Entrepreneur, leader, CEO and philanthropist, Kevin Okyere is SIA-Africa Person of the Month for May 2019.
Born in Ghana in the Ashanti Region, Okyere's entrepreneurial story begins at eleven years old where he was selling iced water to sports fans in the Kumasi Sports Stadium.
At a very young age, Okyere had already developed a sense of business and took up several jobs including working in a textile company in the U.K. and in the aspects of telecom in the United States. In 2004, Okyere moved back to Ghana where he put together a small team of investors and established his own telecom business company Westland Alliance Ltd., that provided call routing services for AT&T and several calling card companies on an international basis.
In 2006, Okyere's business venture took another turn when the 26 year old entrepreneur acquired land and started building a storage tank farm in Tema, next to a refinery. Ghana officials from the National Petroleum Authority were invited for inspection of the project and were very impressed with such a capital-intensive project and Okyere's commitment to employ hundreds of Ghanaians.
That was the launch of Springfield Group and the company is now at the forefront of the oil industry in Ghana as well as being one of international leading exporters of refined products.
In addition to building his company, Kevin Okyere is also a philanthropist.
He founded the Kevin Okeyere Foundation in partnership with the Springfield Group that supports programs in education and health across Ghana. The Foundation has a standing agreement with the largest government-owned hospital to fund the medical expenses of poor patients unable to pay their bills. The foundation also pays the school fees of hundreds of young children in Ghana, also sending some of the country’s brightest students to universities in North America and Europe.
Okyere has received the Business Person of the Year 2019 Offshore Petroleum- Oil and Gas Sector Award during Ghana CEOs summit in May 2019.
He has also been featured in the 2019 top 50 young CEOs in Ghana by the YCEO and Avance Media.
For his work to building a multifaceted Ghanaian internationally recognized business, giving back to his community and devoting his time to a better education and health system in Ghana, SIA-Africa is proud to name Kevin Okyere our May 2019 Person of the Month.
