Cheddar's 7 Rules & Principles of Real Estate: Nana Kwame Bediako's Blueprint for Ghana Wealth

Hey Global Ghanaian Citizens, Adrian here.

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Welcome to the The Sound of Accra Podcast.

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This show will be showcased Global Ghanaian and Excellence to the World, if you're

listening for the first time.

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Today, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna dive into Nana Kwame Bediakho, also known as Freedom

Jacob Caesar, which is his alter ego, also known as Cheddar.

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We'll take a quick look at seven rules and seven principles that turned him into Ghana's

real estate king.

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from building two houses and one plot to building Petronia city.

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This is definitely the playbook that you've been waiting for.

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All right.

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So let's probably take it to the start where Nana Kwame Bediako started.

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this is his Wikipedia page.

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In his early days, most developers usually build one house per plot, but Cheddar asks

himself, why don't you build two houses and one plot instead of one?

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And it's that mindset that scaled him to about eight houses per plot and then 500 luxury

homes across Accra, Transacca Valley, East Legon you name it, all of the prime areas

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across Accra.

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Like we discussed in episodes such as Ghana's Farms to Accra's Markets, it's all about

maximizing what God's already given you.

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So one plot alone could turn into generational wealth.

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And by one plot, I'm referring to land.

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But now that I've come back, he didn't stop at houses.

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He's now diversified into building hotels.

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You can see number one, uh Oxford street here, which is his popular apartment style hotel,

And now he's looking to build a whole entire industry.

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So this is, you know, an overview of what Petronia city would look like, which is his

industrial vision for

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the city of Takuade, all right?

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So going back to Nana Kwame Bediako what are his seven rules for real estate?

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What's the seven principles for real estate?

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So let's dive into what he shared at the recent Africa Real Estate Festival.

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Big thanks to Ivy Prosper who posted this video.

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And essentially, he gave a keynote at Africa Real Estate Festival which took place in

Accra a few days ago.

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I've also interviewed Ivy Prosper, so I'll sure I'll leave a link to the interview I did

of her, which did really, really well.

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And um she streamed this event on her YouTube channel.

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So if you guys want to check out Nana Kwame Bediako's full speech, I'll leave a link in

the description below.

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So let's go.

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So here we go.

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This is the seven rules to real estate according to Nana Kwame Bediako.

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All right.

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and let's go through them one by one.

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The first one, the second one and the third one is location, location, location.

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As you all may hear from property experts, real estate experts, location is one of the

most important things of property.

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I'm no property expert, but what I have learned for sure, if I do know anything, is that

the location is everything.

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The location determines how much rent you can command.

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The location can determine how much value you can command from a property.

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and the location can determine how much popularity you can get for specific property just

by the location alone.

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So he stated these three things.

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And location is important because of proximity to demand, you you wanna build where people

live, work and aspire to be, infrastructure access.

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So where you have a good location, it's gonna be determined by things like the roads, the

utilities and connectivity availability.

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and they also determine the long-term viability of the property and also growth corridors

as well.

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You also want to think about where the city is heading in the future, not just where it

stands today.

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So these are the things that you want to think about when it comes to location, when it

comes to building property in any way of the world, not just Africa.

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So let's move on to the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rule that he gave of real estate.

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And the fourth one is vision.

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And he says, identify the societal deficits that you intend to address.

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great development solve real problems for real people.

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So a property should not just be erect for the sake of it.

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It should also seek to address a problem in a specific area.

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You know, maybe a specific area needs something that it doesn't have right now.

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And you are the developer that sets to achieve it.

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Once again, I'm no real estate expert.

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I'm just going by these principles and what I've picked up from property over the years.

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Number five is timing.

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So Nana Kwame Bediyaku said understanding societal needs and enter the market at precisely

the correct moment.

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If you enter too early, if you enter too late, both can carry risk.

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And that's with a lot of wealth vehicles is understanding when to enter the market and

when to exit the market.

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Similar like stocks, like crypto.

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It can be with, you know, buying selling cars, buying selling watches.

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uh It can be with investing in different types of things.

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Timing is always crucial.

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All right.

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Number six, control, maintain influence over ownership and land acquisition without

control your projects destiny lies in someone else's hands.

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So the way I understand this one, especially in Ghana is making sure that you are fully

control of the land, that there's no land disputes, that you are 100 % the owner of land.

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That's one that definitely comes to mind because of the land owner comes up from nowhere

and says,

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you don't own that land, you're gonna be in very big trouble and you are gonna be in for a

very long land battle.

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So that's a very important one.

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And number seven is value creation.

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That's his final rule for real estate.

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And then Nana Kwame Bediako states, ensure your developments provide genuine value that

your target audience can actually afford and access.

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So where you're building and who you're building for, make sure that target market can

actually afford it.

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and they're able to access it, which is, think is very important, very, very important.

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So let's go on to the seven principles of real estate that he talked about at the

conference, right?

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And number one, he mentioned was acquisition.

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I was speaking about this slightly a little bit and he said, securing land ownership is

foundational and often a lengthy process.

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Begin early and stay patient.

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If anyone's had any experience buying land in Ghana or even buying a property elsewhere,

you may understand that buying land

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It's a very lengthy process, let alone buying property is a lengthy process.

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Everyone should probably have experienced that at some point.

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Number two, land policy.

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It's important to master the legal and bureaucratic framework of each country.

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No two markets are the same.

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Buying land in Ghana is going to be completely different to buying land in South Africa,

how it works, the land commission, how it's all set up, different rules for different

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markets.

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And I think

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That goes for other things in business as well.

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Number three, Landmark.

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So Nana Kwame Bediako stated, create developments that become recognizable markets,

powerful markets and hubs for your brand.

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And as I showed you early on with his property at number one Oxford Street in Accra, this

is a very iconic property that almost everybody knows because it's built in such a

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location and it's built.

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in such a way where it's made itself quite iconic in the city.

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It's almost part of the city's skyline, if you will.

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And I think that's what you need to aim for, according to what he's saying.

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Number four is footprints.

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Implement large scale impactful projects, industrial or eco parks, that leave a lasting

mark on society.

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And that's another one that he gave.

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So you want to think about the future of society when you're building.

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Let's continue to the final three.

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And he says blueprint as number five.

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So leveraging architectural engineering and infrastructure planning to ensure every

project is integrated to fully functional from day one.

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So before you even start the building, the plan has to be in place.

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And that's what I'm getting from that.

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If you don't have a good plan, then you're planning to fail.

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according to what Nana Kwame Bediako is saying here.

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Number six, he says land banking.

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And he says, treat land like capital, whether you save rent or lease parcels strategically

to build long-term portfolio potential.

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So in order to build, you definitely need land.

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And there's some projects you're not gonna build straight away.

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So you need to bank land, in order to be prepared for when you're ready to start a

project, you can build that project.

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And number seven, the final one, which I really liked actually.

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because it's showing that he's not thinking just about humanity.

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He's also thinking about animals and he's thinking about nature as well, which a lot of

people can overlook.

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We are going around Accra and more and more we're seeing less nature, we're seeing less

animals, we're seeing more and more buildings come up.

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But if we can keep these buildings.

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in the midst of the animals and the nation that we have, the beautiful nation, beautiful

animals that we already have in the crop.

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I think it's really, really important to preserve that.

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And this seventh and final point was one of my favorites.

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And he says, prioritise the environment in every decision, sustainable development is not

optional.

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It's just the foundation of lasting success.

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Powerful.

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So that's a very powerful point he gave there.

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And that's Nana Kwame Bediaka's, know, seven principles of real estate and the seven

rules.

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of real estate.

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So what simple action steps can we take from Nana Kwame Bidiako here?

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Once again, disclaimer, I'm not a real estate expert.

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I'm just giving my views and my opinions here.

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What we can take from here is our own one plot, build two units minimum and test the

density.

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I will network first, brand yourself before the buildings.

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He's got a really big personal brands, know, also known as Freedom Jacob Caesar, also

known as Cheddar and add value daily as well.

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Cheddar says, people remember impact, not just invoices.

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All right?

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And what you want to do is you want to embrace loneliness.

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Big vision means so the nights studying blueprints.

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There's a great website called strategy breakdowns, teaching you the blueprints behind the

most valuable companies in the world.

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And that's something that you can all can take a look at.

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I'll leave a link in the description below.

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So from poultry trading to Petronia city,

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Cheddar clearly stacked wins by asking better questions.

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So, Nana Kwame Bediako's real estate isn't just plot chasing, it's city building with

Ghanaian soul.

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Location, location, location, vision, control, value, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is

your cheat code.

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If you guys loved this episode, watch the episode I did with Kofi Anku on the future of

Ghana real estate, which is a really good one for you guys to check out.

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I'll leave a link in the description below so you guys can check this one out here, which

is really, really good.

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And apart from that, what I'll say is I'm Adrian Daniels, you've been amazing.

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And if you've made it to the end, thank you so much.

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And before I go, if you guys want a copy of these seven principles or rules of real

estate, send a DM to us on social media, just search for us at the sound of Accra or visit

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the website and get in touch with us.

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That's the sound of Accra.com.

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and we will make sure we'll get a copy of it to you.

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So let's build Ghana together and I'll catch you in the next one.

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Thank you so much for listening.

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Take care.