Mensa Otabil

Pastor Mensa Otabil started the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) at a Kanda school on 26 February 1984. The church now has branches across Ghana, Africa, Europe and North America, and he also founded Central University, where he is chancellor.

Sekondi and Tema

Born in Sekondi on 31 August 1959, Mensa Anamua Otabil is a son of Lloyd and Dinah Otabil; the family home was on Asafo Street. After starting school at an Anglican primary in Sekondi, he moved with the family, which moved to Tema in 1966 when his father became personnel manager at the GIHOC boatyard. He went to Swedru Secondary School from 1972 to 1977. He lost both parents in his mid-teens, his mother in 1975 and his father a year later. In Tema he worshipped first at St. Alban's Anglican Church and then at the Assemblies of God, and joined the Power House Fellowship. Later, in Accra, he took a job with the information ministry's audio-visual unit and joined the Kanda fellowship.

Ministry

He is general overseer of ICGC and senior pastor of Christ Temple at Abossey Okai. He also runs Otabil and Associates, a leadership consultancy, and his teaching has long focused on African development and self-belief. The government made him a Companion of the Order of the Volta in 2007, and he has received a Millennium Excellence Award. He married Joy in 1986; they have four children.