Hudai Foundation: Turkiye's Charitable Footprint in Ghana

Among the network of Turkish-linked institutions operating across West Africa, the Hudai Foundation occupies a distinct place in Ghana's religious and humanitarian landscape. Formally known as the Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Foundation, the organization is a Turkish non-governmental body headquartered in Üsküdar, Istanbul, which has carried out charitable work in Ghana since around 2010. Its most visible legacy is the Ghana National Mosque in Kanda, Accra, but its activities extend well beyond that single project into education, relief assistance, and community development.

Origins and Mandate
The Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Foundation was established in Turkiye in 1985 and describes itself as continuing a four-hundred-year-old tradition of Ottoman-era charitable endowments, or waqf. It operates under Turkiye's "public benefit" and tax-exempt NGO status, with two principal offices in Üsküdar and a network of partner institutions across Turkey and abroad. Beyond Ghana, the foundation runs projects in several African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia, as well as states across Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The Ghana National Mosque Project
The foundation's defining achievement in Ghana is the construction of the Ghana National Mosque, located in Kanda, Accra, beside the Nima neighborhood. Construction began in 2012 and the complex was formally opened in 2021, built at a reported cost of roughly ten million US dollars with support from the Turkish government. The mosque, with capacity for around 15,000 worshippers, is the second largest in West Africa and includes an imam's residence, a madrasa and a library.

Materials such as marble, ceramic tiles and earthenware were sourced from Turkey for the project. Beyond its religious function, the mosque was envisioned as a symbol of Turkish-Ghanaian relations and a hub for the foundation's continuing charitable operations in the country.

How the Foundation Operates Day to Day
In Ghana, Hudai functions through a country office overseen by a Hudai Country Coordinator, currently Remzi Şeker, alongside a Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Musah Nuhu, who liaises with government and the public. The foundation channels its programmes through the National Mosque complex itself, using it as both a place of worship and an operational base for distributing aid.

Its activities fall into recurring categories:
Seasonal religious charity. During Ramadan, the foundation distributes food items, including rice, tomato paste, spaghetti, sunflower oil and sugar, to vulnerable groups such as prison inmates.

During Eid-ul-Adha, it organises large-scale livestock distribution, slaughtering and sharing cows among Muslim families through a coordinated nationwide network, in accordance with Islamic requirements for both the sacrifice and the equitable handling of meat.

Institutional partnerships. The foundation works directly with Ghanaian state institutions, most notably the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ministry of the Interior, delivering annual donations that are formally received by government officials, often in the presence of the Turkish Ambassador to Ghana.

Broader humanitarian and educational programmes. According to its own officials, the foundation has, over the years, implemented programmes in education, community development and relief assistance, targeting vulnerable populations including orphans and widows, in addition to its prison welfare work.

Scale and Reach
The most recent Eid-ul-Adha distribution saw the foundation provide 1,500 cows to Muslim families nationwide, an exercise it describes as one of the largest charitable livestock interventions in Ghana, reportedly benefiting more than 30,000 people. Its Ramadan donations to the Prisons Service, by contrast, are smaller and more targeted, typically running to a few hundred bags and cartons of staple food items annually.

Why It Matters
The Hudai Foundation sits at the intersection of religious philanthropy and Turkish soft power diplomacy in Ghana. Its work follows a pattern familiar from Ankara's broader Africa engagement: visible infrastructure projects, such as the National Mosque, paired with recurring humanitarian gestures timed to Islamic religious calendars, which build goodwill among Ghana's Muslim population while reinforcing bilateral ties between Accra and Ankara.

For a columnist tracking Turkiye's footprint across the continent, Hudai's Ghana operations offer a useful case study in how a faith-based foundation translates capital investment into sustained local presence.

Mustapha Bature Sallama.
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal investigation and Intelligence Analysis.
International Conflict Management and Peace Building.USIP
mustysallama@gmail.com
+233-555-275-880

References
Ministry of the Interior, Republic of Ghana. "Hudai Foundation donates food items to Ghana Prisons Service." https://www.mint.gov.gh/hudai-foundation-donates-food-items-to-ghana-prisons-service/

ModernGhana.com. "Hudai Foundation Distributes 1,500 Cows to Muslim Families for Eid-ul-Adha." https://www.modernghana.com/news/1497836/hudai-foundation-distributes-1500-cows-to-muslim.html

Ministry of the Interior, Republic of Ghana. "Interior Minister Receives Food Items from Hudai Foundation for Prison Inmates." https://www.mint.gov.gh/interior-minister-receives-food-items-from-hudai-foundation-for-prison-inmates/

Angel Online. "Interior ministry receives Ramadan food donations for prison inmates." https://angelonline.com.gh/2026/02/21/interior-ministry-receives-ramadan-food-donations-for-prison-inmates/

HUDAI Ghana, Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/ghanahudai/
Wikipedia. "Ghana National Mosque.” https

Comboni Missionaries. "Ghana: The Great Mosque of Accra." https://combonimissionaries.co.uk/index.php/2019/04/02/ghana-the-great-mosque-of-accra/

Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Foundation. "About Us." https://hudayivakfi.org/en/about-us.html

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