John Dzandza: Budding entrepreneur living the African dream

After living in the United States of America for a couple of years as a permanent resident with a lifetime opportunity of switching his nationality to become an American, John Dzandza, uncharacteristic of the everyday Ghanaian youth in recent times, chose to be different.

John relocated to his motherland, Ghana, to establish businesses in sectors he claims to have been very passionate about even before his days as a student on the University of Ghana campus when he desired to become an agent of change.

He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) of Dzanlock Electronics, a wholly owned Ghanaian limited liability company which retails a wide range of first-rate electronic gadgets from laptops, smartphones to home theatres and other accessories.

He doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of Saratoga Group which he hopes to build into a conglomerate. Saratoga Autos specialises in luxury automobiles and Saratoga Real Estate is a full-scale real estate and property management company.

With a staff strength of ten personnel, Dzanlock Electronics and Saratoga Group has its head offices in Accra and a subsidiary in New York, from where stocks are shipped to the companies warehouses in Ghana and to an increasing number of clients in Togo, Nigeria and Liberia.

On a sunny Saturday, I drove through the bothersome traffic Accra is sometimes known for to meet John at the Accra showroom of Dzanlock Electronics, located within the Kakalika Plaza, on the Spintex Road near the Coca Cola roundabout.

On my arrival, Liz, a British and the Client Relations Manager conducted me around the showroom whilst John finalised a deal in his office with Ghanaian International footballer, Abdul Majeed Warris who was buying a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) from the company.

Soon, John came to the showroom with Majeed Warris who exchanged pleasantries with C.K Akunnor, who was there to buy a cell phone, before driving away in his white Nissan Murano vehicle. After sharing a joke with myself and C.K Akunnor, John apologised for the delay and then invited me into his office.

Commenting on his business, John said, “It’s been very exciting and challenging at the same time in the last three years. What has kept us going is the quality of items we sell here and the trust our clients have in us. These coupled with the blessings from God is what has kept our business in existence in spite of all the challenges we have faced in the country for the last four years”.

John stated that “in business, it is very important to build a good relationship with your clients so that they will always come to you for everything they want. When you build a good reputation with your clients, they will go out of their way to recommend you to their friends, family and business associates”.

His motivation for returning to Ghana to start his business, John revealed that he wanted to live the African dream!

“I had my education in Ghana, from elementary to tertiary level, I have basically lived all my life in Ghana apart from moments when I visited London and Scotland. I later stayed in London briefly then moved back to Ghana to work with football academy, Right To Dream”.

Moving to the United States of America as a permanent resident became necessary at a point. Yes, I was doing a couple of jobs and was making some good money but I don’t think I was fulfilled. I have always wanted to be in charge of a business and invested my time and money into a technology-related business and landed properties. Like they always say, people move to America to live the American Dream, but I decided to move back home to live the African Dream, starting from Ghana to the rest of the continent”.

About automobiles, “I came across some good deals whilst in the USA when my twin brother, James Dzandza, who is a sports entrepreneur with vested interest in soccer wanted to buy a van for United Through Sports – Ghana, a soccer academy of which he is a Director and Co-founder. After buying the van for him, other friends also asked me to buy cars for their team. After the tenth person, I realised the need to transition that into a business and that was the genesis of Saratoga Automobile.

As a business with the intention of making returns on investment, I decided to sell mainly luxury cars. Though the investment is huge, it’s a better business than selling smaller cars considering the unstable nature of our Ghanaian cedi against the American dollar which makes business projections sometimes very difficult. Currently, I have in my fleet of cars a 2014 Cadillac Escalade, the latest Chrysler 300, 2014 Range Rover Sport, 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 and other top of the range cars”, he said.

According to John, the most challenging of his businesses is Saratoga Real Estate due to the frequent chieftaincy disputes which resulted into legal battles.

“You buy acres of land from a chief or a family then the next thing you know, a rival chief or group from the same family comes out to challenge the legality of the chief of family that sold the land to you. Interestingly, both factions will provide documentation proving to be the rightful owners of the land. This is usually frustrating and a disincentive to invest in lands. Currently, I have built and sold quite a number of homes in Greda Estate in Teshie and also behind the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre”.

John is convinced that with dedication, hard work and a calculated attempt to get to the top in addition to prudent policies for market stability by the managers of the economy, every business owner and entrepreneur is likely to succeed in Ghana.

With his clientele base growing beyond the shores of Ghana at an appreciable rate, John is certainly living the African dream!