Who is the Youngest Billionaire in Ghana?
Who is the youngest billionaire in Ghana? In this article, we’ll be looking at a notable entrepreneur and oil magnate who is the youngest billionaire in Ghana.
Attaining the height of a billionaire isn’t an easy task. It’s a long journey that takes time, risk and dedication. Howbeit, becoming the youngest billionaire and controlling one of the biggest indigenous oil conglomerates in Ghana is a no mean feat.
In today’s clime, so many young people are making a name for themselves in the business world. However, in Ghana, not so many can boast of being a billionaire at a young age.
Having said that, in this article, we’ll be looking at the youngest billionaire in Ghana according to Forbes.
Who is the Youngest Billionaire in Ghana?
The youngest billionaire in Ghana is Kevin Okyere aged 40. Kevin Okyere is the CEO of Springfield Exploration and Production (SEP) Limited an oil company worth over $1 billion according to Forbes.
The Ghanaian oil mogul was born in 1980 to an affluent Ashanti family. His father had built a substantial fortune in construction, steel manufacturing and large-scale cocoa farming before he was enstooled as a traditional chief.
Okyere displayed entrepreneurial promise at a very young age. Despite coming from a rich family, the billionaire at age 11 was already selling iced water to football supported at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.
During his family’s annual summer vacation trips to London, he would take on jobs with textile companies in the U.K.
Kevin Okyere attended Opoku Ware Senior High School before furthering his studies in the USA where he studied accounting at the George Mason University in Virginia.
While studying, Okyere worked several jobs at varying points – caring for mentally challenged patients at their homes, working as a security guard, and at one point working in the mailroom at AOL.
At the later stages of his Accounting degree, he was able to secure more prestigious jobs. He was one of the earliest employees of XM Satellite radio now (Sirius XM Holdings) where he worked as a radio programmer.
Okyere also had a brief stint at Sprint where he worked in the customer service department. By the time he had completed his degree, he had gotten a job offer from one of the leading commercial banks in the U.S. The job was to pay him $72,000 a year. As tempting as the offer was, Okyere decided to return home to Ghana.
In 2004, Okyere moved back to Ghana and joined his elder sister in her business in order to understand how business works in the country. A year after, he put up a small team of investors and established Westland Alliance Ltd, a telecoms company that provided international call routing services for AT&T and several international calling card companies.
Westland Alliance and its subsidiaries eventually diversified into cell towers and value-added services (VAS) for mobile phone companies. The company was extremely successful, but it wasn’t long before he got tired of the telecoms business and decided to opt-out.
In 2006, while still at Westland Alliance, Okyere started working with a business acquaintance who supplied crude oil and condensates to the Tema refinery. Through this association, he acquired land and began building a storage tank farm in Tema, close to the refinery for the storage of petroleum products.
Due to this feat, he was asked to apply for a Petroleum Product import license by the officials of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority.
This gave birth to Springfield Energy’s flagship trading business in 2008. The company has imported refined petroleum products such as gasoline, dual-purpose kerosene, gasoil, naphtha and jet fuel to Ghana. The company is now the dominant importer of fuel products into Ghana with revenues of more than $1 billion in its trading business alone.
In 2011, the business tycoon with his partner looking to expand their business beyond Ghana visited Nigeria to explore opportunities in the downstream space. They formed a new company, Springfield Ashburton, and applied to the state-owned oil corporation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to be included among the international companies to be awarded the lucrative crude oil lifting contracts.
In 2014 – three years after Springfield Ashburton had been registered in Nigeria – and after partnering with BP PLC, they were enlisted for the 2014/2015 Crude Oil Term Contract.
It is safe to say, with a proven track record of successful business in the oil and gas sector, Okyere is one of the richest men in Ghana as at today.
