Celebrating Kwame Ofosu Bamfo, the business icon with a large heart

When Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Head of State of the Republic of Ghana, declared the newly-built Alisa Hotel in Tema open, just before mid-day on Friday September 30, 2022 the pronouncement was greeted with loud applause and rendition of sweet melodies from the Tema Youth Choir.

The thunderous ovation was not only meant to acknowledge the arrival of the latest addition to the hospitality industry at the centre of the earth. It was a grand celebration of the business acumen of the man who has succeeded in merging industrial zeal with hospitable tenacity.

Mr. Kwame Ofosu Bamfo is no ordinary businessman. He is a genius with a big human heart. He has touched every facet of life in this country.

THE MAN CALLED SIKKENS

The man affectionately called Sikkens, is an industrialist, a hospitality icon, a football administrator and above all one of the most accomplished philanthropists this land of our birth has ever seen.

Simply put, he is a man with the Midas touch. His addition to the hospitality enterprise in Ghana, speaks for itself, in terms of class.

Designed by renowned Ghanaian Architect, Augustus Richardson, the 50-room capacity Alisa Hotel-Tema, with 46 guest rooms and four Suites, was specially designed with both business and leisure travelers in mind, according to literature on the new addition to the hospitality industry in Ghana.

“The Alisa Hotel Group” says with pride that its Chief Executive “is one of the most trusted hospitality brands in Ghana. It is acclaimed for its conferencing and accommodation facilities.”

The new hotel is located in Community 12, barely eight kilometres from the Tema Harbour.

It offers luxury accommodation, 50 guest rooms and suites, all-day dining and restaurant, upstairs bar, pool bar, day spar, tennis court and gymnasium.

The new hotel adds up to the 14-room Alisa Hotel at Labone in Accra and the 278-room Alisa Hotel-North Ridge, Accra, with 14 conference and meeting facilities. In all, the three hotels employ 700 Ghanaian workers.

THE ICONIC MERIDIAN HOTEL

For those too young to experience events during the First Republican era of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, first Prime Minister and President of the first black African nation to break free of the colonial yoke, the harbour city of Tema had a vibrant Hotel – Meridian, named after the Greenwich Meridian, on which the hotel was cited, directly South of London.

Meridian Hotel attracted the crème de la crème of national and international revelers. So iconic was the Meridian Hotel that the Wulomei Cultural Troupe popularised the praises of the hospitality centre.

The lyrics go like this:

Oblayoko, egye Sempe

Egbomotso feefew

Esumo mi wuobe

Mekaa shi miiwo

Ebaa kye mi

Ibii le ake, mini sane

Ekee mi ake, eye ooya

Oye oyae, nigbe oke mi yaaeee

Won ya Meridian ye Tema

Inke bo yaa ye

Inke bo yaa nu

Inke bo yaa djo

Literally translated as; “A man in love with a certain beautiful woman from Simpe, approaches her while she lays in bed, and asks her to hurry up and get up for them to go to Meridian Hotel at Tema, where they will eat, drink and dance together.”

Down South into the Gulf of Guinea, from Tema, the Greenwich Meridian (Longitude Zero), meets the Equator (Latitude Zero), making Tema and by inference Ghana, as situated right at the centre of the earth.

A TOUCH OF HISTORY

In 2006, I was the Media Liaison Officer for the Ghana contingent to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. As part of my duties, I was invited to a radio studio to talk about my country, Ghana.

When I said my lovely country is situated right at the centre of the earth, listeners appeared skeptical with my story. To prove my case, I asked those skeptics to open the map of the world and tell me where the Greenwich Meridian meets the Equator.

After satisfying themselves that Ghana, indeed, is at the centre of the earth, many called into the programme, wanting to know whether any platform or structure has been raised at the spot as a form of tourist attraction. One enthusiastic caller said he would be too glad to hold his wedding at the centre of the earth.

It tells a lot about the importance of Ghana at the centre of the earth. We need to promote the idea big time and celebrate it.

THE ALISA HOTEL DREAM

In his speech at the opening of his latest enterprise at Tema, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer told the gathering that the imposing building was constructed during the Covid 19 pandemic era, signifying the sacrifice that went into bringing the project to fruition.

“Some 35 years ago, I was ardent in my pursuit to impact my generation, as well as inspire the generation after. This led me to build the Bamson Group; Sikkens Paint, Glostal Aluminium and Alisa Hotels,” Mr. Bamfo said to wild applause.

Explaining why he branched from the industrial arena and ventured into the hospitality industry, this is what Mr. Bamfo told the audience at the opening ceremony: “During the early days of Sikkens, when my Principals from Holland visited Ghana to train local artisans in car spraying, housing them was a challenge.

“This is when the idea of the Alisa Hotel was conceived and the 14-room boutique hotel came on board at Labone. On completion, I deemed it appropriate to name it after my cherished mother-Alice Amanua.”

High demand for the kind of hospitality the Labone Hotel offered encouraged the entrepreneur to expand.

“Mr. President, within the last 20 years, the Alisa Hotels Group has grown into a trusted brand, offering maximum comfort at each of its unique locations, with Alisa Tema being the latest addition,” the industrial and hospitality guru explained at the Tema launch.

MY BUSINESS FOUNDATION WAS LAID IN TEMA

The significance of Tema in the business mogul’s journey was explained thus: “Tema is where my business foundation was laid. At a young age of 20, before bringing Sikkens into Ghana, I used to supply building materials such as iron rods, galvanised pipes, copper pipes, steel plates and bolts and nuts among others to the industrial hub of Tema.”

During those days, he told his audience, the now defunct Meridian Hotel was at its peak. It was where people got together to unwind after a hard day’s work.

“That provided the inspiration for what we are witnessing today. Tema, truly, have their lifestyle back,” he said to thunderous approval from the audience.

Mr. Bamfo assured the invited guests, including the Head of State that he and his hard-working team would not rest on their oars.

“There are plans for a dedicated 1,000 seating conference centre at the North Ridge branch and plans for additional rooms to complement the current Alisa Hotel, Tema.”

Many Ghanaians and visitors to this country have been touched by the industrial, hospitable and generous nature of the man many call ‘Sikkens’.

BIOGRAPHY

But who is the man making waves in many spheres of endeavor in this country? What has been his journey so far and what inspires him to believe in Ghana as an entity that can work?

The man we all address as Sikkens was christened George Kwame Ofosu Bamfo and was born to Madam Alice Serwaa Amanuah and Mr. Kwame Bamfo in 1955, two years before this nation threw off the colonial yoke. He was the second of eight children, two of whom are now deceased.

He began preparing for future life as a pupil of the Tease Roman Catholic Primary School in the Afram Plains in the Easter Region of Ghana. The young lad proceeded to the Local Authority (LA) Middle School also at Tease.

A very bright pupil, the boy with the future ahead of him had Distinction in the Middle School Leaving Certificate examination and was full of dreams as a person with future in academia.

He was offered admission to the Pope John Secondary School, a popular second cycle institution at Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital.

Full of excitement, the young man’s hopes were dashed when his prospectus arrived from the school and was handed over to his father. The proud dad willed his child to move on in academia.

But with the financial muscle unavailable, the poor boy was virtually reduced to tears. Kwame decided to relocate to Accra in 1971 where he worked in an uncle’s shop. The shop was selling a number of building materials, including paints.

Born with business acumen in his veins, the young man noticed that the Sikkens paints retailed in the uncle’s shop were moving faster than most items. One day, he was at Adabraka, Odawna, in Accra, where he accidentally came across a tin of used Sikkens paint.

“I wrote to Azko-Nobel Sikkens in Holland, manufacturers of Sikkens Paint, asking to be their representative in Ghana, in my own hand-writing. A reply came instructing me to deal with Ritz Company Limited, which was the accredited representatives of Sikkens in Ghana.”

According to the business guru, he dealt with Ritz for a while. But as fate would have it, Ritz stopped being the agent of Sikkens in 1985, and his company, Bamson Company Limited, named after his late father, was appointed the official agent of Sikkens in this country.

He moved his company from Kantamanto, where he had begun his personal enterprise, after leaving the employment of the uncle, and settled and opened his new office and workshop at Agbobloshie in 1993.

“To sustain the job, a number of training sessions were held for artisans in Accra and Kumasi in the 1990s. So far, as many as 15,000 artisans have been trained in the art of car spraying. 150 of them have benefitted from train9ng in Holland,” Mr. Bamfo told me in his office at Alisa Hotel-North Ridge.

Always willing to add to the industrial needs of this country, Mr. Kwame Ofosu Bamfo established the Glostal Aluminium System in Accra in 1995. The company produces Aluminium walls, window curtains and automatic doors among others.

PHILANTHROPIST EXTRAORDINAIRE

A philanthropist extraordinaire, Mr. Kwame Bamfo freely gives to the needy. He has got his company to refurbish the Tease Presbyterian Health Centre at a cost of GHC400,000.

The company also presented a 45KVA stand-by generator, 15 beds, with mattresses, bedside lockers, 20 rechargeable solar lamps and other hospital suppliers to the centre.

On the day of the hand-over at Tease, the Chief Executive Officer said the gesture was his idea of giving back to the society which nurtured him as a school boy.

He told his audience that Sikkens has also set up a health insurance foundation to cater for people who are 40 years and above in the community.

Mr. Ofosu Bamfo is also rehabilitating a four-bed Bungalow for the Tease Health Centre that has been abandoned at the construction stage for the past 20 years.

In recognition of his immense contribution to the development of Tease and its environs, the chiefs and people honoured him with a durbar. The Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Kwahu Presbytery Health Services also honoured the industrialist, hospitality guru and a great philanthropist.

At the ceremony, Mr. Bamfo advised the youth to take their lessons seriously and pledged more support for the community.

“We have provided computers for the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic senior high schools at Tease. The Sikkens Education Trust Fund was established to support the needy,” he assured.

With such a heavy schedule one might think that the man who is making waves as an industrial and hospitality icon has little time on his hand for leisure.

SPORTS MAN

Far from that, Mr. Kwame Bamfo generates a lot of time to engage in sports, his Number One love. He has been for several years a key member of the Black Stars Management Committee as well as one of the players’ bank-rollers.

An ardent supporter of the Arsenal Football Club in London, Mr. Ofosu Bamfo is a god-father to most footballers and sportsmen and women in this country. When Okwahu United were winning honours and had their supporters screaming ‘Asaase Aban, Yente Gyae,’ Mr. Kwame Ofosu Bamfo was the executive chairman.

Man of the People and extra-ordinary adventurer in this nation’s bid to develop, the man universally called Sikkens has won several awards.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) honoured him when he was only 35 years as the Marketing Man of the year.

On Saturday, just a day after opening his latest hub in the hospitality industry, Emit honoured him for his drive and enterprise.

Former Editor of the Ghanaian Times, the late Kwame Gyawu-Kyem, once wrote a one-paragraph editorial; “When a man has done his very best, the angels above cannot do anymore.” In Fanti lexicon it translates into: “Okobran Twa Par, A Woma No Mbo.”

Let these lovely words continue to be said of Mr. George Kwame Ofosu Bamfo, universally acknowledged as one of the best things to happen to this land of our birth.

May the Sikkens brand and the man continue to be celebrated throughout the Republic of Ghana!

Ebo Quansah in Accra

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