Most of the telephone hyperlinks in GHfind’s database are not formatted for international calls. In other words, these links are not prefixed with the necessary country code (00233 or +233) to instantly call Ghana from an outside country.
When I first started this project, I included the country code on all telephone links. But doing so was making the database more cumbersome. Also, once the link is pressed, the way those numbers are displayed on mobile devices may be considered convoluted by domestic users. So now, the only telephone links that have Ghana’s country codes embedded are businesses that are most likely to attract international clientele. That includes the likes of high-end hotels and major government offices.
But ultimately, you never know what business someone outside of Ghana may be compelled to contact. Indeed, the purpose of GHfind is to help level the playing field for Ghanaian businesses that may not have much exposure. So I wanted to jot down this quick post of basic instructions for calling Ghanaian phone numbers from another country.
And the process is quite simple, if you’re making the call via GHfind. The majority of telephone hyperlinks in our database, if you were to click them on your mobile device, will input a 10-digit number, beginning with 0, onto your phone app. That’s how telephone numbers are usually displayed locally in Ghana, using the below format:
e.g. 011 111 1111
For example, if you were currently go to GHfind and search for “automobile”, the first entry that pops up, “Autotech Pro Consult”, looks like this:
The telephone phone number for that entry is “020-850-6568”. And if you were to click the link (on a mobile device), that’s also the number that will display in your phone app.
But if you want to make the call from outside of Ghana, that first 0 has to be replaced with 00233.
e.g. 00233 11 111 1111
Or using the above phone number, it would be:
00233 20 850 6568
If you’d rather utilize fewer digits, rather replace the first zero with +233.
e.g. +233 11 111 1111
Or, once again using the above phone number:
+233 20 850 6568
And that’s it. So long as you have enough credit to make international calls, you should be able to contact the business at hand from outside of Ghana by making those adjustments.
CONCLUSION
To reiterate, a few of the numbers in GHfind’s database are already formatted with Ghana’s international calling code. But I wanted to jot down these quick instructions so that unfamiliar and interested users outside of Ghana will not be dissuaded from calling local businesses due to a minor technical matter.