DRA COO Michiel van Niekerk
Photo by: Duane Daws
Having already established a strong foothold in sub-Saharan Africa, Johannesburg-headquartered DRA is keen to further expand its presence in West and North Africa.
The multidisciplinary organisation is already one of the largest engineering and project management enterprises on the continent, with a permanent presence in nine African countries outside South Africa.
COO Michiel van Niekerk explains that DRA intends to identify and develop opportunities in North Africa using its recently established Middle East office, in Muscat, Oman, and its partnership with Turkish group Afrasia Mining and Energy.
“From a religious perspective, Oman is not as conservative as many other parts of the Islamic world,” he says, adding that the country does not feel so culturally foreign to a South African company.
Neale Goddard, who is overseeing operations in the Oman office, believes there are many opportunities in mining and infrastructure in North and East Africa, as well as Arabian countries.
“That area has traditionally been very active in oil, but oil is not going to last forever and investors are looking to diversify their portfolios to be less biased towards oil. Hence, there are quite a lot of people now looking for mining opportunities and investments and their targets are Arabian countries and East Africa,” Goddard says.
The Oman office, established in mid-2014, will target projects in all commodities. It is estimated that 85% of the world’s phosphate reserves – a commodity that DRA is targeting for future diversification – are located in North Africa. Other commodities found in the area include chrome and rare-earth elements, where DRA already has a dominant position.
“In 2015, we will focus on getting studies and projects in the Oman office,” Goddard says, adding that the office is already bringing in a number of leads.
Although the recently established memorandum of understanding with Ankara-headquartered Afrasia focuses on opportunities in Western Europe, the partnership could also yield business in North African countries, where the Turkish group has successfully completed projects.
In West Africa, where DRA has had “good successes”, the group has established an office in Ghana, which will be used as a springboard into the region.
In sub-Saharan Africa, DRA has a well-established presence, but it believes there are still untapped opportunities in the east, particularly in Ethiopia and Kenya.
“Our intention is to focus on the whole of Africa,” Van Niekerk says, adding that there are certain countries that DRA prefers not to enter because of political instability.
“We will never send our people to a country where we, as directors, do not want to go ourselves,” he states.
Despite the progress in many African countries, companies operating on the continent still have to deal with challenges, such as travelling, a lack of infrastructure and health concerns - illnesses such as Malaria are a real threat to DRA staff. The recent Ebola outbreak is a serious threat, although DRA has a well-structured and articulated evacuation procedure. The company is conducting risk assessments for all countries affected by the fatal disease.
Despite DRA’s focus on international expansion, South Africa continues to have a special place in the hearts of DRA people. “South Africa is our first love and will always remain that. About 50% of our yearly turnover comes from South Africa.”
The DRA Way
So what makes DRA successful in Africa? Van Niekerk puts it down to “the DRA way”.
The DRA way means ensuring that the company’s core group of people enjoy what they are doing, he says. “We are an engineering company, so we spoil our engineers. We give them trust to live themselves out in their profession. You have to enjoy what you do. If you do not enjoy your work, you will not be as successful as you can be.”
In its 30 years of existence, DRA has also built up a culture of “within budget, on time and to the correct quality” – a value which attracts clients with projects in Africa.
Using the Edikan project, which DRA executed for Perseus Mining in Ghana, as an example, Van Niekerk says the large gold project was delivered on time and within budget. “It was the first time in a very long time that any company delivered a project, in remote Africa, on time and within budget. That made a lot of Australian juniors pay attention.”
Also, you have to partner with the correct companies. For example, DRA has successfully aligned with South African construction companies on a number of projects such as the Edikan project, the Kibali project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the New Liberty project, in Liberia.