ARCE 2026 Speaker Spotlight: Nikkia and Harry Carter on Why Digital Transformation in Real Estate Is a People Problem

ARCE 2026 Speaker Spotlight

Accra, Ghana — 16 September 2026 · Property News Africa is an Official Digital Media Partner of ARCE 2026

Most technology vendors at a real estate conference will tell you the product is the answer. Nikkia and Harry Carter, co-founders of Ghana-based Sesa Technology, will tell you it usually isn’t. Their firm does digital transformation and workforce development across several industries, and its view of property is shaped by what it sees everywhere else: fragmented information, manual processes and staff who were never shown why the new system matters. In their telling, the software is rarely the hard part.

The Carters are presenting two sessions at the Africa Real Estate Conference & Expo in Accra on 14–16 October: one on where digital innovation and data can, and cannot, help close Africa’s housing gap, and a second offering a practical roadmap for developers, agencies and property managers building a digital business. Property News Africa put seven questions to them jointly. Their answers, lightly edited, are below.

Speaker snapshot

Why a cross-industry firm ended up in real estate

Property News Africa: Tell us briefly about Sesa Technology and the two of you. How did a digital transformation and workforce development company come to focus on African real estate, and what does your work with developers, agencies and property managers look like day to day?

Sesa Technology: Sesa Technology is a Ghana-based digital transformation and workforce development company focused on helping organisations modernise operations, improve productivity and develop the workforce needed to succeed in a digital economy. We work across multiple industries, but real estate has emerged as one of the sectors where we see both tremendous opportunity and significant operational challenges.

What drew us to real estate was not the buildings but the processes behind them. Whether we are working with developers, property managers, agencies, schools, healthcare providers or manufacturers, we encounter similar challenges: fragmented information, manual processes, communication gaps, limited visibility into operations and difficulty scaling efficiently. Real estate organisations face all of these, often while managing projects, properties, clients and stakeholders across multiple locations.

Day to day, our work involves helping organisations assess their current processes, identify inefficiencies, implement practical technology solutions and build the skills needed to sustain those improvements. Sometimes that means modernising document management, improving collaboration, introducing workflow automation, creating dashboards and reporting tools, or training staff to work more effectively with digital systems.

Where data moves the needle on the housing gap — and where it doesn’t

PNA: Africa’s housing deficit is usually framed as a finance and land problem. Where specifically do digital tools and better data move the needle, and where do they not?

ST: Finance, land access and policy are undeniably the major drivers of Africa’s housing deficit, and technology alone cannot solve those challenges. Digital tools are not a substitute for sound policy, affordable financing or effective urban planning.

Where technology can make a meaningful difference is in improving efficiency, reducing waste and enabling better decision-making throughout the housing value chain. Better data allows developers to understand demand patterns, identify growth corridors and make more informed investment decisions. Digital project management tools can reduce delays, improve coordination between stakeholders and give greater visibility into progress. Data can also support governments and policymakers in making infrastructure and housing decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.

Technology is most powerful when it helps people make better decisions and execute more effectively. It is not a replacement for financing or policy reform, but it can help maximise the impact of both.

Starting with bad data

PNA: Much of the data that matters in African real estate is informal or not digitised at all. How do you start building a data foundation when the raw inputs are missing or unreliable?

ST: One of the biggest misconceptions about digital transformation is that organisations need perfect data before they can begin. In reality, most start with incomplete, inconsistent or largely manual information.

The first step is not perfection; it is consistency. Organisations need to identify their most important data, determine where it currently lives, and establish basic processes for capturing and maintaining it. Even simple improvements — standardising records, centralising information, reducing duplicates — create enormous value.

We encourage organisations to focus on a small number of critical business questions first. Which properties generate the most revenue? Where are project delays occurring? How long does it take to close a sale? Once you collect and manage data consistently around key decisions, the quality of that data tends to improve over time. The goal is a culture where decisions are increasingly informed by evidence rather than intuition alone.

The roadmap: 90 days, one year, and what to leave until later

PNA: Your second session offers a roadmap for building a digital real estate company. What should a typical mid-sized firm do in its first 90 days, its first year, and what should it deliberately leave until later?

ST: In the first 90 days, organisations should focus on understanding their current processes and identifying bottlenecks. That means mapping key workflows — client acquisition, property management, project approvals, document handling, financial reporting — and establishing foundational systems for communication, record management and visibility into operations.

During the first year, organisations can begin automating routine processes, introducing reporting and analytics, improving customer engagement and standardising the way information is captured and shared. At this stage leadership should focus on measurable outcomes: reducing turnaround times, improving client satisfaction, increasing operational efficiency.

What should come later are the more advanced initiatives: artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, sophisticated automation, large-scale system integrations. Too many organisations attempt to implement advanced technologies before they have strong operational foundations. Successful digital transformation is a journey, not a technology purchase.

The WhatsApp-and-spreadsheets business: common mistakes and real costs

PNA: Many African property businesses run on WhatsApp, spreadsheets and personal relationships. What are the most common mistakes you see when they try to digitise, and what’s the realistic cost of doing it properly?

ST: The most common mistake is attempting to digitise everything at once. Organisations become overwhelmed because they focus on software rather than business priorities.

Another is assuming that technology alone will solve operational challenges. If processes are unclear, inconsistent or poorly documented, new systems will amplify those problems rather than resolve them. And organisations underestimate staff adoption. Even the best technology fails if employees do not understand how and why to use it.

The cost varies significantly with size and goals, but successful digital transformation requires more than financial investment. It requires leadership commitment, employee engagement, process redesign and ongoing learning. The organisations that achieve the best results treat it as an ongoing business initiative rather than a one-time technology project.

Skills problem or software problem?

PNA: How much of digital transformation in real estate is a skills problem rather than a software problem, and how should firms think about training existing staff versus hiring new ones?

ST: In our experience, digital transformation is often more of a people challenge than a technology challenge. Many organisations already have access to capable technologies but struggle to realise their potential because employees have not been trained, workflows have not been adjusted, or leadership has not fully embraced new ways of working. That is why workforce development is central to our approach. Technology creates opportunities, but people create outcomes.

Training and hiring are complementary, not competing. Existing employees hold institutional knowledge, customer relationships and operational experience that are extremely valuable; investing in their development often produces significant returns. At the same time, certain specialised skills may require external expertise or new talent. The most successful organisations build cultures of continuous learning where employees grow alongside the technology being introduced.

The one thing to do differently

PNA: What’s the one thing you’d like a developer, agency owner or property manager in the room at ARCE to do differently after your sessions, and who should attend?

ST: Stop viewing digital transformation as a future initiative and start viewing it as a present business capability. The question is no longer whether technology will influence the future of real estate; it already does. The question is whether organisations will proactively shape that future or be forced to react to it.

We hope attendees leave understanding that digital transformation does not have to begin with a large budget or a complex technology programme. It begins by identifying business priorities, improving processes, making better use of information and investing in people. Developers, agency owners, property managers, operational leaders, project managers, policymakers and investors will all get something from these sessions. Ultimately, these conversations are not about technology. They are about creating better businesses, better housing outcomes and stronger communities across Africa.

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