Old age inspired me to establish a hotel – KSM – Nsemkeka
Veteran Ghanaian comedian and filmmaker Kwaku Sintim-Misa (KSM) revealed that reaching old age motivated him to venture into the hotel business.
Speaking on The Career Trailprogram on Joy News and Joy Learning TV, KSM shared that upon entering his he and his wife, who is also aged, decided to pursue a new challenge.
“I have done everything. My wife too is an outstanding telecommunications expert, and she has also done a lot. I and her, when we got into our 60’s, and we are now good old parents with grandchildren, we still wanted something challenging to do. So about six to seven years ago, we got some land at Aburi and we said, why don’t we build a hotel, and that’s how it started,” he recounted.
What started as a small AirBnB with just nine rooms has since blossomed into the Cactus Creek Hotel, now featuring 20 rooms, a swimming pool, and two conference halls, set amidst the scenic beauty of Aburi.
He revealed that the hotel venture was far from easy and came with its fair share of challenges. He highlighted the difficulties imposed by regulatory bodies such as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and VAT officials, describing the environment as often discouraging.
“Business challenges in Ghana can be very depressing. GRA will come today and they will deal with you. Then VAT comes and they will deal with you. They will ask you questions, you will answer the best you can, but they will still find things that you could have done and didn’t do,” he lamented.
He emphasized the urgent need for supportive policies and incentives to encourage entrepreneurship, especially among young people.
“Young people want to start businesses, but the system doesn’t always support them. There should be grants or consumer support to help them establish themselves. Once they succeed, they will contribute to the economy through taxes and create jobs,” he said.
KSM also pointed out that many businesses fail due to a lack of basic business knowledge.
“Some don’t understand basic business concepts like the difference between capital and profit. They treat capital as profit and end up spending it, which causes their businesses to collapse,” he highlighted.
However, he emphasized that even professionally minded entrepreneurs face significant hurdles.
“But even those with professional business acumen face significant challenges, making it very difficult to grow their businesses,” he stressed.
Despite these hurdles, KSM expressed pride in how far the hotel has come.
“Now the business is bigger than us, and we have a team managing it,” he concluded.