Ghana: Barbisotti's family rise in construction scene

Accra - The history of those early Italians who arrived in Ghana is made of courage, sweat and determination. They arrived in what was once a British colony in the first decades of the 20th century, in a period of rapid economic expansion. The so-called Gold Coast in fact, between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, saw an increase in the demand for skilled labor to be used in mining, in the construction of railways, roads and in the cocoa industry. At the time their number ranged between 100 and 200 units. Today the Italians in Ghana are a community of 1.200 people and a number of them are now working for those few first families arrived in Ghana from Piemonte and from Bergamo. Nowadays the descendants of those early pioneers are families of important entrepreneurs still active in Ghana, such as the Barbisotti one. The story of this family from Bergamo will soon mark its 60th anniversary in Ghana, where in 1959, the company bearing the family name was established. “Back in the days there was a huge competition between the people form Piemonte, the one commonly called “the Italians”, and us  from Bergamo” says today Aldina Barbisotti, mother of the three sons that are now running the family company once established by their grandfather Marco and then enlarged by their father Giampietro.



Earlier, in 1924, Marco Barbisotti left Italy to seek his fortune and settled in Gold Coast, today Ghana, in Kumasi. After working 2 years in the gold mine in Obuasi, in 1926 he collaborated with his brother-in-law, Luigi Oprandi’s construction company in building the Kejetia roundabout and other works such as canals and bridges near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region. In 1930 the brothers Marco, Giuseppe and Angelo established “Barbisotti Brothers” and become the leading contractors of Prestea Mines. In 1940 Italy, allied with Germany, declared war on Great Britain. In Gold Coast, then British colony, all Italian and German citizens, Marco was one of them, were arrested and deported to prison camps in Jamaica until 1946. In 1951 Marco went back to Africa and after spending 2 years in Nigeria in 1953 he decided to go to Goald Coast, collaborating with another Italian construction company Micheletti&Co in building, between other works: in Kumasi, the Bank of Ghana, the Government Office, the Faculty of Architecture and the Barclays Bank in Tamale. In 1958 Giampietro Barbisotti joined his father Marco and collaborated with Micheletti&Co in constructing in Cape Coast and in Kumasi a number of Schools and College. Eventually, the today M.Barbisotti & Son, was established on October 21st 1959 in Kumasi where its first works were two Secondary Schools and a Teacher Training Centre. In 1965 the company changed name to M.Barbisotti & Sons Ltd and in this period it constructed the Sunyani Secondary School and the city Assembly Hall, later in 1968 it won the contract for the construction, on behalf of Ghanaian Electricity Company of the Sub-Stations H and C in Accra. In 1974 Fulvio Barbisotti moved to Ghana and joined his brother Giampietro and his father Marco’s business. In the following years the company completed other important works such as more schools, two hospitals and a Fire Service Block, until 1978 when, M. Barbisotti & Sons Ltd enlarged and renovated the Kumasi Sport Stadium.



Later on in 1979 Marco Barbisotti and his son Fulvio went back to Italy. Marco died three years later in 1981 "after a life of sacrifice and labour collaborating in the creation and development of the country that has given him shelter for so many years" told us his daughter in law, Aldina, who is still in Ghana where she now enjoys the company of a number of nephews. Anyway, the company didn't stop working and in the 1980s constructed in Kumasi a big Office complex and a Disable Centre.
The company had a new boost when Marcello Barbisotti, Giampietro's firstborn, moved to Ghana and the family business got ready to welcome the third generation's ideas and enterprise. He immediately cooperated in the construction of hospitals, banks and churches in Kumasi. Just few years after Marcello's arrival, in 1993, the company established a branch in Accra. In 1996 Federico Barbisotti, Giampietro's second son, moved to Ghana and along with his brother he collaborated in the construction of roads, student hostels, nurse college, banks, office complex and in the construction of the huge 37 Military Hospital in Accra. Mid '90 is definitely when the company did a step forward and started doing huge and astonishing projects such as the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre, where the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni gave a lecture during his last visit to Ghana this end of November and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the revamping of the Novotel, all works that gave Accra a new face.



Another important milestone for the company was reached in 2004 by opening new offices and warehouses in the industrial area of Tema, which made easier the construction of important plans as the Kenyase Gold Mine on behalf of Newmont. In 2007 Riccardo Barbisotti, Giampietro's third son, established in Italy the IBS Group S.r.l., a company that specializes in landscape gardening, parks, swimming pools, and he began to collaborate also with his brothers in creating and designing green areas in Ghana, underlining the unquestionable entrepreneurial spirit of a family that has always risked to successfully achieve new goals. For the Barbisotti family 2009 has been a special year full of industrial success such as the construction of the luxury hotel Movempik, two new large health facilities such as the Cancer Clinic and the H-Clinic and the Labadi Beach Hotel and Resort, as crowning achievement of 50 years of activity since October 1959, when Marco Barbisotti established the company that still bears his name, since then managed by his son Giampietro. Unfortunately, the second half of 2009 MBS has been severely affected by Fulvio and Giampietro Barbisotti's death, but the spirit and pride of MBS's pioneers, together with mum Aldina's courage and love for Ghana motivated Marcello, Federico and Riccardo to actively persist in cooperating in the development of this ever-growing country to be regarded as an example for all African states.