Ghanaian waste tycoon Joseph Siaw Agyepong signs deal to clean up Guinea's capital

Ghanaian tycoon Joseph Siaw Agyepong's Zoomlion Ghana Ltd. has signed a public-private partnership with Guinea's government to overhaul waste collection in Conakry, the capital, a week after his group won a $46 million waste management concession in The Gambia.

Agyepong, executive chairman of Jospong Group, Zoomlion's parent, led a delegation to Guinean Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah on Nov. 3 after the agreement was signed. Bah described the deal as a continuation of the "historic brotherhood" between Ghana and Guinea.

"The relationship between Ghana and Guinea has been historic, dating back to the days of independence," Bah said.

The project will be run by a local unit, Zoomlion Guinea Integrated Waste Solutions Ltd., working with the Ministry of Sanitation, Hydraulics and Hydrocarbons and the National Agency for Sanitation and Public Health. The company will manage Conakry's main waste transfer stations, organize collection in the city's big markets and haul waste to the Baritodé landfill and to recovery plants still to be built.

A city short of collection

Conakry produces more than 2,500 metric tons of household and commercial waste a day and has historically collected only about 44% to 55% of it. Organic matter makes up about 46% of household waste, plastics 18%, metals 7%, and glass and paper about 6% each.

The weaknesses were laid bare in August 2025, when heavy rain caused the Dar-es-Salam landfill at Gbessia, the city's main dump, to collapse, killing at least 30 people.

Aboubacar Camara, Guinea's minister of sanitation, hydraulics and hydrocarbons, said waste cleared from the streets kept ending up back in the city, which led authorities to shut the Dar-es-Salam site. "We cleaned the city, but afterwards we would gather these piles of trash again in the middle of the city," he said.

Agyepong committed to fund the early construction of a waste processing and recovery plant, which Camara said would create 2,000 to 3,000 jobs. Organic waste is to be turned into compost for farmers, and recovered plastics, paper, glass and metals sold to local recyclers and manufacturers. The plan also covers the rehabilitation of old dumpsites, including Gbessia. The value of the Guinea contract and its length have not been disclosed.

Agyepong told Guinean officials that African cities need home-grown, self-financing solutions to sanitation rather than relying on frameworks set by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Gambia deal

The Conakry agreement follows the Oct. 28 signing of The Gambia's Integrated Waste Management Project at State House in Banjul, in the presence of President Adama Barrow. Under the first phase, Zoomlion will finance, design and build a mechanical biological treatment plant and transfer stations, collect and transport municipal waste, and close the Bakoteh and Mile 2 dumpsites. A second phase, covering liquid waste and other regions, can start after the agreement's second anniversary. Barrow later cut the sod for the treatment facilities at Tambana, near Brikama.

"No local player will be pushed out," Agyepong said at the signing, adding that Gambian companies would take part in construction, procurement and maintenance.

The two deals add to a run of contracts outside Ghana. In 2025, Zoomlion Nigeria signed a concession with Lagos State to build waste recovery facilities and run transfer stations, and Zoomlion signed agreements with the cities of Kinshasa and Addis Ababa. In April, it agreed to work with Zimbabwe's Geo Pomona Waste Management on collection, recycling and waste-to-energy projects.

From stationery to sanitation

Agyepong founded Jospong in 1995 and started Zoomlion in 2006 with a single manual tricycle. Jospong now has interests in sanitation, information technology, banking, insurance, real estate, agriculture and car sales.

The group says it operates in 29 African countries, employs about 10,000 people and has an asset base of more than $2.4 billion. Agyepong has said the group plans to enter more African markets by 2028.