MeQasa (Visit website).
Location: Ghana
Sector: Proptech
The struggle to buy or rent a house
Hunting for houses to buy or rent in Ghana and other African countries entails a lot of drama accompanied by unnecessary mental, physical, emotional, and financial commitment. The conventional method involves finding a listing either by word of mouth or an advert. A real estate agent would then take the individual to see the property. After the individual makes a deal, bills outside of the rent or purchase fee arise. This method exposes people to risks. Such risks include fake agents who show houses without the owner’s consent, making financial commitments with false documents, etc. Also, looking at properties in a short time is no easy feat considering all the factors involved. The drama may go as far as keeping enthusiasm low when an individual is interested in a property to avoid a sudden surge in the price by the homeowner or an agent.
MeQasa, a solution

The real estate industry in Ghana has experienced significant growth in the last couple of years with the rise of developers such as Imperial Homes, Devtraco Plus Limited, Clifton Homes, etc., and startups like MeQasa. The startup is a real estate marketplace that provides real estate agents, developers with tools to conduct their business effectively online. MeQasa is helping people buy or rent houses in Ghana from anywhere in the world. The company also provides credibility for developers or landlords who want to sell or rent their properties and simplifies the search experience for prospective tenants and buyers.
Mathematician to entrepreneur
The CEO who wanted to become a pilot as a child delved into entrepreneurship to gain independence. In his second year in the university, he started an internet cafe business targeted at expatriates looking for cheaper and closer internet access. He also rallied networks to run a remedial centre for secondary school students. After his undergraduate degree in Mathematics, he went for his national youth service. He came across the advert to apply to Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST).
The journey to MeQasa at MEST
MeQasa was founded in 2013 by Kelvin Nyame, Rashad Seini, and Kofi Amuasi, who met at the MEST based in Accra, Ghana. Kelvin and his co-founders had the freedom to explore at MEST. After the meeting, they worked on providing a solution to Kelvin’s sister business. Sadly, the idea didn’t fit the African market and the team’s skillset. Despite having an investor willing to fund, they discarded the idea.
In search of an idea that would fly, the CEO explored relatable problems. Therefore, his housing experience came to mind, and he developed much interest in it. He turned this into an opportunity to solve a problem in the real estate industry. He took a real estate job after he figured out the need for learning the pain points across the value chain. The job provided firsthand knowledge of the problems agents faced in the real estate industry. Kelvin and his co-founders built the company to make it easy for people to find accommodation in Ghana. The prospect led to a $90,000 seed capital by the management of MEST.
Competing with foreign, funded startups
In an interview with Breakfast daily Ghana, he discussed the challenges faced in achieving the projections in the business plan. In the second board meeting after launch, the business revenue was negative. What could lead to that? It was due to competition with other startups with high marketing budgets that MeQasa couldn’t afford. It was necessary to review the marketing strategy. Being Ghanaians and building in Ghana gave them the upper hand in understanding the market. They could easily have conversations with potential customers, thereby reducing customer acquisition costs. This marketing strategy was influential in acquiring the majority of the market share by leveraging on relationships.
How MeQasa simplifies house hunt
MeQasa makes easier the search for a house to buy or rent. As of 2020, the MeQasa website has over 45,000 listings and gets over 200,000 views. Each listing has its reference number on the website and includes pictures of the property and icons indicating the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and garage. An individual looking to rent or buy a property chooses a location, property type, number of rooms, and a price range to get a page of listings to assess. On selection of a listing, the page shows images of the property, followed by a description. Users can also add listings to favourite or share to know the genuineness of such listing. Moreso, the page includes the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and garage. Other options such as service charge, registration fee, commission, etc., are included depending on the property.
MeQasa provides a complete solution

MeQasa creates genuine value for its customers and intending customers alike. To get verified as a real estate agent on the platform, the agent will provide an ID such as a passport, driver’s license, or national ID. The professional development of agents is vital to its business plan. For that reason, MeQasa organised training to equip agents with the skills to flourish in business. And also ensure a better experience for prospective tenants or buyers.
How MeQasa makes money
To list a property on MeQasa, the real estate agent must create an account first at no cost. To improve engagements, the company offers paid features which are a range of advertisements on the website. This displays advertised listings at strategic locations on the website, giving these listings a priority over others. The website also offers a free account for tenants or buyers with a feature to create a collection of favourite properties for comparison. Users also have access to set up alerts to be the first to know about the best property deals.
Investments, competition acquisition, and future plan
MeQasa achieved product-market fit early. This feat brought the startup under the radar of Frontier Digital Ventures, a global VC firm headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. MeQasa secured $500,000 from this VC in 2015. In a TEDx meeting in 2016, the CEO stated that they had received $800,000 in tranche funding and had only announced the initial funding. MeQasa has raised over a million dollars in funding since its inception. In 2017, MeQasa acquired its competition, Jumia House Ghana. Moreover, the startup’s business plan focuses on providing support across the value chain in the real estate industry in Ghana.
As long as real estate developers keep building and people need to rent or buy properties, MeQasa’s tools will be helpful to conduct business online. Techtrend Africa looks forward to new improvements from the startup. In the same vein, we look forward to MeQasa extending its reach to West Africa and Africa at large.