Manoj Lakhiani was 17 when he quit school and borrowed $25,000 from his father to buy a second-hand plastic extrusion machine in Accra.

Three decades later, the Ghana-born industrialist is Chairman of the Blow Group of Companies, one of the largest privately owned manufacturers in Ghana.

Its factories in Tema make plastic bags and packaging, PET bottle preforms, Bel Aqua bottled water, Bel Cola and a range of soft drinks, a low-alcohol cider and Belpak tissue paper.

The group says it employs about 4,000 people and publishes no accounts.

The group's roots go back to 1994, when Jagdish Lakhiani, an Accra import merchant, bought a struggling maker of plastic gallons that became Blow Plast Industries.

Its business grew on everyday plastics such as carrier bags, sachet water film and sacks.

The biggest move came out of a setback: after a major beverage customer dropped it in 2010, Lakhiani set up a drinks business and launched Bel Aqua in October 2011.

The company says Bel Aqua became the market leader within five years, and Sagaci Research ranked it the most-scanned bottled water brand in Ghana in August 2026.

Lakhiani has also diversified into noodles, which the group sold to Indomie maker Dufil in 2020, and into cola, cider and tissue paper, with the Belpak mill launched in Tema in 2023.

Bel Aqua has had setbacks, including a 2024 recall of one batch by Ghana's food regulator over pH levels.

Blow Plast has also fought a long-running land dispute in the High Court in Accra.

The company has announced no new factory since a 2024 Krones equipment order, and has not said who will succeed Lakhiani.