Built by the diaspora, for the diaspora

We got tired of watching
our people get burned.

Every year, Ghanaians abroad send billions home to build their dream properties. Too many of those stories end in heartbreak — money gone, foundations abandoned, contractors vanished. Tumi Strux exists because we decided that had to stop.

RO
Real Owusu
Co-Founder & CEO
KO
Kofi Owusu
Co-Founder & CTO
The Problem We're Solving
“Diaspora Ghanaians remit over $4.7 billion annually — yet there is no reliable mechanism for overseas investors to verify that their construction funds are being used as agreed.”
World Bank Remittances Report, 2024 · We read this and built Tumi Strux.
$4.7B
Annual remittances to Ghana
~40%
Estimated lost to fraud
0
Platforms solving this — until now
Our Story

Where Tumi Strux
came from

Tumi Strux was founded by two brothers — Real and Kofi Owusu — who watched their family attempt to build a home in Accra from the UK over three painful years. Money sent. Progress photos received. Then silence. When their father flew to Ghana to check, what he found at the site bore no resemblance to what had been paid for.

They weren't alone. Talking to friends, colleagues, and community members across the Ghanaian diaspora in London, Amsterdam, Toronto, and New York, the same story kept surfacing — with different names, different contractors, the same ending. Thousands of families, the same betrayal.

“We didn't build a platform. We built the thing our dad needed in 2019 — and that a thousand other Ghanaian families still need right now.”
— Real Owusu, Co-Founder & CEO

The solution wasn't complicated in principle: hold the money securely, release it only when verified work is done, and make the whole process transparent to someone sitting in London or Amsterdam. What was missing was a platform that understood both the financial rigour required and the Ghanaian construction context.

That's what Tumi Strux is. Named for the Twi word Tumi — meaning power and authority — it's a platform that gives the diaspora something they've never had before: real control over their builds back home.

2019
The Owusu family loses GHS 180,000
A contractor in Accra takes the family's money and disappears after laying the foundation. Real and Kofi fly to Ghana — and decide something has to change.
2020–2022
Research & market validation
Interviews with 340+ diaspora Ghanaians across the UK, Netherlands, USA and Canada. The same patterns emerge everywhere. The idea crystallises.
2023
First contractor partnerships established
12 vetted contractors in Greater Accra and Ashanti agree to pilot. The inspection protocol and escrow release mechanism is designed from scratch with a Ghanaian law firm.
2024
Platform launch — first 14 projects
Tumi Strux launches with 14 investor projects across 6 regions. First inspection video report delivered within 72 hours of a phase completion. GHS 2.1 billion in escrow in year one.
2025–2026
147 contractors · 4 markets · Growing
Platform expansion to cover 12 regions in Ghana. Property passport launched. Sales marketplace opens. Regulatory engagement with Bank of Ghana begins.
How We Protect You

Your money is never at risk.
Here's exactly why.

Six interlocking mechanisms — not one. Every layer protects the one before it. Removing any single layer breaks the chain, so none can be removed.

01
Platform-Managed Escrow
Your full build budget is deposited into a secure, platform-managed escrow account before any work begins. Neither you nor the contractor can withdraw funds without completing the release process.
What this means: Even if a contractor tries to walk away, your money is completely inaccessible to them.
02
Independent Video Inspection
Every phase requires a site visit from a qualified inspector we assign — never someone the contractor knows or has worked with. They walk every area on camera, verify every deliverable, and file a report directly to you.
Inspector rotation policy: The same inspector never visits consecutive phases of the same project, preventing any relationship forming with the contractor.
03
You Approve Every Release
After each inspection, you receive the full report, video, and material grades. No funds move without your explicit approval on the platform. You have three options: Approve, Request Remediation, or Dispute.
All-or-nothing policy: We don't do partial releases. A phase is either complete or it isn't. No grey areas, no pressure to accept substandard work.
04
Material Grading
Every major material — cement brand, block quality, rebar grade, electrical spec — is assessed and graded by our inspectors. Logged in your Property Passport. You can see exactly what went into your walls.
No corner-cutting invisible to you: Contractors cannot substitute cheaper materials without our inspectors catching it on the next visit.
05
3-Level Dispute Resolution
If you raise a dispute, escrow is frozen immediately. The dispute goes through mediation, independent arbitration, and — if unresolved — legal escalation. At every stage, funds remain locked until resolution.
Funds never move during a dispute. The contractor has no leverage. They cannot access any money until the dispute is resolved in your favour or by agreement.
06
Property Passport
A full verified build record issued at handover — materials, inspections, costs, drawings, electrical maps, plumbing routes. It proves what was built and how well, permanently. It transfers to any future buyer.
A first in Ghana's property market: No other build documentation like this exists for the residential diaspora investor. It adds measurable resale value.
Regulatory Framework

We operate within the law.
In every market.

Tumi Strux is designed from the ground up to comply with financial regulations in Ghana and across our diaspora markets. We believe transparency about our regulatory status is itself a trust signal.

🇬🇭
Ghana — Bank of Ghana
Escrow & Payment Services Regulation
Holding client funds in Ghana falls under the Bank of Ghana's oversight for payment service providers. We are engaged in formal dialogue with the BoG regarding our escrow model and are structured to comply fully with their licensing requirements.
Ghanaian legal entity registered
Escrow managed via partner licensed bank
Payment Services Licence — application in progress
Regulatory engagement active
🇬🇧
United Kingdom — FCA
Financial Conduct Authority
UK investors using Tumi Strux are depositing funds for property purchase overseas. We have taken legal counsel on FCA applicability and are structured to ensure our UK-facing operations comply with consumer protection requirements.
UK legal entity registered (England & Wales)
FCA legal opinion obtained
ICO registered (data protection)
Compliant & operational
🇳🇱
Netherlands — AFM / DNB
Authority for the Financial Markets
For our Dutch diaspora users, we operate in compliance with EU payment services directives. Our Netherlands-based investors are served through our UK entity which operates under the applicable framework for cross-border services.
EU GDPR compliant
Served via UK entity (cross-border)
Netherlands entity — planned for 2026
Operational
🇺🇸🇨🇦
USA & Canada
FinCEN / FINTRAC Compliance
North American users are served under our existing regulatory framework. We are conducting legal review for any additional AML/KYC requirements under FinCEN (US) and FINTRAC (Canada) applicable to diaspora construction escrow services.
KYC identity verification at onboarding
AML transaction monitoring active
North American legal review in progress
Legal review ongoing
The Team

People who've lived
both sides of this.

Every person on the Tumi Strux team either grew up in the diaspora, has family building in Ghana, or has spent years working in Ghanaian construction. This isn't an abstract market to us.

RO
Real Owusu
Co-Founder & CEO
Born in Accra, raised in London. 8 years in fintech product at Monzo and Revolut before co-founding Tumi Strux. Has personal skin in the game — the Owusu family home is being built on the platform.
Fintech ProductDiasporaLondon
LinkedIn
KO
Kofi Owusu
Co-Founder & CTO
Software engineer and architect. Previously led engineering at a UK-based PropTech, before returning to Ghana to lead the technical build of Tumi Strux. Based between London and Accra.
EngineeringPropTechAccra / London
LinkedIn
AA
Abena Asante
Head of Inspections
Civil engineer with 14 years experience in Ghana's construction sector. Led the design of Tumi Strux's inspection protocol and certifies all platform inspectors. Based in Accra.
Civil EngineeringQuality AssuranceAccra
LinkedIn
EM
Efua Mensah
Head of Investor Relations
10 years in private banking at Barclays Wealth, specialising in African diaspora clients. Understands exactly what diaspora investors need to feel secure. Based in London.
Private BankingDiaspora FinanceLondon
LinkedIn
KA
Kwame Agyemang
Legal & Compliance
Ghanaian-qualified lawyer with specialisms in real estate, land title, and financial services regulation. Leads Tumi Strux's regulatory strategy in Ghana and across diaspora markets.
Real Estate LawRegulationAccra
LinkedIn
NA
Nana Ama Boateng
Head of Contractor Verification
Former NHBRC inspector with 11 years of experience assessing building quality across Ghana. Designed the Tumi Strux contractor rating framework and leads all onboarding site visits.
Contractor VettingNHBRCKumasi
LinkedIn
Advisory Board
YB
Dr. Yaa Boateng
Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana
AK
Ato Kwamena
CEO, Ghana Real Estate Developers Association
SK
Sarah Kleinhans
Partner, Diaspora Ventures (Amsterdam)
MO
Michael Osei-Bonsu
Former VP, Barclays Africa
Our Commitment

We will always put
the investor first.

Tumi Strux is not neutral. We are not a marketplace that simply connects buyers and sellers and takes a fee. We are explicitly on the side of the diaspora investor — the person with the most to lose, the least visibility, and historically the fewest protections.

Our business model is aligned with your outcome. We make money when your project succeeds — through escrow fees and inspection fees tied to completed phases. If your project fails, we fail. That alignment is intentional and non-negotiable.

Our founding commitments
We will never assign a contractor to you — only help you find one.
We will never take payment from contractors to influence their ratings.
We will never release funds without your explicit approval.
We will publish our inspection pass/fail rates publicly — including the failures.
We will always tell you what we don't yet know about our regulatory position.
0
Verified contractors across 12 regions
GHS 0B+
In escrow under management
0%
On-time phase delivery rate
0+
Diaspora families interviewed in our founding research
As Seen In

Early coverage and mentions from across the diaspora and fintech press

TUMI
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