Kwame Obeng Adjinah is a former banker now turned Real Estate developer
Banking was initially his passion, for seven years, until he left his lucrative job and found comfort in the real estate sector.
Kwame Obeng Adjinah, Chief Executive Officer of Wood Acres Limited, dream of supporting the affordable housing space in Ghana was first birthed when he realised a majority of the population, despite a middle to low-class sect, barely have an opportunity to own a home.
So far, this dream has already seen more than 1,000 people benefit from the sale of affordable service lands and homes through a partnership with the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), engineered by a partner firm, The Omri Projekts Ltd.
Taking his turn on GhanaWeb TV’s BizTech segment with Mawuli Ahorlumegah, Obeng Adjinah said a site has been secured at Amanfrom, just at the outskirt of Greater Accra – between Aburi and Nsawam – for the building of affordable homes for workers.
“One of the main reasons to venture into real estate development was when I realised that when people are buying properties in Ghana, they might not get that property because it will be sold by the very person who does not own that property,” he indicated
He added that, “for this reason, I am very passionate about affordable housing as we are looking to find innovative ways to bridge the deficit of the housing sector because, there is a lot of housing supply in Ghana but most of them are towards the high end and many people are not targeting the lower-middle-income bracket of the population”.
Already, Ghana’s housing deficit currently stands at around 2 million units with real estate prices also shooting above the roof and some even quoted in foreign currency.
This means Ghana would not be close to bridging its housing deficit if various projects are not completed and delivered for the occupancy it provides as housing is a core security to families, societies and communities towards promoting sustainable health and livelihood.
Works and Housing Minister, Francis Asenso Boakye on the other hand has estimated that 60 percent of the Ghanaian populace will require government assistance to gain access to decent housing.
While the figure is rather worrying, the minister said 35 percent will not be able to gain access to decent housing even with the support from government and subsidies.
But Obeng Adjinah was of the view that the informal sector cannot be left out when it comes to access to housing mortgages and “we [Wood Acres Limited] are coming in with a lot of innovative ideas based on years of research to address the issue.”
Watch the Kwame Obeng Adjinah’s interview on BizTech below: