Construction firm canvasses support for indigenous companies
October 21, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
A
building and civil engineering company, Construction Kaiser Limited,
has expressed dissatisfaction with the inability of local construction
firms to exist for long.
The Executive Vice Chairman,
Construction Kaiser, Mr. Igbuan Okaisabor, expressed the dissatisfaction
during the company’s 20th anniversary held in Lagos.
He noted that the anniversary was to
celebrate the company’s existence despite the numerous challenges being
faced by indigenous companies in the country.
Okaisabor said, “As research has shown,
entrepreneurship is very challenging, only 20 per cent of start-ups make
it past the fifth year in the Western world; yet here, we are
celebrating our 20th anniversary in an environment that is very
challenging to do business for various reasons you can identify with.
“I wonder why Nigerians cannot establish
and grow construction companies that can work to high standards, and
indeed, at a lower price, since we can eliminate the overheads
associated with keeping expatriates in Nigeria.”
He, however, advised constructors to invest in staff training and acquire equipment for quality job delivery.
“We believe that 80 per cent of success
in business is brought about by relationships, while 20 per cent is
attributable to product knowledge. We have invested heavily in equipment
and training of personnel. Nigeria is a typical emerging market
characterised by scarcity of well-trained people, especially in middle
management,” he added.
While giving tips that sustained the
company, Okaisabor said, “This has been made worse by little or no
investment in the country’s educational sector over the last 30 years.
Recognising this, we have embarked on local and international training
of our engineers and management to continuously improve our project
delivery.”
The keynote address speaker, Mr. K.
Adeola, blamed the lack of financial support for the non-sustainability
of the local companies.
Adeola, who spoke on ‘The emergence of
indigenous construction companies in Nigeria – Challenges and
prospects’, explained that engineers had limited opportunities to work
in their fields due to the absence of construction companies that could
employ them.
He said, “There are thousands of
engineers and most of them are working in other sectors because they
have limited opportunities in the fields they are trained in. We need to
boost engineers in the small scale enterprise. There is inadequate
capacity building and banks are not willing to help local contractors.
“The patronage policy does not allow
local contractors to get work. They are struggling against all odds.
Also, the procurement policy is hugely against local constructors.
Access to capital is another problem. Construction business involves
huge capital, which a local contractor is not likely to have; access to
finance is a great barrier to local contractors.”
Other experts who spoke at the events
were the Dean, Lagos Business School, Dr. Enase Okonedo; Managing
Director, Interkel Group, Mr. Nnamdi Agbim; President, Nigerian
Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mr. Agele Alufohai; Fellow, Nigerian
Society of Engineers, Mr. Ernest Nwapa; and Mr. Massimo De Luca of the
European Union delegation.
http://www.punchng.com/business/homes-property/construction-firm-canvasses-support-for-indigenous-companies/
