Ghanaian billionaire Ibrahim Mahama’s $100 million Dzata Cement targets 3 million tonnes

Ghanaian businessman Ibrahim Mahama has set a target of producing at least 3 million tonnes of cement a year at Dzata Cement, as the company he built near Tema Port marked five years of operations and its management outlined plans to become the country’s largest cement maker by 2030.

Mahama, the founder, sole shareholder and group chief executive of Dzata Holdings, used the anniversary celebration on Tuesday to call on the state to back Ghanaian entrepreneurs so more local businesses can grow into major industrial companies, ModernGhana reported.

He said one reason he built the plant was to show that Ghanaians could own and run large industrial businesses in a sector long dominated by foreign companies. “There are other ventures in which I want to prove to Ghanaians that we can’t always be beggars and only be employees of foreign companies,” he said. “We can build it ourselves.”

From trucks to a factory

Mahama, the younger brother of Ghana’s President John Mahama, built his fortune as a mining contractor and cement transporter. He said his trucking work brought him close to the industry and once took him to Ghacem’s plant in Takoradi, where he studied how cement was made. “I looked at the structure and said, look, I could build one,” he recalled.

He traveled to Germany to source equipment and raise financing, and the project ran into financial and operational trouble during construction. He said his younger brother and others helped the company finish installing the plant. Distributors also stepped in when Dzata struggled to raise money to clear imported clinker, the main raw material for cement. “They all joined hands together, the cement came, we allocated it to them, and then Dzata Cement started,” he said.

He thanked former Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen, who served under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, for backing the project. “Alan, wherever you are, I’m giving you a thumbs up. Thank you very much for standing behind us,” he said.

A daughter in charge

Mahama said he has stepped back from day-to-day management to give younger leaders a chance to run the business. His daughter, Nafisa Mahama, is managing director. “We won’t live forever,” he said. “So sometimes we should give the children the opportunity to be able to take that risk of managing.”

The plant, which the company describes as Ghana’s only wholly Ghanaian-owned cement manufacturer, sits on a 10-acre site near Tema Port and represents an investment of more than $100 million. It uses equipment from Germany’s Haver & Boecker and can produce about 80,000 bags of cement a day. The company puts its annual capacity at about 2 million tonnes, and it expects to produce its 30 millionth bag within days.

Expansion plans

Plant director Abderrahim Ouahab said Dzata plans to add new cement grades and a 25-kilogram bag alongside its 50-kilogram packaging. It will also install a 300-tonne-an-hour big bag receiver, expand storage to 40,000 tonnes and build an automated packing plant that can handle about 6,000 tonnes a day. The company is also seeking international quality, environmental and safety certifications and plans to move into ready-mixed concrete.

Finance director Godfred Barnes said the company had worked through supply-chain disruptions, high freight costs, inflation and currency swings in its first five years, and that its goal is to become Ghana’s leading cement maker by 2030.