The development of the Accra Mall and its current location was the product of some speculative conjecturing and educated guessing on the part of the initiating partner of the mall, Mr. Owusu-Akyaw.

By nature very speculative with respect to lands for farming and commercial development, Mr. Owusu-Akyaw, on his daily commutes from Tema to the SSNIT headquarters in Adabraka, Accra, where he worked in the early 1970s, wondered about the nature and direction of the development of Accra. He made an educated observation, based on the pattern of development at the Airport residential area and its surroundings, that the Tetteh Quarshie Circle (as it was then known) was destined to be the center of Accra.

He realized that Accra could not develop southwards as a result of the sea and the old township of the city, most of which is now a slum. Tema to the east had been developed by the Tema Development Corporation and was likely to expand towards Accra. The location of the University of Ghana and new settlements at Madina meant that Accra could develop with considerable ease northwards and the Tetteh Quarshie Circle and its environs could develop into the center of the capital, especially due to its proximity to the nation’s only major Airport.

With this as the basis Mr Owusu-Akyaw set off to secure land near the Tetteh Quarshie circle that could support some kind of commercial development. He acquired a 10-acre parcel of land from the Lands Commission, through the Civil Aviation Authority, for the development of a hotel complex. The land had been badly disturbed by winners of sand and gravels for development in the Airport residential area. The land was filled with several craters, which did not make it attractive to most people for any purpose.

At the time of purchase in 1972, there was very little development around the area. However, over time, developments at East Legon and Dzorwulu increased greatly, causing phenomenal growth in human and vehicular traffic around the Tetteh Quarshie Circle. Also several decent hotels mushroomed around the airport and its immediate environs. Looking at the demography of the settlements around the area, it was clear that that there was a need for a shopping center to serve the needs of the middle and upper income groups who lived there, but who had to go all the way to downtown Accra, around Makola, the Central Post Office and also Osu, to do their shopping.

These observations crystallized the idea of a shopping mall instead of a hotel and led to the vision of creating a community mall at the crossroads of the Spintex Road and the Accra-Tema Motorway to take advantage of the traffic at the location.

Mr. Owusu-Akyaw commissioned a number of consultants to undertake the statutory studies for environmental and traffic impact assessment, demographic studies, geodetic surveys, etc. The first problem to be tackled was to do with an architectural design that would meet the requirements of international retailers and attract anchor tenants, without which securing financing for a shopping mall of the size envisaged was impossible.

A chance encounter with Johan Zietsman, who had been commissioned by Shoprite Checkers, in South Africa, to explore the chances of securing a land in Ghana for development, led the executives of Shoprite expressing interest in the development of the mall at Mr. Owusu-Akyaw’s site. In May 1996, the chief executive of Shoprite, Whieten Bassum, accompanied by his top executives flew to Ghana to meet with Mr. Owusu-Akyaw and to inspect the site, after which they made a commitment to take up space at the Accra Mall development. The news of Shoprite’s presence in no time led Game stores of South Africa to also agree to participate in the venture. With these two anchor tenants, the project became more viable and more attractive for funding.


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