Daniel McKorley is a Ghanaian businessman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of McDan Group of Companies. His diverse portfolio of investments cut across Shipping, Logistics, Aviation, Oil and Gas, Security, Construction, Real Estates and a trove more. He holds an Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) and a Certificate degree in Entrepreneurship both from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). He also holds Diploma in Leadership and Transport & Logistics. Arguably, one of the most successful businessmen in Ghana, Daniel McKorley could only attain a degree 15 years, after dropping out of the University of Ghana as a result of financial difficulties.
Daniel was born on June 16, 1978 in Labadi, Accra. Quite early in life, he attended his primary school in the community of his birth and never swayed far with his furtherance at the Senior High level either. Completing Senior High school, he subsequently gained admission to study at the University of Ghana, which he missed.
Unperturbed by the occurrence and as fate would have it, he took the bold initiative to build his life by starting out as a concierge at a shipping company. There, he did some menial jobs including cleaning the toilets, the floors, washing plates and running errands for the company. In those years, Daniel resolutely spent a decade to familiarize himself with the shipping industry and simultaneously worked his way through to being a clerk by virtue of his hard work which was an open secret to his boss. He rose up the ladder from a clerk to an import and export clerk and then shot to the tallying department.
Diligence symbolised his efforts as having worked tirelessly in his shifts at the port with the shipping firm during weekdays, Daniel merchandised grains by commuting to the Bono Region to make purchases and bring them down to Accra. The main motive was to stockpile the grains for some months and when it went out of season, he flipped the price for profit. As time went on, he included coffee to his commodity trade realizing the large-scale cultivation of the product in the country. The shrewdness of Daniel at such a young age translated him to become a millionaire at age 28. His wealth was however short-lived as it came tumbling down with the huff of a tragic loss of a colossal stockpile of coffee in his warehouse. While he was away in Pennsylvania, attending a leadership course at Lehigh University, he received a frantic call of the flooding of his warehouse as a raging storm had ripped the roof off. His lack of strategic planning in securing his warehouse with an insurance plan rendered him unable to salvage anything from the loss. This was a huge lesson for him.
Ironically, the colossal loss in his business endeavour only inflamed his desire and spurred him on to rewrite the story of his life from the deprived background he had been born in. It was only a matter of time that the lessons learned, dedication and grit would pay off.
In 1999, Dr McKorley established the McDan Shipping and Logistics, with customs brokerage and clearing goods as his initial springboard. Gradually, his hands-on approach to doing business by personally interacting with clients and attending to their needs won him loyal clients. Presently, the company has become a lodestar in the freight and logistics industry, operating from over 2,000 air and seaports worldwide. Correspondingly, his company engages in handling cargo volumes of 900,000 tonnes a year, and owns approximately 41,000Km2 of warehousing space.
Progress in business isn’t wholly measured by profit but by the ability of the visioner to outgrow comfort and complacence and strive for growth. Owing to this, Dr. McKorley spotted a need for top-level Security Services and this led him to establish AFWEST Security Company to provide security for players in the mining, banking, and other blue chips as well as diplomatic missions in Ghana. Currently, the company has grown from a force of just three in 2011 to about 1,000 security personnel.
Real estate, subsequently proffered shelter to the desires of the uninhibited businessman who eventually founded Colonial Properties, which has acquired and sold substantial land and property in prime areas in Accra.
Possessing a knack for ideas with veritable proofs, he further launched into the automobile industry where he built his company, Automedic, with an investment of US$2 million in diagnostic and servicing equipment in a large workshop at East Legon. The workshop provides a state-of-the-art repair service centre for the burgeoning high-end luxury vehicle in the Ghanaian market.
Resonating and being all too familiar with subsisting in a dire state of need and lack, Dr. McKorley through the McDan foundation has till date invested over $4 million in many charitable activities including the construction of new classroom blocks for rural communities, building of modern astro turfs to promote sports development for the youth and enrolling brilliant students in basic and tertiary institutions.
Via the McDan challenge, he has invested in a key component of the economy– youth entrepreneurship. Dr. McKorley also has the vision of empowering young people to believe in themselves by supporting them with funding through the McDan Equity fund.
Vocalizing his impact in society, the Ada Traditional Council, in 2017 installed the Group Chairman “Development Chief” of Ada, in the Greater Accra Region. Deservedly, he has gained lots of recognition which includes the “Achiever’s Award” by West Africa Regional magazine, “Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of West Africa Nominee” in 2015 and the “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2016.
He has also had several recognitions which includes “Freight Forwarding and Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2013 and the CIMG “Marketing Man of the Year” 2017. “CEO of the Year Award” at the Ghana Shippers Awards 2018, “Brand of the Year Award” at the Ghana Shippers Awards in 2019 and the “Overall Best Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2017 at the Ghana Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards are other recognizable feats of the versatile entrepreneur.
Moreover, in 2013, McDan Group was adjudged fifth on the Ghana Club 100 list of companies, in the midst of Ghana’s largest corporations.
