Bright Owusu-Amofah Presents Appolonia City by Rendeavour, Africa’s Largest Private City Developer

Interview with Bright Owusu-Amofah, CEO of Appolonia City

How have your projects in Ghana evolved in the last three years?

Three years ago, we had just started the execution phase of the projects. Our core business is taking a greenfield site, investing in the infrastructure and connecting power, water, building roads and connecting sewerage.

Since then, we have launched a number of products and are now focused on what we call the top structure; because the market’s perception of how well a development is doing is the structures available and various activities going on within the project. While we have spent a lot on the infrastructure, the feedback we gathered from the market was all horizontal, so vertical is the focus now.

At Appolonia City, we have a large number of homes at various levels of completion. We have launched three different projects within the city. We started with The Oxford. These are two and three-bedroom, middle income housing units. The Oxford is a gated community within Appolonia City which will have about 500 units with various amenities such as parks, walking trails and a clubhouse.

We have completed the first phase of an affordable housing project. This housing project has 120 units which have been built in partnership with Ghana Home Loans which has since been acquired by First National Bank. If you look at Ghana’s mortgage to GDP ratio, it is extremely low: There are various factors that contribute to that and one of them is the fact that homes cheaper than 50,000 or 60,000 dollars are not available for sale. Our target, with this project, was to focus on that particular segment of the market. We are currently looking at developing the second phase of Bijou Homes at Appolonia City.

Our Nova Ridge project, which is another gated community, allows individuals the flexibility to build their dream homes on fully serviced plots. Our clients are allowed to submit their designs which are reviewed by an internal development control and architecture committee. Once they meet the criteria of what we envisaged in the master plan, we allow clients to continue to build their dream homes. This is an ongoing project that has also been extremely successful so far.

In 2020, based on feedback from market research, we realized there were a lot of Ghanaians who wanted to be a part of these projects; however, they did not meet the price points of the products we had at the time. We then launched what we called Wala Park. This is very similar to Nova Ridge but is only partially serviced. We had to take out some of the components that made Nova Ridge premium: the clubhouse, the gated community, and underground infrastructure – power and water. These things are expensive and are what make a premium product. We had to take out certain elements of the product for people who were looking to be a part of Appolonia City but could not afford to. We have sold over 300 plots, and we expect individuals to start building in 2022.

And even more exciting is that we have catalyzed our industrial park. It is a mixed-use community and there are at least five projects that are up and coming. The first one was launched in May of 2021. It is a large IT company headquartered in Lagos. They built a massive data center within our industrial park. What this means is the project is fully connected with fiber optic, so fiber infrastructure is available. All of these things are helping us attract other companies to come onboard.

Since then, we have had Palace Biscuits, a confectionery company, that is building its factory. Manufacturers of oxygen- Indo Ghana, whose business became valuable during COVID, are also putting up a factory. Nickseth Construction Limited, a local concrete manufacturing company, has begun constructing a factory. We recently signed a deal with a group called Acadia, producers of Tampico fruit juice, and we expect the commencement of their factory in early 2022. Alusynco, a Greek company that produces aluminum windows, trusses and doors, is also expected to start in 2022.

We have begun building our first commercial and retail complex, this is a partnership with Gateway Africa, a Mauritius-based fund which is part of the Grit Group, to build the first phase of a commercial building with offices and retail space. The first 2,000sqm of that building is up and we expect to complete the project and commission the building by the first quarter of 2022.

We are very optimistic about next year. Once you have the residential, commercial and industrial elements, the main focus is to get recreational elements coming through. We have begun talks with a number of groups and individuals who are interested in operating commercial clubhouses, or any sort of recreational user activity in the city. That then gives us a mixed-use community.

Is the Rendeavour Group still present in all the countries where you were working previously?

Yes, the Rendeavour Group still is. It is the same group with a similar concept. Tatu City in Kenya is our biggest and is what I call our flagship project. Alaro City, another project of ours in Nigeria, is doing extremely well. A number of companies have signed up and factories are being built as they recently launched the residential component as well. The Roma Park project in Zambia is complete. The Kiswishi development in DRC is about to start and in Ghana we have two projects: Appolonia City and King City-which we will begin next year.

Can you describe King City?

It is a large mixed-use development that is less than 10 kilometers from the existing CBD and the airport in Takoradi. We are driven by market considerations. With this project there are a few things that will have to be refined so that we can offer affordable products.

Environmentally-friendly developments are the way the world is going, can you outline your approach to that?

We are particular about the environment and sustainability. We incorporate environmentally-friendly aspects into our developments. In the case of Appolonia City, about 30% was earmarked for green/open spaces. It is about 2,400 acres and we GPS every tree on site to make sure we do not cut down any trees as part of our development. We have very strict penalties in our contracts for cutting down trees. It comes with a hefty fine and ten more trees will have to be planted for each one cut down. When it comes to homes, things like faucets, LED lights and solar are taken into account. Pre-COVID, we signed a deal with an American company to produce a 5-megawatt solar plant on-site to supply power for homes and factories within our development. We have also incorporated a lot of smart city technology and concepts in our design. All of these things are geared towards making sure that we are an environmentally-friendly city because climate change is a big global issue, and we want to be part of the solution.

What do you want to achieve as a company and what drives you personally?

My background is in investment banking, and I enjoyed it. Real estate is even more fulfilling because we are solving practical issues. We build infrastructure like roads, supply power, and water and while there are commercial considerations involved, the joy is being able to provide these things in a city. The surrounding community and all the villages around us benefit from some of the infrastructure that we are putting in.

There is a huge housing deficit in Ghana and to help close to 2 million people, we are developing 100,000 units. This is a drop in the ocean, but it is helping to address the housing issue in Ghana.

The local community is benefiting from jobs that we have created as well. We have a labor deficit and to make a positive contribution to the community, we have been focusing on education because we want the community, especially the children, to aspire to become professionals in any given field and get the skills that are required to develop a city.

This is a very long-term project that we will be doing for the next 15 to 20 years, it is important that the surrounding communities benefit from what we do and are not left out. This is not just in the form of dividends or cash, but also in jobs and improving their own lifestyle.

It is very challenging but at the end of the day when you get home, you feel proud. Every time I go to a site, I see what was once just complete bush with nothing and it has now been transformed into a city: That is very satisfying.

ABOUT APPOLONIA CITY: Appolonia City is a project of Rendeavour, Africa’s largest private city developer with over 30,000 acres of visionary projects in the growth trajectories of large cities in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and the DRC. Appolonia City is conveniently located within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana – 20km east of Accra, between the towns of Oyibi and Afienya. It offers everything in one place. A place to live, work, shop, a place for entertainment, relaxation and much more – in a well-planned natural environment coupled with the highest standards of infrastructure.

For more information, please visit: www.appolonia.com.gh.

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