Thomas Svanikier is the founder and Executive Chairman of Svani Group Ghana Limited, which comprises SVANI Ltd., SVANI MOTORS, SVANI ENERGY and SVANI CONSULTING. He is also the co-founder of Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited and Chairman of its Advisory Board.
The automotive mogul has also established himself in the energy industry with his company, Atholl Energy Ltd., which built the over 120 megawatts power generation plant (worth over $100 million) in Tema in collaboration with Siemens and VRA.
He is also the Chairman and founding seed-investor of DreamOval, a leading African Fintech company with an enhanced Payment Services Provider (PSP) Licence from the Bank of Ghana. DreamOval developed an engineering software ‘Slydepay’, (a payment platform in Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa etc.) with Stanbic Bank.
Born at Osu some sixty years ago, Thomas had his primary education in Osu at the renowned Osu-Home School, South Labadi Experimental School. As a tradition in his family, the Svanikier-Richter tradition, the young Thomas proceeded to the Osu Salem School– Osu Presbyterian Middle Boys’ Boarding School. He was raised in a tight-knit and prominent family. He was also privileged to be under the tutelage of the famous Headmaster, Mr. Barnor whiles at Osu Salem School. This shaped and guided him in life, while engraining in him service to people, community, country and the Presbyterian God’s fearing discipline.
After his secondary education at the Osu Presbyterian Secondary School, Mr. Svanikier moved to the United States to further his education. While at college, young Thomas encountered financial difficulties and had to drop out of school to work. He worked in Maryland, Delaware and finally relocated to Los Angeles, California where he was fortunate to work with Mitsubishi Corporation, the foundation of his venture into the auto industry.
Mr. Svanikier began his business career 31 years ago by registering SVANI Ltd. while working for Mitsubishi Corporation. He gained experience in the sale and leasing of vehicles and heavy equipment. SVANI Ltd. was incorporated in Ghana in March 22, 1990 and commenced business immediately afterwards. According to Thomas, his mother initiated this journey after her constant visits to the USA when he dropped out of the college. Her advice to him, ‘Life is not just about education; life is about excellence and achieving a dream’, made him realize the need to establish his own company.
Thomas applied his previous experience in operations, sale and leasing of vehicles and heavy equipment in his new business. Later, he visited Russia and partnered with some Russian auto companies that led to the importation of Russian LADA cars into Ghana.
Thomas’s success is incomplete without the mention of the support of Continental Acceptances Ltd., (now CAL Bank Ltd.) and then headed by Mr. Afari Donkor. Mr. Afari Donkor granted him a loan facility of $710,000 to acquire UTC Motors, a subsidiary of the largest Swiss trading company, UTC Corporation in Ghana. After acquiring UTC Motors, Mr. Svanikier engaged in intensive restructuring and transformational projects at the various branches of the UTC Motors in Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Koforidua and Tamale. He later expanded his business by opening branches in other African countries, namely, Nigeria and Liberia.
Mr Svanikier credits his success to hard work, strategy, focus and God’s grace. He also bases his achievements on the robust foundation he had as a boy at Osu Salem School. However, the posturing of his mother who constantly egged him on to success equally reverberates through his business story. His school training, his mother, the love from his extended family, his Danish and Jewish backgrounds as well as training from his headmaster, Mr Barnor, form the basis for his success.
The feats of Mr. Svanikier’s journey in the last twenty years or more has led to the reputable University of Oxford appointing him to serve on its International Advisory Board with six other associates from across the globe. Since 2015, Mr. Svanikier has served as the ‘Senior Policy Adviser for Africa’ for the Transnational Strategy Group, a Washington D.C.-based company. He has also participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit organised in Nairobi, Kenya by the U.S. Department of Commerce when the US President met with leading captains of businesses in Africa across various industries.
With his wealth of knowledge and experience, Mr. Svanikier similarly serves on several boards including the Opportunities Industrialization Centre (OIC), Africa Poverty Eradication Commission, Korle-bu Trust Fund, and on the fund-raising committee of the Ghana National Cathedral.
Considering his enormous philanthropic contributions across the globe, Mr. Svanikier’s company, Svani Group, collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its fight against the Ebola epidemic by donating pickups and generators in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry.
In addition to this, he has also donated over forty-five vehicles (buses, cars and pickups) to the tune of over $2.5 million to various institutions and organizations in the last seven years.
As a business mogul who never forgot his roots, the industrious Svanikier has dug boreholes for Osu Salem School, built classrooms, a library for Classes One to Three and some toilets with three boreholes for Osu Girls’ School in honor of his mother.
He has also donated a 65-seater Volvo Eicher bus worth $75,000, a generator set to the Valley View University, established a GHS 1 million scholarship fund with his wife to train Gas in health care. This has culminated in several ‘Svanikier Scholars’ in the university.
Recently, Mr. Svanikier donated a $22,000 Pickup to the Ghana Boys’ Brigade. Also, Thomas was one of the ten business people who raised the seed money to set up the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund. This fund initiated the construction of the Ghana Infectious Disease Centre, the first in West Africa. In addition, he also donated an administrative vehicle and an ambulance for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Outside the continent, Mr. Svanikier and his wife have instituted the Thomas-Johanna Public Policy Initiative to train Ghanaians in the public and private sector at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The couple also set up the ‘Hardship Fund’ to support African students studying at the University of Oxford who are experiencing financial difficulties due to the pandemic.
Mr. Svanikier has contributed immensely to Ghana’s economic development by employing over 6,500 employees across his business interests.
Mr. Svanikier is married to Ambassador Johanna Odonkor and the couple is blessed with three children.
