Global River Center signed an agreement last Thursday the 30th April, with the Paramount Chief of Bompata in Ghana for the allocation of 26,000 m2 land. The very first of 200 River Centers to be built in Africa will be built on this land in the Southern Ghanaian town.
Global River Center is a Bambwa Group portfolio company that was founded in 2018 by Copenhagen based entrepreneur and sustainable development professional Elizabeth Boye with Bambwa CEO Michael Mathiesen, with the express aim of curbing Africa’s problematic trends of rapid urbanization and young people’s migration to the cities.
You can learn more about the Global River Center mission here.
The land allocation agreement was signed during a virtual ceremony, with Elizbeth Boye joined in Copenhagen by a small selection of advisors, shareholders and a special guest of the Head of Trade at Royal Danish Embassy Naja Møller Jørgensen. Joined from Bompata by the Paramount Chief and former UN ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng. The signing was also joined remotely by Ghana’s Ambassador to Denmark, Amerley Ollennu Awua-Asamoa.
The event was live-streamed to Facebook and can be watched here.
Coverage of the event also came from our friends at Rapidus. The write-up was one of two articles published about Bambwa Groups developments in the past week on the Swedish business and tech news channel. The other piece focused on our Liberian Sustainable mining company Sakamico.
The article in Rapidus detailed how the Global River Centers 200 planned centres will be financed with a mix of 75% local funding and 25% through Bambwa Group, with returns to be earned from the rental income on the finished centres. With plans to roll out the 200 centres across Sub-Saharan Africa, the first unit will be built in the town of Bompata and it is expected that eventually there will 20-25 River Centers within the country of Ghana.
Bambwa Group CEO, Michael Mathiesen is quoted in the Rapidus article as saying:
“We will be a responsible company that makes money on the operation and if it takes three or five years is less important. Our approach avoids taking gambles, instead, we are focusing on a strategy that can increase the quality of life locally. For European companies, it can be a shortcut to the African market, much easier than going to the Swedish Embassy.
We are thinking in scale with our roll out because talking about 200 centers now allows us to do a lot at once. Everything from the design to the purchase of materials will be cheaper than if approached piecemeal.”
You can read the original Rapidus article (in Swedish) here if you subscribe or have a subscription to their service.
If you want to stay informed on Bambwa Groups news you can Sign up to our Newsletter.
