Ivorian infrastructure and technology firm Porteo Group, led by founder and CEO Hassan Dakhlallah, is entering the Ghanaian market. This expansion aligns with Ghana's strategic push to localize critical infrastructure and data storage, a policy termed 'sovereignty'. Porteo Group has a strong track record in building large-scale projects, including over 3,000 kilometres of roads and national data centres across seven African countries.
Ghana is actively pursuing a strategy to build and control its own vital assets, from roads to digital infrastructure. President John Mahama announced Ghana's first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy on April 24, 2026. This strategy aims to transform Ghana from a passive consumer of technology into an active developer. A month earlier, the Bank of Ghana issued a Cyber and Information Security Directive. This directive mandates that sensitive financial data must be stored within Ghana, affecting banks, fintechs, and critical information infrastructure providers.
This national focus on 'sovereignty' means Ghana wants its most valuable assets, including data, computing power, roads, and trade, to be built and maintained domestically. This approach requires significant execution capacity. Hassan Dakhlallah, through Porteo Group, has championed this philosophy for 15 years. His company focuses on building national capacity rather than just acting as a contractor.
Porteo Group, founded in Côte d'Ivoire in 2011, operates across eight divisions. These include infrastructure, construction, industry, real estate, agro-industry, and the digital sector. The company employs approximately 12,000 people of 23 nationalities. French media ranks Porteo 342nd among Africa's 500 largest companies. They describe the group as 'a laboratory of African sovereignty in action'.
Dakhlallah argues that true sovereignty is built through tangible capacity, not just policy documents. He has published articles emphasizing that initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) must be built 'corridor by corridor'. He stresses that a pan-African group gains credibility when its standards are consistently applied across borders. At the Africa CEO Forum, he stated that sovereignty is built on 'concrete, not slogans'.
Porteo's operational model is characterized by extensive vertical integration. The company produces its own concrete at Technic Béton and rolls its own steel at B. Steel. It also manufactures its own asphalt and aggregates. Porteo owns over 3,000 machines and trains its own engineers. This strategy minimizes reliance on external supply chains, ensuring greater control over project execution and quality. Dakhlallah told Fraternité Matin that 'productive sovereignty is not decreed; it is built patiently'.
This approach, while not cheap, ensures durability and self-reliance, qualities Ghana seeks in its infrastructure development. Porteo's expertise extends beyond roads to critical digital infrastructure. The company has built sovereign national data centres, which allow states to host their critical data on national soil. It constructed Côte d'Ivoire's national data centre, a Tier III+ facility, in partnership with Cybastion. This roughly $60 million project was recognized by the US Export-Import Bank as its Industries of the Future Deal of the Year in May 2026.
Porteo is also building Central Africa's first sovereign data centre near Libreville, Gabon. This project, initiated in March 2025, aims to secure Gabon's strategic data domestically. It also includes training over 1,000 young Gabonese individuals to manage the facility. These projects highlight Porteo's ability to deliver complex, high-security infrastructure. Ghana's ambition for a sovereign AI and localized data storage will require similar capabilities. Porteo's entry could provide the necessary execution to realize these national goals.