Photography by Joseph Abbey-Mensah
In recalling her childhood, Rosemargaret Esubonteng MRICS gives a strong indication of the woman she is today. “Growing up in Ghana, it was thought there were things that girls couldn’t do. I was academic and couldn’t understand why people thought that way. I decided upon a career most women would not have explored,” she begins.
With encouragement from her accountant father, she embarked on a BSc course in Ghana in Building Technology at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. This was followed by the RICS postgraduate diploma in Project Management and an MBA in Construction and Real Estate from the University of Reading in the UK, all of which would set her on a path to a successful career in surveying.
Now a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) and member of RICS, she is the founder and principal consultant at OshDarley Consult.
In 2022 she became the first female quantity surveyor to be elected president of the GhIS in its 53‑year history. From childhood career ambitions, she has scaled the heights to a role that places her at the forefront of championing professional standards, diversity and the next generation of surveyors in West Africa. After her one-year term, she remains an inspiration for female surveyors throughout the region.
Making a start in surveying
She learned a lot in her first job in quantity surveying, she recalls, “The project was for an estate development department of one of the government agencies. This particular project was a two-and-a-half-hour drive outside of Accra and I was a junior surveyor. There were several blocks of apartments and we were working on four of those, so we would go for site inspections and site meetings. We had four main contractors, but in addition to that, each one had three or four subcontractors. I had to handle a number of contracts, so it was a big exposure to that type of work.”
“I remember visiting one of our project sites with my boss when I first started. As we arrived at the building entrance, the contractor was surprised and impressed when my boss announced that I was the new assistant surveyor. I was a rare species on the project sites at the time.
“I realised as the years went on that many of my contemporaries didn’t have the same experience I gained from that job. I had been exposed to a number of good projects.” She also recalls the positive influence of the senior partner, the late Gottfried Ampofo FRICS, FGhIS and past president of GhIS. “He was a very good boss, a very experienced professional. I learned a lot from him, and I actually stayed with that firm for about 18 years, eventually becoming a partner.”
There came a point where Esubonteng wanted to pursue different objectives and so she felt that would be better done by setting up on her own. And so, she established OshDarley Consult, a quantity surveying and project management firm, in 2002. Her firm is the first, and currently, the only quantity surveying consulting firm registered with GhIS that has been founded and led by a woman.
She describes the breadth of work the firm has undertaken: “We've done work for financial institutions, some commercial and residential projects, but in the last few years we've done more in the education sector.” One such scheme is the development of the Ashesi University campus in Berekuso, a town in the eastern region of Ghana, which the firm has been working on, in phases. “It was a greenfield site, it really didn’t have any services like electricity or water, so the work we did included not just the buildings, but all the infrastructure related to them.”
“I was a rare species on the project sites at the time” Rosemargaret Esubonteng MRICS, OshDarley Consult
Keeping clients and contractors happy
Short pre-construction timeframes between preparing documents and drawings, and achieving a final scheme the client is happy with, are common in Ghana. “Sometimes clients don't fully understand what the building will look like, even after seeing the 3D drawings. So once construction starts, they change what they want, and the team have to redesign portions of the building. But the construction timeline doesn't move, so you need contractors who can work under those conditions and still deliver within the time frames,” she says. Esubonteng is philosophical about this situation: “You learn to realise life is dynamic, so you don't get upset that a client asks for change.”
As Esubonteng’s career has progressed, so too has her involvement with GhIS, RICS, the African Association of Quantity Surveyors, and the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), serving on various committees including those concerned with planning, research, education and international affairs. In 2022, she became the Global Ambassador in Ghana for LionHeart, the RICS charity that serves members and their families.
Representation was a key reason for Esubonteng to run for president of the GhIS. She says she was the only woman in her undergraduate class and by the time she graduated and her career progressed, that gender imbalance continued in her day-to-day working life, as well as in that professional body.
Having been chairperson of the quantity surveying division for three years, from 2013 to 2016, and with her previous deep involvement in the institution, she considered standing for president. She began asking up-and-coming female surveyors if she should run for president. “They looked up to me a lot and I realised it would be a disappointment to them if I didn’t run,” she says. “There were also past presidents and many other people who looked forward to the day I would be president.” And so, in 2022 she fulfilled that wish and became the 50th president of GhIS.
Among the many achievements during her presidential tenure, she is particularly proud of her mentorship role for young surveyors. She also initiated a programme dubbed ‘A Day with the President,’ where young surveyors joined the president during some of her engagements to expose them to leadership at that early career development stage.
As a woman, gender issues remain close to her heart. “We have a women's wing in the Institution, and they run both formal and informal programmes. It is so important to interact with the female members and share my experiences with them.”
“You learn to realise life is dynamic, so you don't get upset that a client asks for change” Rosemargaret Esubonteng MRICS, OshDarley Consult
Combining work and family
She says that one of the biggest challenges for women continues to be combining work and family life. “That’s something that comes up a lot. My mother helped me with looking after my children after school, so I had that support, but what I’ve said to other women is have a network of family and friends to share responsibilities, whether that’s doing the shopping together or providing childcare at weekends for a social event.”
However, Esubonteng also says it’s important to know there are some responsibilities you can’t take on. “When I was chair of the quantity surveying division, I remember telling a very promising woman in a one-to-one, ‘you have to learn to say no’. A few years later, I asked her to help with one committee, and she said she couldn’t handle it during the period required, and I thought to myself, she really has learned!”
For those entering the profession she has some final words of wisdom: “They should have confidence in themselves and be knowledgeable because if you are not knowledgeable and you are asked questions, you fumble. Don't wait for your company to sponsor you, whether it's a short course, a seminar, or a workshop. Take advantage of what is available and invest in yourself!”
