Ghana’s real estate industry is male-dominated. Yet a woman, Theresa Oppong-Beeko broke through the shrouded cloud of male dominance and has soared through the entrepreneurial air to establish an unstoppable force in the real estate and hospitality industry.
Leveraging her knowledge and understanding of the Ghanaian housing market and demand, she established the Manet Group. This comprises Manet Housing, a real estate development firm, Manet Beach Paradise (a three-star Hotel Resort), Manet Construction Limited, a Civil Engineering Company, and Manet Towers Ltd. which developed the Twin Tower edifice at the Airport City in Accra.
Education & Career
Theresa Oppong-Beeko pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Sociology at the University of Ghana, Legon, and graduated in 1985. Her first business venture after graduating from the university was fishing, however, that business failed and left her with a debt of US$ 2.5 million at the age of twenty-five.
Feeling educationally deficient, she went back to the University of Ghana, Legon where she pursued a Master’s program in Business Administration and was declared the Best Marketing Student in 1990. It was there that her passion for constructing buildings was pursued.
In 1994, She established Manet Housing Limited which has built over 1,800 homes since then. Soon, subsequent development projects sprang up. Some of these include; the Manet Gardens, Manet Cottage annex, and the Manet Ville in East Airport.
Her real estate portfolio further expanded to include Manet Palms in East Legon, Manet Court in East Airport, Manet Towers in Airport City, and Manet Paradise in Ada.
In 1998, Theresa Oppong Beeko established Manet Hotels Limited, which acquired a beach Resort at Ada, and developed it into a three-star, 48 room hotel now known as Manet Paradise & Beach resort. The resort boasts of several recreational and leisure facilities such as Aqua sports and marlin fishing.
Out of all her building constructions, the most iconic one is the US$22 million two high rise office blocks in Airport City, known as Manet Twin Towers. The office edifice was commissioned in 2010. One of the Twin Towers was occupied by UT Bank with the other tower being occupied by Vodafone. At the time, Theresa Oppong-Beeko hoped to claim the number one spot in the industry with the unveiling of the Twin Towers.
“I’ve always been Number Two and I hate being Number Two, I want to be Number One,” she said in an interview.
Soon afterward, Manet 3 was in development and was completed in October of 2016. Manet 3 consists of 10 floors with an extended north wing which provides a commercial lease space of 7,600 square meters. The building also houses a 12,000 square meters car park.
According to Theresa Oppong-Beeko in her company’s “About Us” webpage, the company believes in “conducting business with the highest level of integrity; transparency; open communications, hard work, and prudent financial management.”
“These are Manet Group’s core values, the foundation on which our business culture is based,” she further stated.
Awards
Her accomplishments in the sector have not gone unrecognized and as such has received an array of awards. Some of which include:
• Property Personality of the Year 2007,
• 2008 Woman of the Year Award by the American Biographical Institute (ABI),
• West Africa Hall of Fame Security Excellence Award (2007-2008).
• Property Personality of the Year 2010 (Ghana Property Express);
• TNG Corporate Merit Awards 2010
• Ghana’s Indigenous Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2010
• The most outstanding woman of the year (2013) by WOMAN 21 GAME CHANGERS
• Africa’s most influential woman in business and government (2013) by CEO Holdings
During Prempeh’s College 50th Anniversary Celebration Theresa Beeko received an award with this citation:
“In appreciation of your ingenuity and sustained role in the development of Real Estate and for helping to reduce the acute housing shortage in the country.”
Theresa Oppong-Beeko attributes perseverance as the most important quality that has enabled her to sail through the often stormy waters of entrepreneurship.
Currently, Theresa Oppong-Beeko holds the number 2 spot of Ghana’s richest woman with a net worth of US$420 million.
