Construction World January 2018

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AGILE. HOLISTIC. TRANSFORMED. Riaz Saloojee is the Executive Deputy Chairman and Group CEO of Concor Holdings and has overall responsibility and oversight of the Concor Group. He is a soldier by training and well experienced in the corporate world through his past leadership positions at SAAB, DENEL South Africa and the Swedish Defence and Electronics

Company. He reports directly to the Board of Directors and shareholder representatives, and is responsible for the strategic direction of the Concor Group. Construction World asked him about the direction of the company, transformation and the status quo of the South African construction industry.

Riaz Saloojee, Executive Deputy Chairman and Group CEO of Concor Holdings.

How do you use your background in the military to benefit Concor? The military teaches you discipline, focus and to lead from the front. It also teaches you how to be part of a team, and to be a role model for your troops. In that sense it is not different from the task at hand. What is your definition of leadership? It is the example you set for others – and is related to your value systems, ethics, morality, and how you conduct yourself in both personal and public spaces. What is your main role? My main role is to be the link between the organisation and Concor’s Board of Directors from a governance perspective. The second is to ensure that there is business continuity and that operations are executed effectively, that projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the best of our ability. Lastly it is to find ways to grow the business within the strategic objectives set by the Board. What is the strategic direction of Concor? This is based on a number of things. As a company Concor needs to maintain operational efficiencies as business

continuity is vital. The company has to be grown organically: We have to ensure that it is optimally structured and organised, that resources and assets are optimally utilised. The strategy is also to grow the business inorganically: How to use current capabilities to look at other business opportunities within the environment in which we operate. This may include strategic partnerships or joint ventures that can be entered into or acquisition targets that can reinforce and enhance Concor’s value proposition as an infrastructure provider. Lastly, the company has to be transformed to reflect the new ownership which now makes it the biggest fully transformed organisation in this environment. Concor wants to leverage its transformation credentials, but the organisation has to reflect the new strategic growth path that we have set for ourselves internally. What sets Concor apart? Concor is a unique organisation because it is focused on construction and infrastructure. It has not diversified into natural resources and other sectors. We have always been focused on the core business – and that is what distinguishes us. In addition, Concor has a long and

rich track record which means that it has experience, the correct human resources and skills to tackle projects in and outside South Africa. What are Concor’s key focus areas for the short and long-term? In the short term the key focus is to stabilise the organisation as the economic environment is not conducive to investment. Government is experiencing challenging times in terms of resources available for investment in infrastructure programmes. It is not an easy environment, but it is a wave we have to ride. In the long-term our external strategy – our strategy into the rest of Africa – has to be more aggressive. By increasing our footprint into Africa, we can take advantage of the huge need for infrastructure as the continent develops. The development of economies and societies always begins from an infrastructure development perspective – without it there can be no economic or social development. What are the challenges of a construction company in the South African context? The eccentricities of the local and international economic and investment climate make for a difficult context.

FROM LEFT: An aerial overview of the Medupi project; road work being conducted in the Eastern Cape; and computers were donated to the Muntonokudla Secondary School in KZN.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD JANUARY 2018