AECOM unveils‘ 2020 Strategy for Africa’
Integrated professional and technical services company AECOM unveiled its‘ 2020 Strategy for Africa’ at a media brie ng at its Centurion head office on �ursday 7 July.
Carlos Poñe, newly-appointed Chief Executive- Africa, AECOM.
Speaking to editors and journalists from the trade press at the event, newlyappointed Chief Executive – Africa Carlos Poñe highlighted that AECOM is looking to double its revenue from African projects.“ Our vision for AECOM in Africa is that we foresee revenue on the continent being at least as good as in South Africa. �us we could be doubling our revenue in a very short space of time,” Poñe reveals.“ �ere is an incredible amount of enabling infrastructure that goes along with large-scale private sector projects. If you look at a Green eld mine, for example, there o�en is no power, roads, housing or water and sewerage. Everything has to be built from scratch, and this represents huge opportunities for potential investors,” Poñe explains. Poñe brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his new role at AECOM, which he took up in October 2015. �is
ranges from being MD for a major mechanical construction company in Mozambique in 1982, to b eing production manager for a major South African pump manufacturer in 1985. From 1993, he held various positions at ABB Sub-Saharan Africa, including VP and CEO. He also spent close to three years in the United Arab Emirates as CEO of ABB UAE and Middle East, overseeing part of the Middle East, and nally becoming an Executive Director at AECOM UAE. While Poñe is focused rmly on Africa, he stresses that AECOM is not neglecting South Africa, where it opened new offices in both Durban and Cape Town to service the local market.“ South Africa may not be the biggest economy in Africa anymore, but it is still the most sophisticated,” he reiterates.“ In terms of investment, infrastructure, banking and insurance, it is number one in all of these areas. Secondly, it is much easier to source engineering skills here for the rest of
Africa. �erefore our aim is to deploy the global competitiveness of AECOM to assist our customers in terms of all of our capabilities. With the devaluation of the rand, it has also meant that we have become even more cost-competitive,” Poñe adds. AECOM originally entered the South African market in 2010 with the acquisition of Davis Langdon, following which it absorbed multi-disciplinary rm BKS in 2012. While these two legacy companies form the basis of AECOM South Africa, it is the intention of Poñe to ensure that AECOM b e c o m e s a s w e l l- k n o w n, a n d entrenched, as it is in the rest of the world. One of Poñe ' s aims is to change the perception of AECOM in the local market, where he admits it has been something of a“ hidden secret” to date.“ We need to get away from this idea that we are a construction consultant or company,” he concludes.
Page28 | May- June 2016
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