Ngusra Group: Land Brokering, Gold Mining and Gold Trading in Ghana by Shadrach Ngusra

Interview with Shadrach Ngusra, CEO of Ngusra Group

How competitive is the environment? How do you describe the sector here in Ghana?

Land brokering is a very good sector. If you acquire land in the genuine way with the title, you have no problem. It is a very moveable business that involves a lot of money. If you are able to enter into it, it is a very good sector. You will never regret it.

Are there challenges with the property titles? Do you have multiple owner issues?

We have given ourselves up to 2025, almost six years from now, and our target is to be the leader in all the sectors that the Ngusra Group is present in. We do not want to just lead, but to give high quality services.

Land is precious, but to acquire land, you must pass through the due process. You must make sure you do a search. That is what we do. Before we buy the land, we do a search through the government. We find out the name of the proper ownership of the land before we go in for payment, we register it, and we have our title. With that you have no problem, but if you buy the land without doing the search, sometimes there will be litigation.

Is it more of a supply or demand market? Do you have more acquirers or more sellers?

We have a lot of serious developers and the competition is very high. We have chosen to go the affordable way whereby an ordinary Ghanaian worker can buy a mortgage. If you want to pay cash too, you will be able to buy.

What are your competitive advantages? How are you different from your competition?

What makes Ngusra Group different is that when we start building, we make sure we make the building in the manner that it is very strong, very simple, and very affordable. We do not make more than four bedrooms. We do two bedrooms, three bedrooms, single rooms self-contained, so it is easy for the majority of people to afford. We have also made payment very solid through mortgage. We are not looking for huge interest. We put the amount we spend, find a percentage that can make the company move, then we give it out. We give terms of payment which are very affordable.

How do you compete with others in terms of having better rates?

We have a system from the bank in which for any money that I take from the bank, there is a time and a limit for the payment for the interest to not increase. That is why we have chosen to go an affordability route so that we are able to pay back to the bank. We are looking for investors because this is a very lucrative sector. When there is money, you can really make it. So, we are looking for investors to come in so that we will be able to be more advanced and produce at higher quality.

What would you say about your projects to investors? What are you offering? What are the terms? Which sector and region are you in? How many houses have you built? What exactly do you offer?

All our projects are based in Accra. When we are able to get an investor, who is ready to invest in the Ngusra Group, we will enter into percentage. The money the investor is bringing is the constant money for the investor, but the interest is where they are sharing between Ngusra and the investor. There will be a proposal and terms in a memorandum of understanding between the two parties. If the investor approves it, we go ahead. Going ahead, we have the land as well as the means of acquiring the land so we know that we will expand and we will build, for example, over 2,000 affordable houses for individuals and the government. We make things open whereby payment will be made through our bankers, the investor money, and whatever else we have to gain. That is our strategy.

Where are your lands that are available?

We have many acres within Accra. In Prampram, we have almost 50 acres, in Dodowa we have 100 acres. In Kotoku we have 30 acres.

What is the return that investors can expect out of this kind of investment? Would it be five years, ten years, twenty years?

It depends on the size of the projects and the number of buildings we are putting up. We have strategized ourselves in a way that it will not be a long-term payment or a long-term interest. It is a very short term. While we are building, we are selling. We do not wait to finish the project to sell. The investor will almost every time have his money with interest.

What other sectors are you strong in? You are also present in mining and trading gold. Ghana used to be the top country, but now there is Burkina Faso and Sudan, and Ghana is now the third largest producer of gold in Africa. What is your assessment of the gold sector now?

Ngusra Gold Mines, which is part of the Ngusra Group, is very open. Our focus is not only on Ghanaian gold because we are brokers as well. We have people who supply us sometimes from Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Liberia as well. We also buy from individual Ghanaians. We deal with PMMC (Precious Minerals Marketing Company) in terms of our shipment, our license, etc. Because we are registered with them, we are known by the government. We also have a concession and we are looking for investors whereby the investor will come in with an MOU and we can have excavators and other mining equipment on the site to mine the gold.

At the moment, in this mine, do you need more equipment?

We have it but we are doing it on a small scale. We want to enter into a very large-scale operation. The company has the concession. We also have a refinery. Now, we need investors to come.

What are the challenges to get investors?

Before, it used to be a very good thing and a very easy thing. But, because of fraud, many people have deceived people saying they have gold when they do not. They all come together to mine gold and nothing comes out of it. But we have come and we are for real. We mean business. There is no way that we will bring in an investor just to waste his time. It is purely for business. The gold is there. We have to work hard, we have to stress ourselves at the site to get the gold, and whoever invests in it will have an MOU and there will be sharing in percentage. The gold business is moving here but getting the investors is very difficult now because of fraud.

Do you have any competitive advantages over the trading companies?

It is our vision to become the leading private gold mining company in Ghana and West Africa. That is why we are now buying gold from places like Liberia and Abidjan and we are targeting other places that have started producing gold as well.

You are somewhat of a success story. You used to have two different activities and now you are starting to do something even bigger. You have recently merged as well. What is the history of the company and what it is now?

The Ngusra Group of Companies became a group just last year. They have been working hard for over nine years now. We have been genuine in the system, we have been hard working, and by the grace of God, we have merged and we have the Ngusra Group. So far, we have not faced challenges. It has been easy throughout because we work hard. As we have become a group, we are hoping to be on top.

Project yourself into the medium term, three years’ time, what will Ngusra Group be?

We have given ourselves up to 2025, almost six years from now, and our target is to be the leader in all the sectors that the Ngusra Group is present in. We do not want to just lead, but to give high quality services.

Do you have a final message?

We thank whoever listens to us and we are hoping to do business with anyone who is listening to us. Everyone is welcome so that together we can build a better life for the next generation to come.

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