Joseph Siaw Agyepong Adds The Gambia to Jospong Group’s Expanding African Footprint in $46 Million Deal
Ghanaian entrepreneur, Joseph Siaw Agyepong is taking the waste management business he built in Ghana deeper into Africa. His Jospong Group has signed a reported $46 million concession agreement with the Government of The Gambia to develop an integrated waste management system serving Banjul, Kanifing and Brikama.
The agreement was signed on October 28, 2026, at State House in Banjul, with Gambian President Adama Barrow presiding over the ceremony. Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Jospong’s sanitation subsidiary, will lead the project, which is designed to modernise waste collection, treatment and disposal across the three beneficiary areas.
Under the first phase, the company will finance, design and construct a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant alongside waste transfer stations. The arrangement also covers household and commercial waste collection, transportation, material recovery and recycling, as well as the decommissioning of the Bakoteh and Mile 2 dumpsites. Plastics and metals will be recovered for reuse, while processed organic waste is expected to create opportunities for agricultural applications.
The latest agreement reflects a business journey that began on a considerably smaller scale. Agyepong started Jospong as a printing business in the 1990s before establishing Zoomlion in 2006 with a single manual tricycle. What developed from that modest operation has grown into a diversified corporate group with interests spanning sanitation, technology, finance, insurance, real estate and other industries.
Jospong group currently operates in 29 African countries through more than 75 subsidiaries, with approximately 10,000 core employees and 38 waste treatment plants. Its presence across multiple markets has positioned sanitation infrastructure as one of the company’s major platforms for continental expansion.
The Gambia agreement also places emphasis on local participation rather than relying entirely on imported expertise. Agyepong has assured existing waste collectors, transporters, recyclers and businesses that they will not be displaced. The company intends to collaborate with Gambian enterprises, including local partner NIRO, while creating employment opportunities for young people and women through construction, procurement, maintenance and operational activities.
A second phase, expected to become operational after the agreement’s second anniversary, could extend services into other regions and introduce liquid waste management. This would broaden the partnership beyond municipal solid waste collection and treatment.
The $46 million agreement marks another milestone in Agyepong’s effort to turn a Ghanaian-founded enterprise into a regional infrastructure business. It also demonstrates how African companies can export homegrown expertise, compete for major projects in neighbouring markets and build commercial partnerships across the continent.
