Business prospects for Ghana’s biggest property manager, Broll Ghana, look exciting as property developers in the market are set to more than double retail space in the next 24 months, it emerged this week.

Various companies, including South Africa’s major clothing retailer, Edcon, Africa’s biggest food retailer, Shoprite and mobile phone maker Samsung, are opening stores in Ghana, targeting the emerging middle class and oil revenues.

Broll Ghana, which is a unit of South Africa’s giant property manager, plans to manage about 70 percent of the 100 000 square meters that is set to be available during this property boom period in Ghana, according to Eric Abu, a portfolio executive at Broll Ghana.

According to Abu, Nigerians, South Africans, Europeans and Americans are driving the demand for expat housing and office space in Ghana, which is West Africa’s second largest economy after Nigeria.

“We have seen an upsurge in development for both retail and residential,” Abu told Business Day (Nigeria) in an interview.

In addition, Broll Ghana is considering listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) within the next three years.

It is not yet clear if the property manager plans to raise money on the local bourse to expand its operations or intends to grow earnings in Ghana by making acquisitions of other property managers.