Our people
Cynthia Darko Acquaye
Chief Operating Officer, CH Group
Biography
Cynthia is CH Group’s Chief Operating Officer. She joined Chase Petroleum and Goldkey Properties (both CH Group companies) in 2003. With strong performance in project development, portfolio strategy and cross-functional leadership expertise, Cynthia has continually been promoted into positions of increased responsibility.
Over the years, Cynthia has become an integral part of the team responsible for setting up several of the Group’s subsidiaries including Goldkey Properties, Chase Petroleum, Tema Tank Farm, Denton Property Managers and Veolia Ghana.
Cynthia is exceptionally skilled in refining business vision, transforming the vision into operational plans and completing projects that exceed expectation. Her strengths include the development of startups, strategy formulation and execution, Real estate development and management, Joint Ventures & Public-Private Partnerships, as well as procurement, deal evaluation and negotiations.
As the Group’s businesses expanded, Cynthia’s focus from 2003 to 2018 was developing Goldkey Properties, the Group’s Real Estate business and Denton Property Managers, it’s property management subsidiary.
As Executive Director and later Managing Director, she led the expansion of Goldkey’s commercial, residential and retail real estate interests. Cynthia developed Goldkey from a start-up into a business with over 100 million USD in assets and led the development of over 200,000 square metres of commercial and residential space in Accra.
Cynthia’s extensive experience in real estate, her inherent business sense and appreciation for excellence have been significant in driving the vision of Goldkey Properties for over 17 years.
In 2014, she led the diversification of Goldkey’s portfolio with the Cantonments City project, an award-winning 62,000 square meter mixed-use development. She led in acquiring multiple multinational companies including VIVO Energy, PWC, EY, ENS Africa, Veolia, Huawei and Vodafone to relocate their head offices to Cantonments City.
As part of her social responsibility, Cynthia has provided funding and other support for orphanages, the Kayayei girls project and the reconstruction of a collapsed school for children. She is currently part of a group renovating a female ward at the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital.
In 2018, Cynthia was promoted to Group Head for Real Estate from her role as Managing Director of Goldkey but retaining her Executive Directorship. Cynthia was appointed as CH Group’s Chief Operating Officer in 2019 to focus on leading and operationalizing strategy and pursuing growth opportunities across the Group’s subsidiaries.
Cynthia studied Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Investment at The MIT School of Architecture and Planning (USA) and holds an MBA in International Business with Distinction from The Birmingham Business School (UK). She is a Board Member of several companies including Goldkey Properties, Tema Tank Farm, Veolia Ghana, Zegha Limited and Denton Property Managers.