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Venture beyond Accra to see Ghana’s other attractions, and take a trip to Sekondi and Takoradi – Ghana’s Twin City, which in the some few months to come will never be the same.
The two towns of Sekondi-Takoradi are together known as the Twin City. In reality, they should be known as the triplets. Takoradi is split into two separate areas: a beachside area with hotels and restaurants and, a couple of miles inland, its naughty big brother, the frantic hub of life in the city, the centerpiece of which is a raucous circular market - one of the most colorful in Ghana.
Takoradi (or Tadi, as Sekondi-Takoradi is generally called collectively) has entered into the consciousness of Ghana, and that of the international community, because of the oil trade. It’s off the coast here that up to three billion barrels of light oil are estimated to be. Large-scale exploration is ongoing and the service industry in Takoradi is bracing itself for time as a fully-fledged boom town. Predictions of an endless throughput of oil workers haven’t quite come to fruition yet, but there are big plans.
For sightseers, Sekondi has a Dutch fort and a colonial railway station in what is still known as ‘European Town’, but there’s little cultural heritage in Takoradi, despite it being Ghana’s fourth most populous city (445,205 - 2012 estimate). Most visitors here tend to be business people, engineers and other oil workers, the upside of which is that there are some good hotels and restaurants, mostly around the quiet beachfront area.
The difference between the serene beachfront and the commercial center of Takoradi couldn’t be starker. At the very heart of town is Market Circle, a disorientating frenzy of color, noise and smells. Lorries full of vegetables are unloaded, machete-wielding coconut sellers lop off tops and stick in straws, and a bewildering array of goods are paraded past on head-tops: sunglasses, dried fish, flip flops and colanders etc,. Further into the center, meanwhile, an almost exclusively female sales force hawk colorful vegetables, chili peppers, fish and a variety of meat.
Although the only airport in Takoradi is the military air base, there are regular direct flights to Accra, something that will certainly increase as the oil business picks up momentum.
The newest development among these above mentioned are what we refer to as the four (4) great pillars to boost the Twin-city’s Economy and Ghana at large is the new ultramodern Shopping Mart, KFC joint, a Tech Hub and the almighty Takoradi Shopping Mall.
The Anaji Choice Mart
The contraction of this ultramodern Mart took off somewhere around last year and as we all were hoping to see it was delivered as promised. Situated in Anaji hence it name is around 17 Street, St. Francis Avenue – Takoradi. Few days it was opened for the Public and is in active service from Mondays – Sundays.
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
The International food chain, (KFC), expanded its operation in Ghana to take advantage of the growth of the local economy. This was made known when the Executive Director of KFC, who is also the Head of Mohinani Group, Mr Ashok Mohinani, paid a working visit to Ghana. Currently, the food joint has four branches and made plans to establish two more in Accra (which has been completed), Kumasi (also completed) and Takoradi (yet to be completed). This might be a big blow to other existing local food chain in Takoradi but we advice them to up their game since competition is very healthy for businesses. KFC-Takoradi is located at AIRPORT JUNCTION (Agip) Total Service Station.
iCODE Hub
iCODE, built with a lot of mentoring from iSpace founders with Prince Smart Bonney being the founder and the CEO. It is the dream of this Hub to serve as a coworking space for folks in the Takoradi community and it environs who want to work out of home in an affordable, well-run and productive environment. For starters, this space will provide a meeting rooms, a general meeting area, internet access, provides coffee for the early-birds and even goes further to provide lunch if you stick around longer. iCode adds these extra amenities to increase collaboration between the community members and provide a working space for all to work from. Beyond the coworking space, Prince and his team still engage students from nearby schools to help them understand the basics of software development, to fulfill the passion of passing on knowledge and to empower them for the job market, and or entrepreneurship. This new coworking space has come at quite an apt time as it will help provide a shelter and a resource for youth in the community who may need some hand-holding to help them become better product of the Takoradi and even better role models for other young people in the Western Region. iCode hub is at Anaji CK Mann – https://www.ghanapostgps.com/mobilemapview.html#WS3348521.
Takoradi Mall
Since the discovery of oil in Ghana in 2007, the port city of Takoradi has been one of Ghana’s fastest expanding growth nodes. Complete with cinemas and restaurants, Takoradi Mall will be a pioneer development in this regional capital. The mall will be developed in two phases with the first phase offering 11 000m2of prime retail space set to open for Christmas in 2018. Takoradi Mall is situated in a prime location at the intersection of the city’s two busiest thoroughfares. Next to the Takoradi Airport, this shopping destination is poised to take full advantage of the increasing growth occurring in the heart of Ghana’s emerging oil industry. The Project is owned by Takoradi Shopping Mall Limited, a fully registered Ghanaian Company and the contractor is WBHO Ghana Ltd.
CREDIT: Nanne || Inspired by Prince Smart Bonney
