a powerful reminder that identity, when built on sovereignty and trust, can transform nations and secure the future of an entire continent
