Construction World January 2018

About Concor Concor is a diversified infrastructure construction organisation comprising seven business units and core competencies in building, infrastructure, opencast mining and property development. As a member of the Southern Palace Group, the company is Level 1 B-BBEE accredited business and one of the largest players in the Southern Africa infrastructure construction sectors.

The new BCX facility in Midrand.

If economies are growing, GDP is good, there is employment, confidence and investment. If economies are being impacted negatively, whether it is due to local or international factors, companies have to be able to ride it out.

emphasis on transforming the company, we do so in a responsible way so that it does not negatively impact on business continuity. The country has historical legacies that we have to deal with, especially when it comes to skills. It is not only a responsibility of the government to address these issues, it is also the private sector’s responsibility. In conjunction with government, we have to make sure that we allocate the resources to create an enabling environment to reduce the historical gap. What does Concor mean with ‘holistic development’? Holistic development is not just the development of the company. It is also our contribution to the development of societies. When we talk about a ‘developmental state’, we want to create more jobs and we want to inject more investment into the economy, and we want to create greater opportunities for our people. It is an integrated approach of how to become a player in society – not just within the narrow confines of our industry. How do you develop the communities in which you operate? Within the imperatives of transformation and empowerment, it makes sense that you empower the communities in which you operate. This does not only entail temporary employment, but creating a sustainable environment going forward so that the skills that you are conveying and the supply chain that you are developing, will impart the knowledge and human capital that will be beneficial for future economic activity. We are committed to empowering such communities, but empowering them in a sustainable way. How will Concor build a sustainable business? You must have the confidence of your client base, something that you achieve by being consistently competitive, producing good quality, committed to transformation and

when there is credibility in what you are doing. Concor is in it for the long haul – we are not here to reap benefits as quickly as possible. One of the core principles for Concor – apart from adding value for shareholders and its employees – is that we contribute to the development of communities, societies and countries in a responsible way. With all the factors that are impacting negatively on the environment we have got to be at the forefront of being a responsible industry player. This is non-negotiable. Is there still a place for public private partnerships? I think that there still is a significant role for PPPs where access to capital, resources and a strong balance sheet are prerequisites for the rollout of a megaproject. One cannot rely solely on government resources or private sector funding for infrastructure development – sometimes a project is so big, that one cannot do it alone. What is Concor’s cross border expansion plans? Concor it is not merely looking for business opportunities in Africa, executing a programme and exiting. Our value proposition provides turnkey solutions, so the project has to be something that is integrated in a very real strategic partnership – a project with mutually beneficial employment and environmental benefits for all involved. When will the industry see an upswing? Although we are not there yet, the industry will start seeing a bigger injection into the economy from government with a more integrated economic development plan. This will give confidence to the economy and encourage local and foreign investment. It is not an easy environment at the moment and will take some time to rectify itself, but I am confident it will. 

How can a company be agile in a difficult environment?

One can only be truly agile in this environment by creating the kind or

organisation that can respond to the lean times and the good times. Agility is also the ability to respond to the needs of the client – whether it is the public or private sector – in an efficient and competitive manner, at the same time providing the efficiencies, professionalism and quality that is going to be the competitive advantage. In short: it is about being flexible, to downscale or upscale, and to provide innovative and competitive solutions. Concor has a ‘comprehensive strategy that aims to achieve meaningful representation’. Explain this. In this sector, Concor is leading the initiative to effect meaningful transformation and empowerment, not only from a shareholding perspective, but in terms of reflecting the demographics of our country. The company aims to create an enabling environment within the Concor entity which will give opportunity to people to express themselves so that qualitative empowerment is created. How challenging is achieving and maintaining the right level of skills in the construction industry? It is vital. Although it is important that the optimal level of skills is necessary for the proficiency of the company, it does not, in any way, contradict our objective of transforming the company and skills base to reflect the demographics of the country. There has to be robust mentorship programmes, succession planning, skills development, and young talent identification. Although we place much

11

CONSTRUCTION WORLD JANUARY 2018