PROFILE
expertise in such as property, industrial,
healthcare and in everything we do,
we consult with clients on building for
sustainability of their projects.
We are also not trying to buy or
directly compete with our domestic
counterparts for project work in African
markets. Although the African market
is fragmented, with smaller similar
professional services firms, we find
that the first-tier domestic providers
are well established, but that even the
second and third tier providers are fully-
fledged and can deliver a great deal of
the work required on many projects.
However, where the second and third
tier providers can benefit most is from
access to sectorial and internationally
recognised expertise.
WSP continues to work with strong
performers, and in most countries across
Africa, sharing opportunities. And, to
ensure we do not dilute our offering, we
have spent considerable time developing
local partner relationships that are
mutually complimentary and therefore
sustainable. We remain very respectful
of our partner relationships and don’t feel
that we need to ‘own’ the process or
the bulk of the work on projects. Rather,
we are more focused on where we can
support our local partners by offering
them access to critical and expert skills
to service projects as they need and
particularly if there is an expectation for
a project to comply with international
best practices, standards and regulations.
We also place significant dedication
on driving increased opportunities for
collaboration and sharing knowledge
and technology, wherever possible, to
assist in broadening the knowledge and
capacity of our partners.
Our optimism about Africa’s future
combined with in-depth understanding of
domestic markets ensures our partners
and clients always receive innovative
solutions from passionate people. And,
through our excellent local technical
expertise and access to world-class
global capability, we are able to anticipate
trends and offer innovative ideas and
solutions to tackle complex problems
and advance delivery of infrastructure
projects that will shape the communities
of tomorrow and help societies in Africa
to thrive sustainably.
References
1. World Bank: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/overview
2. Future Agenda: https://www.futureagenda.org/insight/africa-growth
3. United Nations, ‘Drivers of Migration and Urbanization in Africa’ report, 2017.
30
AUGUST 2019
Joint regional
infrastructure
planning also offers
great opportunity
to bring more
infrastructure
projects to ground
in economically
sound means, and
also promotes
beneficiation and
enhanced social
development.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mathieu du Plooy is managing director of
WSP Africa, one of the world's leading
engineering professional services
consulting firms. WSP brings together
about 48 000 talented, technical experts
globally, who design comprehensive
and sustainable solutions and engineer
projects to help societies grow for
lifetimes to come.
the past as international governments,
funding institutions and private businesses
alike increasingly look for opportunities
across African markets to partner and
invest for mutually beneficial growth.
One challenge that many African
states and industries face when trying
to secure funding is ‘how do we make
projects bankable?’ The reality is that
with slower economic growth, sovereign
budgets are often strained even further.
States, however, can look to unbundle
key sectors and open markets up for
donor and private investor funding.
Public-private partnerships, for example,
have proven to be very successful in
a number of African markets. And, if
the procurement contracts are properly
structured, this offers immense
opportunities to shift the balance
between state versus investor priorities.
Joint regional infrastructure planning
also offers great opportunity to bring
more infrastructure projects to ground
in economically sound means, and also
promotes beneficiation and enhanced
social development. But getting this right
requires leaders with the will to provide
facilitation – and trust that the long-term
gains of such programmes and projects
will benefit all stakeholders.
With more than 50 years of experience
where we have worked in most countries
across Africa, we have an important
role to play in the delivery of much-
needed infrastructure projects. Our
purpose of preparing our communities
and environment for the future is
underpinned by how we see ourselves
as a link between providing support for
the effective delivery of these aspirations,
policies and projects.
As a global professional services
firm, we focus on our African growth
strategy around key sectors rather
than geographies. There is significant
investment and development focus
on primary, secondary and social
infrastructure projects which are
largely driven by resource industries
and consumerisation. To support this,
we continue to build on our business
strengths in key sectors, including marine,
energy and environment, power, mining,
transport and infrastructure. We also look
for opportunities to support projects in
other areas that we have deep-seated
Mathieu du Plooy, managing director of
WSP in Africa.
www.equipmentandhire.co.za