PROF. DE-GRAFT OWUSU-MANU (PhD, BSc., CMC, FIMC, FGIOC, MGhIS, ChPA, MISD, MIET)
Professor De-Graft Owusu-Manu is currently a Professor of Infrastructure Finance, Sustainability and Green Development at the Department of Construction Technology and Management of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, where he attained First Class honours, he moved straight to pursue his PhD degree where he specialised in capital asset investments and financial management of corporations. De-Graft is an astute businessman, entrepreneur, a consultant, a teacher, mentor, a business coach, a mindset trainer and an academic. As an academic his research cuts across a wide range of construction and business-related disciplines including, construction economics and finance, construction management, project management, procurement management, sustainable management, sustainable cities development, climate resilience and sustainability, green management with strong interests in investments, corporate strategy, entrepreneurship, and management consulting. De-Graft is a Chartered Management Consultant from both the International Council of Management Consultants Institutes-Global and Chartered Institute of Management Consultants and Administrators-Ghana. He is also a Fellow of International Council of Management Consultants Institutes-Global and Ghana Institute of Construction. He is a member of Institute of Sustainable Management. He is a member of Ghana Institute of Surveyors. He has received several academic awards amongst which, is the prestigious best graduate award from Ghana Institution of Surveyors in 2003 and the eminence award in research conferred by the KNUST in 2011. As a serial entrepreneur, his interest has been inclined on growing businesses and helping start -ups. He uniquely blends entrepreneurship with academia by serving and inspiring people, particularly students into entrepreneurship and greatness. He is currently the founder and CEO of Top Technocrats (Gh) Limited, Training Innovations and Technology Transfer Institute, Business Angels Limited, Green Communities International, Jannika Organic Agro Business Limited, Jannika Foods Processing, Yummy Premium Bakery among others. As a mentor and a coach, De-Graft founded the Global Institute of Mindset Transformation and Attitudinal Change to bring about the mindset transformation and liberation of the African continent and African descendants everywhere. De-Graft happens to be the Chairman of two international conferences-International Conference of Environment, Social, Governance and Sustainable Development of Africa (ICESDA) and International Conference of African Mindset Transformation and System Thinking (ICAMTST). He has served on several committees and boards at both national, regional, district and community levels, where he plays influential roles. De-Graft was the Editor of Journal of Built Environment (the official journal of the College of Art and Built Environment of KNUST), Guest Editor (Special issue of Sustainability, and Guest Editor (special Issue) Journal of Frontiers of Sustainable Cities. De-Graft serves on several Editorial Boards and Scientific Review Committees of leading international peer-reviewed journals and conferences. De-Graft during the last 16 years of joining academia has published well over 250 scientific papers in leading peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, Book Chapters, Books and Working Papers and Reports; and has presented several papers at international conferences in Ghana, Nigeria, USA, the UK among others. He is Married to Matilda with three kids, Jason, Annika & De-Graft Jr.