Business
100 Years of Trade: How a 14-Year-Old Indian Store Boy Built Ghana’s Largest Retail Empire
When the news broke of Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani’s passing in 2021, the tributes came not just from the corporate boardrooms of Accra, but from everyday Ghanaians who had grown up shopping in his stores.
To the outside world, he was the founder of Melcom, the 65-outlet retail behemoth that dominates Ghana’s department-store landscape. But to truly understand the magnitude of his legacy, you have to rewind a century. You have to step back to 1929, when the Gold Coast was still a British colony, and a 14-year-old Indian boy with empty pockets but a brimming heart stepped off a ship, looking for work as a humble store boy.
This is the story of a dynasty built not on inherited wealth or speculative venture capital, but on the sheer will to survive devastating catastrophes, the trust of an English creditor, and an unshakable love for a country that took an immigrant family into its fold.
A Shop Boy’s Dream in the Gold Coast
In 1929, Ramchand Khubchandani arrived on the shores of what was then the Gold Coast at the tender age of fourteen. He was young, far from his homeland, and possessed of little more than a willingness to work. As he took his first steps onto Accra’s sunbaked streets, he did something that would set the tone for the next hundred years: he immediately fell in love with the country and its people.
His first job was a modest one—a store boy, learning the ropes of trade, retail, and customer service from the ground up. He spent the next seventeen years behind counters, meticulously observing local consumer behavior, learning how to haggle, and understanding the intrinsic trust required to succeed in West African commerce. It was a long apprenticeship, but in 1946, the fruits of his labor finally materialized. With his younger brother, he pooled together a lifetime of savings to open the very first GLAMOUR department store, right in the heart of Accra’s modest central business district.
Their hard work was quickly rewarded. Business boomed, and within short order, they opened three more branches across the city. For a pair of immigrant brothers, it must have felt like destiny had finally tilted in their favor. They were no longer shop boys; they were proprietors. But destiny, as they would soon learn, is a fickle mistress.
The 1948 Crossroads Shooting: Looting and Total Ruin
February 28, 1948. The Christiansborg Crossroads Shooting, a tragic spark that ignited the 1948 Accra Riots and fast-tracked Ghana’s fierce quest for independence, also marked the end of the brothers’ first dream. As colonial tensions reached a boiling point, the streets of Accra descended into bedlam. The city was swept by widespread looting.
The Khubchandani brothers watched in horror as mobs descended upon their shops. They witnessed their entire life’s savings, their stock, and their newly built empire vanish before their eyes in a matter of hours. When the smoke cleared, they were left with absolutely nothing. They did not have insurance. Overnight, they went from successful entrepreneurs to penniless laborers.
For most people, this would have been the final chapter. It was a crushing, debilitating blow—one that shattered dreams and left people destitute for life. But the Khubchandanis had an indomitable spirit. They had an established reputation in the Gold Coast business community as astute, honest, and resilient traders. With nothing left but a determined, never-give-in attitude, they began knocking on every door in Accra, begging for a lifeline.
The Handshake That Saved an Empire
Among the suppliers they approached was a British firm. In a twist that seems straight out of a cinematic drama, this particular English supplier took a monumental gamble. The supplier had dealt with the brothers before and knew their reputation. He agreed to ship them an entire inventory of goods without demanding a single pesewa upfront—extending them unsecured credit based entirely on their good word.
It was an act of phenomenal trust, and the brothers did not squander it. They paid back every last cedi on time. They honored their commitments with such diligence and integrity that they not only recovered but returned to the market with greater strength than before. Their credit rating became unshakeable. In the years that followed, they expanded aggressively, moving beyond simple retail into full-fledged industrialization.
From Textiles to 1,200 Workers: The Industrialization Era
By 1955, the brothers turned their attention to manufacturing, opening what is historically documented as Ghana’s very first garment factory. They were astute enough to understand that true power lay in controlling the supply chain. Their vision pushed them to backward integrate—they began manufacturing their own textiles. At its zenith, this textiles division employed over 1,200 Ghanaians. For a young nation still learning to flex its industrial muscles, this family-run Indian-Ghanaian business was a massive engine of economic development.
Yet, they still had an appetite for more. Not satisfied with retail and textiles, the brothers pivoted yet again, this time into the hospitality sector, establishing Ghana’s first Indian restaurant, the legendary Maharaja.
Operation Feed Yourself: The 1979 Agricultural Pivot
Then came 1979, and with it, a drastic shift in the Ghanaian political landscape. The military regime of Colonel I. K. Acheampong launched a sweeping economic initiative called “Operation Feed Yourself.” It was a self-reliance program that strictly restricted imports and ordered local factories to set up agricultural operations to produce the raw materials required for their own industrial output. The directive was absolute: failure to comply meant a complete revocation of their import licenses for crucial production inputs.
The brothers faced a dilemma. Their textile and garment businesses relied heavily on polyester, which required absolutely no agricultural activity. They argued this logic to the regime, but the military government was unyielding. To keep their licenses and retain their business foothold, they were forced to become farmers.
They established the GLAMOUR Poultry Farms, a move made out of political coercion, but one that became an accidental stroke of genius. That poultry farm still stands and operates profitably today, proof of the family’s ability to adapt to political headwinds and bureaucratic inertia.
The Split and the Birth of Melcom (1989)
By the 1980s, the patriarch Ramchand had passed the baton to his son, Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani. Bhagwan inherited 50% ownership of the sprawling GLAMOUR conglomerate. Yet, like his father, Bhagwan had a singular, burning passion: pure retail. He believed that the future lay not in spreading thin across manufacturing, textiles, and farming, but in conquering the domestic consumer market.
In 1989, Bhagwan made the difficult decision to part ways with his family partners. He took his 50% share and, bringing his own sons-in-law—Mahesh Melwani and Ramesh Sadhwani—into the fold, he laid the foundation for a new enterprise: Melcom.
It began with a single, modest store in Accra. There was no e-commerce, no aggressive venture capital backing, no technology-driven disruption. It was old-world retail—brick-and-mortar trade built on a deep, almost psychic understanding of Ghanaian consumer habits. Bhagwan understood that Ghanaian shoppers craved accessibility, affordability, and the physical experience of picking out goods in a well-lit, well-organized environment. Over the next three decades, he turned that single store into a staggering 65 outlets spread across every corner of the nation.
The Twin Disasters of 2012: The Collapse and the Fire
Just as the business was reaching its apex, 2012 dealt two nearly fatal blows to the empire.
On November 7, 2012, Ghana was gripped by a national tragedy. Melcom’s five-story shopping mall at Achimota, near Accra, suddenly collapsed. The Ghanaian authorities and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) immediately launched a massive, frantic rescue mission. It took days of backbreaking work to pull trapped survivors from the rubble, but the final toll was devastating: 82 people were pulled out, including 14 who were confirmed dead.
Initial investigations revealed catastrophic structural defects—a fatal lack of adherence to building codes and the utilization of improper building materials. Notably, Melcom itself had only rented the building in January of that same year. Despite being blameless in the construction, the company bore the immense burden of the tragedy, having to navigate public grief, compensation claims, and a tarnished reputation.
Crucially, however, the company did not hide. They faced the families of the victims, cooperated fully with the government, and vowed to do better. They began the grueling process of restoring consumer confidence.
Yet the universe had another challenge waiting. Just 45 days later, on December 22, 2012, the Melcom mall in Agona Swedru, in the Central Region, was engulfed in a catastrophic fire. The Ghana National Fire Service rushed to the scene, but the building was already fully ablaze. Because the blaze broke out after the store had closed for the night, there were no human casualties. However, the adjoining warehouses—stocked to the brim with heavily discounted Christmas inventory—were completely gutted.
To lose one store in a year is a tragedy; to lose a huge warehouse stuffed with peak-season inventory is a commercial catastrophe. And yet, Melcom survived. The family dug deep into their reserves, rallied their suppliers once again, and rebuilt.
The Legacy and the Future
When Bhagwan Khubchandani passed away in 2021, he left behind a corporate group that had transcended retail. The Melcom Group of Companies now encompasses six distinct entities: Melcom Limited, Century Industries Limited, Crownstar Electronic Industries Limited, Melcom Hospitality, Melcom Travels, and Melcom Care. It is an enterprise that touches almost every facet of modern Ghanaian life—from groceries to refrigerators, from travel planning to hotel stays.
But perhaps his greatest achievement is the blueprint he left for multi-generational entrepreneurship. Today, his sons-in-law, Mahesh and Ramesh, steward the empire. They are not just managers; they are custodians of a century-old trust established by a 14-year-old immigrant. They stand as a powerful example that in emerging African markets, the formula for enduring success is not the slickness of an app, but the resilience to endure fires, collapses, political upheavals, and devastating losses, all while keeping a polite smile on your face for your customers.
As Bhagwan once wrote in his memoirs, “Like my father, I have adopted Ghana as my home. I am eternally grateful to the people of Ghana who have, for all the years, extended their unconditional love and hospitality.”
The next time you walk into a brightly lit Melcom supermarket, remember that you are not just standing in a retail store. You are standing in a monument to a century of trade, one built from a single wooden counter in 1929, rebuilt from the ashes of a 1948 riot, and fortified by the grit of a family that simply refused to give up.
Business
From Raw Minerals to Luxury Brand: Ghana’s Gold Value-Addition Strategy Gains Global Momentum with UK Showroom
Ghana’s ambition to transform its gold sector from a raw mineral exporter into a competitive player in the global luxury jewelry market has received a significant boost, with indigenous company GOLDBOD Jewellery setting its sights on establishing a flagship showroom in the United Kingdom.
The move, which aligns with the government’s broader strategy of increasing value addition within the gold sector, reflects Ghana’s determination to maximize returns from its mineral resources through local beneficiation, manufacturing and branding initiatives designed to generate employment and enhance export earnings.
Chief Executive Officer of GOLDBOD Jewellery, Gertrude Emefa Donkor, recently paid a courtesy call on Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, to present the company’s vision of showcasing premium jewelry and investment-grade gold products crafted from responsibly sourced Ghanaian gold.
During the discussions, Miss Donkor highlighted the growing demand for the company’s innovative Gold Tablet, revealing that the product sold out during this year’s Ghana Party in the Park in London, one of the largest annual gatherings of the Ghanaian diaspora in Europe. She noted that the overwhelming patronage reflects growing confidence among diaspora communities and international consumers in authenticated Ghanaian gold products.
The planned expansion comes as Ghana, Africa’s leading gold producer, intensifies efforts to move beyond the export of raw minerals and establish a reputation as a trusted source of responsibly produced, value-added gold products.
The strategy is central to the country’s industrialization agenda, which seeks to create jobs, boost foreign exchange earnings and reduce dependence on primary commodity exports.
High Commissioner Benson reaffirmed the Mission’s commitment to supporting Made-in-Ghana products in the UK market, noting that the High Commission continues to collaborate with relevant public institutions, private sector stakeholders and business associations to create opportunities for Ghanaian enterprises seeking to expand internationally.
She expressed optimism that the proposed showroom would not only showcase the quality and craftsmanship of Ghanaian jewelry but also reinforce Ghana’s reputation as a trusted source of responsibly produced gold products. She added that initiatives of this nature complement the government’s broader agenda of leveraging trade, investment and economic diplomacy to promote sustainable national development.
The engagement underscores the evolving role of Ghana’s diplomatic missions in advancing economic diplomacy by facilitating market access for Ghanaian businesses and strengthening commercial partnerships abroad. The United Kingdom remains one of Ghana’s key trading partners and a strategic destination for Ghanaian exports, investment and diaspora engagement.
As Africa’s leading gold producer, Ghana has long been a major supplier of raw gold to international markets. However, successive governments have recognised that real economic transformation lies in retaining more value from the mineral through local processing, manufacturing and branding. GOLDBOD Jewellery’s UK expansion represents a tangible example of this vision taking shape on the global stage.
Industry observers note that the success of such initiatives could encourage more Ghanaian companies to explore international markets, particularly in sectors where the country holds a comparative advantage. The diaspora market, in particular, presents a significant opportunity for Ghanaian brands seeking to build consumer confidence and establish a foothold in competitive markets.
The meeting between Miss Donkor and High Commissioner Benson reflects growing collaboration between Ghana’s diplomatic missions and indigenous businesses as the country seeks to strengthen its presence in international markets while advancing industrialization, export diversification and value addition within the mining sector.
With the proposed showroom in the United Kingdom, GOLDBOD Jewellery is positioning itself as a flagship brand for Ghanaian gold, demonstrating that African products can compete at the highest levels of the global luxury market.
The move signals a new chapter in Ghana’s economic story, one in which the nation’s natural resources are transformed into globally recognised brands that tell the story of Ghanaian craftsmanship, quality and innovation.
Business
Ghana Beats the Odds: IMF Approves Final Review, Offering Blueprint for Africa’s Debt-Ridden Economies
Three years after defaulting on its debt, Ghana formally exits the IMF bailout program with a $318 million final disbursement—and a new reform framework that could show other distressed African nations the way forward
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund on Monday approved Ghana’s sixth and final review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program, formally concluding the country’s three-year, $3 billion bailout arrangement and unlocking a final disbursement of approximately $318 million.
The Board also approved Ghana’s request for a 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI), a non-financing arrangement that will guide the country’s economic reforms now that the bailout has ended.
The approval marks the culmination of one of the most dramatic economic turnarounds in recent African history—a recovery that began in the depths of crisis in late 2022, when Ghana defaulted on most of its external debt, inflation topped 54%, and the cedi was in free fall.
“Ghana’s ECF-supported economic program has delivered substantial stabilization gains,” the IMF said in a May statement after reaching a staff-level agreement with the government. “Inflation has declined rapidly, international reserves have been rebuilt, and confidence in the cedi has improved.”
From Default to Credibility
Ghana entered the 36-month ECF arrangement in May 2023 with access to about $3 billion to help restore macroeconomic stability, implement fiscal reforms, and support the country’s debt restructuring program. At the time, the country was in the throes of its worst economic crisis in a generation.
The turnaround has been striking. Inflation has plunged from 54% in December 2022 to just 5.3% in June 2026. Gross international reserves have reached an all-time high of approximately $14.5 billion as of February 2026, providing nearly six months of import cover. The public debt-to-GDP ratio has fallen sharply from a peak of over 80% to 45% by June 2026.
Perhaps most significantly, Ghana’s sovereign credit ratings have improved from restricted default—”junk status”—to ‘B’ with a positive outlook, representing five distinct rating level upgrades.
“Every quantitative performance criterion, but one, set for the final review has been met,” Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament while presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review. He noted that Ghana achieved 10 out of 11 quantitative targets and 8 out of 10 structural benchmarks.
A Blueprint for Africa
For other African nations struggling with debt distress—including Zambia, Ethiopia, and Kenya—Ghana’s trajectory offers a potential roadmap. The country’s success demonstrates that aggressive fiscal consolidation, coupled with credible IMF engagement and good-faith debt restructuring, can restore market confidence within a relatively short timeframe.
The PCI framework that Ghana is now entering is particularly instructive. Unlike the ECF, the PCI does not provide direct funding. Instead, it offers closer policy engagement with the IMF and signals a country’s commitment to reforms, helping to strengthen investor confidence and attract support from development partners.
“Completing the ECF does not mean Ghana walks away from the IMF,” Forson explained. “It means Ghana changes the nature of the relationship.”
The new program will focus on six priority areas: growth-friendly fiscal consolidation, debt sustainability, fiscal transparency and governance, stronger monetary and exchange rate policy frameworks, financial sector stability, and economic diversification.
Forson described the PCI as “a structured, internationally monitored platform through which Ghana commits to a specific set of macroeconomic and structural reform policies, submits to regular independent review, and signals to the world that the discipline of the past eighteen months is not a temporary posture adopted under crisis conditions. It is a permanent feature of how this country will be governed.”
The Work Isn’t Over
Despite the celebration, the IMF has made clear that Ghana’s reform agenda is far from complete. The Fund has urged the government to press ahead with reforms in the energy sector, particularly efforts to improve efficiency at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) through private sector participation.
“Priority should be given to tackling distribution and collection losses at ECG, including advancing private sector participation in the distribution segment,” the IMF stated.
The government has indicated that private sector participation in ECG is expected to commence by early 2027.
The PCI is also designed to help Ghana maintain macroeconomic stability, build resilience against external shocks, address structural imbalances, and support sustainable economic growth. With the global environment remaining uncertain—including potential spillovers from conflicts and volatile commodity prices—sustaining the reform momentum will be critical.
A New Chapter
Monday’s approval formally concludes Ghana’s 16th IMF program since independence. For a country that was written off by many international investors just three years ago, the milestone represents a remarkable redemption story.
“This milestone reflects improved fiscal performance, normalized relations with global creditors, and renewed market confidence,” said Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Minister of State for Government Communications.
Finance Minister Forson has already declared that Ghana does not expect to seek another IMF bailout in the foreseeable future. The country now aims to achieve “Investment Grade” status, a goal that would further lower borrowing costs and unlock long-term institutional investment for critical infrastructure.
For now, however, the immediate priority is clear: cement the gains, stay the course, and prove that Ghana’s recovery is not just a temporary reprieve—but a permanent transformation.
Ghana has lost more than US$16.5 billion in potential gross oil revenue over the past six years as crude oil production plummeted by nearly half from its 2019 peak, according to a devastating new report by the prominent Institute for Energy Security (IES).
The analysis, authored by energy experts Smith Prosper Boahene and Prince Lumor, paints a grim picture of a sector in freefall.
Crude oil output crashed from 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to just 37.30 million barrels in 2025, a staggering decline of almost 48 percent. The Energy Commission projects production will fall further to 34.83 million barrels in 2026, extending the downward trajectory into a seventh consecutive year.
The production collapse has delivered a hammer blow to government finances. Total petroleum receipts nosedived by 43.27 percent, from US$1.36 billion in 2024 to US$770.27 million in 2025. The decline was driven by both lower production volumes and a fall in the average realised crude oil price from US$86.12 to US$74.93 per barrel.
The first half of 2025 alone told a harrowing story: crude oil production declined by 26 percent year-on-year to 18.42 million barrels, while petroleum receipts collapsed from US$840 million to US$370 million.
IES described the prolonged downturn as “not a routine cyclical dip” but a structural crisis born of deep-rooted operational and policy failures.
“The decline is not attributable to one shock, but to several structural, operational, and policy failures compounding over an unusually long period,” the report stated.
Using an “illustrative counterfactual” model, IES projected a scenario in which Ghana maintained a modest annual production growth rate of three percent through sustained drilling, new petroleum agreements and improved reservoir management. Under that scenario, cumulative production would have exceeded actual output by approximately 221 million barrels—a missed opportunity that translates directly into the US$16.5 billion revenue hole.
Petroleum revenue contributes about 10 percent of total government income and supports critical public infrastructure and national development programmes. The sustained collapse therefore has far-reaching implications for Ghana’s fiscal stability, affecting everything from road construction to healthcare funding.
The report identified natural depletion of mature oil fields, insufficient replacement reserves and the failure to sign new petroleum agreements since 2018 as the principal causes. Ghana’s oil production remains dangerously concentrated in just three offshore fields—Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa Gye Nyame. Although Jubilee remained the country’s largest producing field in 2025 with 22.2 million barrels, it also recorded the sharpest year-on-year decline of more than 30 percent, partly due to a planned production shutdown between March 26 and April 8.
IES noted that the temporary production increase recorded in 2024 following drilling under the Jubilee South East project demonstrated that targeted investment can slow production decline. The report also clarified that while COVID-19 disruptions worsened the downturn in 2021, the decline had already begun before the pandemic.
“COVID-19 aggravated an already-declining trend rather than starting it,” the report noted.
Financial economist Professor Lord Mensah has attributed the sharp decline in petroleum revenues to inconsistent fiscal and investment policies, urging government to channel available oil revenues into infrastructure development, agriculture and export-led economic diversification.
IES concluded that Ghana’s prolonged decline in oil production requires urgent policy action.
“Ghana’s six consecutive years of crude oil production decline are far more than a cyclical fluctuation. The data show a structural crisis… Reversing it will require new licensing, accelerated investment, improved operational efficiency, strengthened institutional capacity, and diversified revenue management, implemented with the urgency the data clearly demonstrate is overdue,” the report said.
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