According to the Chief Executive Officer of Moon doog Technologies, Mr Isaac Chris-Quay, owning smart home in this day and age is not luxury but a matter of human dignity.
ACCRA, GHANA — As Ghana continues to grapple with housing affordability and a growing housing deficit, technology entrepreneur Isaac Ayitey Chris-Quaye is challenging the perception that smart homes are a luxury reserved for the wealthy, arguing that intelligent living solutions should be designed around human dignity, safety, and the realities of African households.
Speaking about the future of real estate and smart home automation at the ARCE26, Chris-Quaye argued that the conversation should move beyond expensive devices and imported concepts to focus on how technology can address everyday challenges faced by homeowners and residents.
“Smart homes are not simply about having automated lights, voice-controlled devices, or being able to control your house from your phone. The real question is how technology can make people’s lives safer, easier, and more dignified,” is the central message behind his position.
Chris-Quaye, who leads NeuraHomes, a Ghanaian smart home automation company, believes that Africa’s housing challenges should not be used as a reason to exclude technology from residential development. Instead, he argues, they should inform how such solutions are designed, priced, and deployed.
Designing for African realities
According to Chris-Quaye, one of the biggest challenges facing the smart home industry is the tendency to replicate solutions developed for other markets without adequately accounting for local conditions.
African households and property developers operate within different financial and infrastructure realities. Smart home solutions must therefore be practical, adaptable, and capable of addressing the problems people actually face.
These may include improving residential security, managing energy consumption, simplifying the control of household systems, and making properties easier to monitor and maintain.
Rather than assuming that every household needs a fully automated property, Chris-Quaye advocates a more progressive approach: introducing technologies according to the needs, priorities, and budgets of individual households.
The goal, he argues, should be to make the benefits of intelligent living more accessible rather than associate them exclusively with high-end real estate.
Beyond smart devices: The case for intelligent properties
Chris-Quaye also distinguishes between a smart home and what he describes as an intelligent property.
A smart home may allow residents to control individual devices remotely or automate specific functions. An intelligent property takes a broader approach by connecting compatible systems and using available information to respond more effectively to occupants’ needs.
For example, a property could integrate security, lighting, and energy-management systems instead of requiring residents to manage multiple disconnected devices and applications.
This approach is central to the vision behind NeuraHomes, which seeks to bring compatible smart devices and systems together through an integrated platform.
For Chris-Quaye, the opportunity lies not simply in introducing more technology into homes, but in making the overall experience of living in and managing those properties more seamless.
Rethinking the future of Ghanaian real estate
The argument also has implications for property developers and managers. Chris-Quaye believes that smart home technology should be considered earlier in the development process, allowing developers to plan for integration and future upgrades rather than treating technology as an afterthought.
For property owners, potential benefits include improved monitoring, convenience, security, and energy management. For property managers, connected systems may support more efficient oversight and help identify certain maintenance needs earlier.
For developers, intelligent-property features may offer opportunities to differentiate projects as buyer expectations evolve. However, the commercial benefits will depend on implementation, cost, buyer demand, and measurable outcomes.
As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into everyday digital services, Chris-Quaye believes that expectations of physical spaces may also change. Homes could increasingly be expected to offer more responsive, connected, and convenient experiences.
His position is that Ghana’s real estate sector should begin preparing for that possibility now, while ensuring that technology remains grounded in practical needs.
“We should not simply import the future of housing from elsewhere. We should build solutions that understand our people, our environment, and our realities.”
For Chris-Quaye, the future of smart housing in Africa will depend on whether technology providers and property developers can move beyond selling devices and begin solving the problems that matter most to the people who live in those homes.
