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WHY is the African the only person on earth who apparently cannot (or does not) make a car from scratch — from foundation to finishing — except for assembling parts manufactured by others or repairing cars made by other people?
On the roads of Africa, one finds every car of every make — from Germany, Japan, USA, France, UK, Sweden, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, China, e.t.c. — except a car made in Africa by an African! Does it say something about the African’s mechanical and technological prowess?
By no means — if the handiwork of a Ghanaian religious leader, Apostle Kwadwo Safo, is any guide. The 67-year-old is a born mechanical and electronic genius who happens — accidentally some say — to be a man of the cloth.
Apostle Safo’s inventions and creations disprove the idea that an African cannot make a car from foundation to finishing.
Part of the African problem has been the lack of government support in direct funding, research and development (R&D) and political will for geniuses like Apostle Safo, which kills their creative talents.
If the Toyotas, Volvos, Fords, Renaults, Mercedes, Protons and the other iconic brands of cars that give the African so much joy had been dreamt up in Africa by Africans, they would have remained just dreams! The amount of money the American federal government, for example, gives in R&D funding for both public and private institutions and companies, makes all the difference for American inventions and the dominance of American businesses globally. This is what is lacking in Africa, and as a result people like Apostle Safo, who are blessed with exceptional creative talents, cannot harness their talents to the advantage of their nations.
In a way, that has been the story of Apostle Kwadwo Safo, except that in his case, he did not allow the lack of government support to dampen his spirits. He soldiered on regardless, until today he has become not only an inventor extraordinaire, but a reputable industrialist, agriculturist, herbalist, philanthropist, investor and cleric!
His creations are a wonder to behold. Cars, TVs, sound systems, mechanical diggers, armoured cars, block-making machines, computers, road-sweeping vehicles, sundry electrical gadgets, you name it, Apostle Safo has manufactured them all from foundation to finishing — and sometimes he does them even better than the imported versions made by established Western and other companies. And everything he does comes from local raw materials.
His 29-year-old son, who oversees his business empire as CEO, Kwadwo Safo Junior, told New African: “I want to dethrone (the Nigerian magnate) Aliko Dangote as the richest man in Africa one day and I have age on my side, so I’m working very hard at it.”
Safo Junior uttered these challenging words when welcoming a New African team to the epicentre of his father’s Kantanka Group of Companies, which spreads over 100 acres of the lush environs of Gomoa Mpota in the Central Region of Ghana.
A licensed commercial pilot and the fifth child of his father, Safo Junior graduated from the Phoenix East Aviation School in Florida, USA. He holds a BA degree in public administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in Accra.
The flagship of his father’s Kantanka Group of Companies is Kantanka Automobiles, based at Gomoa Mpota, that makes cars and SUVs. Also based at Gomoa Mpota is the electronics division of the Group, which manufactures TVs, sound systems, and other sundry electronic gadgets.
The wonder of Apostle Safo’s achievements is that he has no sophisticated technical background, but he creates and invents to confound. As a result, schools, colleges, and universities in Ghana send students to Gomoa Mpota on internships, to study under him.
Today the Kantanka Group of Companies has grown to include the Apostle Safo Suaye Technology Centre at Gomoa Mpota, Great Kosa Company Ltd, Modern Kosa Quarry, Kosa Clinic, Kristo Asafo Schools, Kristo Asafo Farms, Kantanka Automobiles, and Great Imperial Company Limited. The flourishing business empire is spread across Ghana and employs thousands of people in both skilled and unskilled capacities.
How it all began
Born on August 26, 1948 at Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, Apostle Safo started exhibiting signs of ingenuity at a very early age, when after school he would quickly do his homework and rush to the farm to collect sticks to make toy cars, helicopters and other aircraft, leaving family members and the townsfolk in awe.
The level of wisdom and competence displayed by the young Safo through oratory and craftsmanship astonished a lot of people, earning him respect from both old and young alike in the town.
After basic school, he attended the Ghana Technical Works Institute in Kumasi, after which he did a three-year stint as a welder at the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) in Tema. Somehow, as his passion for mechanics and electronics grew, Safo’s interest in Christianity grew as well. He would later, in 1971, found his own church — the Kristo Asafo (or Christ Reformed Church), which now has over 130 branches across Ghana. But extra-clerical achievements have been Apostle Safo’s forte.
In 1998, he manufactured his first-ever car, a five-seater he called the “Kantanka Saloon”, powered by a petrol engine he manufactured from foundation to finish. This was how Kantanka Automobiles began.
In 2006, exactly eight years after he made his first car, he manufactured his first four wheel-drive vehicle, which he named the Kantanka Onantefo I.
In March 2007 when Paul Wolfowitz, the then World Bank president visited Ghana during the nation’s 50th independence anniversary celebrations, he paid a courtesy call on Apostle Safo’s Technology Centre to get a feel for what was happening there. He was amazed by what he saw — the made-in-Ghana engine blocks, vehicles, TVs, air conditioners, sound systems, solar panels, e.t.c., that had been built with local materials.
Apostle Safo pressed on and produced an advanced model of the four-wheel drive, the “Kantanka Onantefo II” in 2007, and followed it up in the same year with a-26-foot, American-style stretch limousine called “Kantanka Obrempon”. The limo became the centre of attraction at a technology exhibition in Accra in late 2007. Everything Apostle Safo manufacutures is hand-made.
As a music enthusiast, he has manufactured musical instruments from local materials. Among them are electric drums with brain units, loudspeakers, professional mixing consoles, amplifiers, pre-amps, and seven-stringed bass guitars.
He has also manufactured prototype sewing and embroidery machines, corn mills, a combine harvester, solar panels, a multi-purpose mobile block moulding machine capable of producing 18 blocks at a time, human sensor-triggered television sets, and many more.
Kantanka Group of Companies
But that is not all! The Kantanka Group of Companies expands further to incorporate Great Kosa Company Ltd — a conglomerate in itself. It has a foundry and pattern development division, plant medicine division, building and construction division, mechanical and automobile division, radio and transmission division, and electricals and electronics division.
His Great Kosa Clinic has branches in Kumasi and Accra. His Modern Kosa Company Limited is the construction arm of the group, which specialises in the construction of houses, roads, bridges, and dams. His Great Imperial Company Limited operates intercity bus services in Ghana. Established 24 years ago, it has additional operations to Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire. The Imperial Nail Manufacturing Company makes different types of nails, nail wires, bolts, nuts and other accessories. — New African magazine.
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