Lets take a look at the top 20 richest people in Ghana in 2024.
20. Serge Bakalian- $460 million
Serge Bakalian is a Ghanaian of Armenian descent and the Executive Director of Takoradi Flour Mills. He inherited the company from his father, Vasken Bakalian. Takoradi Flour Mills had an initial capacity of 200 metric tonnes per day and employed 60 people. Currently, Takoradi Flour Mills has three plants with a total installed capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes per day. He is number 20 of the richest people in Ghana
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19 Ghassan Yared- $480
Ghassan Yared owns Forewin Ghana Limited, a Distribution and Marketing Company which was launched in Ghana in March 1993. Rising from very modest beginnings, Hassan has been able to move his company quickly to carve a name for himself and a prominent place on the Ghanaian market map.
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Forewin Ghana Group of Companies includes; Mabani Ltd, Mass Industries Ltd, Lewadis FZE, Diplo FZE, Cape Trading Ltd and HMD.
Forewin is the sole marketer and distributor of popular household brands like Peak Milk, St Louis Sugar Cubes, Titus Sardine, Wrigley, Listerene, Red Bull, and GEISHA Mackerel.
18. Kwabena Agyare Danquah- $500 Million
Kwabena Adjare Danquah, is a Ghanaian businessman who founded Metalex in 1984 to produce competitively priced high-quality roofing materials. Situated in a suburb of Accra, the company started as a retailer of aluminium roofing sheets but later became a manufacturer of aluminium, clay and plastic roofing materials. Metalex owns other factories which produces clay roofing products and plastic roofing products.
17. Azar Family-$520 million
Elias Azar, a Lebanese immigrant in Ghana set up Azar Chemical Industries as a family business in 1968. The company initially operated under the name City Paints and traded in building materials and imported paints.
The company began manufacturing paints in Ghana in the 1980s, operating under the name Azar Chemical Industries which later became the Azar Group, comprising City Paints Supply Limited and Synrez Ghana Limited. City Paints deals in paints and related products, while Synrez deals in the production of packaging products.
The company is run by his two grandsons; Ghazi Azar and Rustom Azar. Ghazi Azar is the managing director, and Rustom Azar who passed on in July, 2015 was an executive director.
Azar Chemical Industries Ltd is the manufacturers of Azar Paint and SHIELD Acrylic Paint.
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16. The Hitti Family-$540 million
Robert Hitti set up Qualiplast in 1973 as a small factory with the name Greenplastica Limited in 1973. A family business, the company started with one small depot and equipment that gave it an operating capacity of between 50 metric tonnes and 100 metric tonnes per month. With a total of 60 employees, its annual turnover fluctuated between US$200,000 and US$300,000 in the early years. The name of the company was changed to Qualiplast in 1992.
15. Adam Iddrissu and Family- $550 million
In the early 1950’s, Alhaji Adamu, secured his first contract as a sawn timber supplier to GNTC, a successor of A. G. Leventies. From then on Alhaji went on to acquire other contracts to cart goods for A. G. Leventies, Cocoa for Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board and fertilizer for the Ministry of Agriculture.
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By 1996, on realizing the need to expand his transport business Alhaji set up A. A. Iddrisu Transport which later became Global Haulage Ltd.
As of 2014, Global Haulage operated a total number of 388 trucks for various haulage roles. These are made up of 271 Articulators, 111 Cargo trucks.
14 RAMCHAND UDHARAM MOHINANI- $580 million
Mohinani acquired most of his wealth from the Mohinani Group which includes; Poly Products Ghana Limited, Ghana’s first polyethylene factory. Poly Sacks (Ghana) Limited, which produces polypropylene packaging for the agro processing industry. Poly Tank (Ghana) Limited and Poly Kraft (Ghana), which both have an enormous portfolio of products, including water tanks, PET, PVC bottles and other multiple products meant for packaging a wide range of consumer goods, fish, alcoholic beverages, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and processed foods etc.
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13. JOSEPH SIAW AGYEPONG-$600million
Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong is the founder of the Jospong Group. It is one of the largest conglomerates in Ghana with over 32 subsidiaries. The Jospong Group currently operates in eleven industries in Ghana. He is number 13 of richest people in Ghana
12. MILAD MILLET & FAMILY- $620 million
Milad, a Ghanaian of Lebanese descent founded Millet Textile Corporation Limited in 1958. The company was originally established to manufacture towels. In the early 1980s, the firm changed its name to Spintex Limited and it developed into an integrated textile firm that manufactured high-quality textiles for the Ghanaian and wider African market.
Spintex, however, faced severe competition as a result of the influx of imported used clothing onto the Ghanaian market. This was as a result of the liberalization of the Ghanaian economy under the Structural Adjustment Reform Programme of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which resulted in the abolition of import restrictions. Locally produced textiles could not compete with low-priced used clothing. The name of the company was subsequently changed to Printex in 1997.
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11 THE AWUAH-DARKO FAMILY -$650 million
The late Nana Awuah-Darko Ampem was the first Ghanaian Captain of the Accra Polo Club and also an Nkosuohene of Ashanti Juaso. He first established Marine and General Insurance Brokers in 1969 after returning from his studies and working abroad. Nana Ampem was compelled to start Vanguard Assurance in 1975 after a law in 1972 made it obligatory for all government institutions in Ghana to deal directly with State Insurance Company and not through a broker.
Number 10 of The richest people in Ghana
10. Kwabena Duffour – $680
Kwabena Duffuor is the Chief Executive Officer of closely held House of Duffour Asset Holdings. He expanded into his real estate portfolio by snapping up skyscrapers in Accra which mostly houses his companies. He is number 10 of the richest people in Ghana.
9. KALMONI FAMILY – $700 million
Prior to the First World War, the grandfather of the current Managing Director of Japan Motors Ghana, Salem Kalmoni, arrived in Ghana from Lebanon to start some trading activities. His company, Kalmoni & Sons, soon branched into truck-boards, and in 1958 he imported the first Japanese car; a Datsun, a brand name which was later changed into the world-famous Nissan.
Kalmoni & Sons was renamed Japan Motors in 1965. Today it has five branches across Ghana and employs over 330 people.
8. PATRICIA POKU-DIABY -$720 million
Patricia Poku-Diaby was involved in her family’s business (trading and transportation) before she set up the Plot Enterprise Group in Ivory Coast, which was a precursor to the Ghanaian company.
Plot Enterprise Ghana is wholly Ghanaian owned cocoa processing company. The group has market presence in Asia and West Africa and comprises; Plot Commodities (registered with the Dubai Metal and Commodities Centre in Dubai), Plot Enterprise in Ivory Coast and Plot Enterprise Ghana.
Plot Commodities deals in cotton and cocoa and is registered with the Cocoa Merchants Association of America. Plot Enterprise in Ivory Coast is engaged in the trading of cocoa, cashew nut and wood products.
7. THE IRANI FAMILY -$800
Two Lebanese brothers, Anthony Irani and Edmund Irani, who immigrated to Ghana founded Irani Brothers & Others Limited in 1967 to produce wheat flour for the bread and pastry industry. It accounts for about 60% of wheat flour sales in Ghana. They provided the required start-up capital and have operated and managed the firm as a family business ever since. Anthony and Edmund Irani, who both had technical expertise in the flour milling business, provided leadership for the company.
6. MOHAMMED AHMED ODAYMAT & FAMILY – $850
Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Odaymat is a Ghanaian of Lebanese descent. He started as an employee of Toyota Ghana and later went on to buy BBC Industrial Company in 1978, BBC Industrial was then owned by Boutros BouChedid, also a Ghanaian of Lebanese origin. After Odaymat’s take over of BBC Industrial Company, he developed the Leyland and Leylac brand of paint products. The company has currently expanded from a single shed to taking up about 80% of the 4-hectare site on which it is located today.
5. MICHAEL IBRAHIM MAHAMA – $860 million
Ibrahim’s interest in private sector business began with his development of interest in heavy duty equipment whilst assisting his father on his mechanized rice farms in Tamale, Ghana. He developed a further interest in the U.K. where he resided for a period of five years and worked in the civil construction industry in Scotland. He also worked with M&M Properties in the U.K., a property development company.
4. NABIL EDMOND MOURKAZEL -$900 million
Nabil Moukarzel owns the most shares by value in The Finatrade Group which is one of the largest food manufacturing and food distribution companies in West Africa. Moukarzel’s company is Ghana’s largest distributor of food and importer of rice with its Rice Master and Sultana rice brands.
Finatrade, through its subsidiaries, distributes and markets raw commodities and frozen foods. It offers vegetable oil, sugar, rice, cocoa, meat, ice cream, dairy products, beverages, powdered milk, animal feed, tiles, granite, marble, false ceilings, sanitary and kitchen ware. Additionally, the company provides warehousing and logistics services. Finatrade is the largest commodity and distribution company in Ghana, with presence in seven West African countries. Moukarzel employs over 2,000 Ghanaians.
3. SIR SAM ESSON JONAH – $ 1.2 billion
Sir Sam Jonah reached the prime of his career when he led the $1.48 billion merger between Ashanti Goldfields and AngloGold in 2004. A lot of mining companies have benefited from Sam Jonah’s expertise in the mining industry. Sam’s equity fund, Jonah Capital owns 14 mineral resource assets across 10 countries in Africa.
2. ERNESTO TARICONE -$1.3 billion
Ernesto Taricone is an industrial investor and civil engineer, he is the Executive Chairman and CEO of Trasacco Group which employs over 4000 Ghanaians and expatriates. He is number 2 on the list of richest people in Ghana
Ernesto Taricone was born in Italy in 1948; he came to Ghana in 1968 with his father and two brothers when he was still in his teens. The majority of his business is focused on Ghana covering various key sections in the Ghanaian Economy; Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, Construction and Real Estate development.
Charles Ampofo – $ 1.46 billion
Charles Ampofo is the Chairman and Founder of Kampac Group which is headquartered in the business hub of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Group engages in various activities and operates Kampac Oil as its primary business. Other companies under the Group includes Kampac Properties, Kampac Travels, Kampac Flora, Kampac Telecom and Kampac Resources. He is the richest man in Ghana
In 1999, Ampofo founded Universal Transfer Service as a Financial Services and Funds Transfer company which went on to build an entire multi-banking network in Côte D’Ivoire which consisted of 24 banks. Under his leadership, the company has post growth of more than 30% over the last 10 years.
Information was obtained from Goodmanamcblogspot, Wikipedia, and Yen.com.gh for writing this article.