The Councelor Carlos Pone talks about the importance of Africa as a strategic business region to Crown Publications.  

Africa keeps on being a strategic and promising region for AECOM, according to Carlos Pine, Executive Director of this company and member of the Portuguese Diaspora Council.

While the outlook for the continent remains positive, the integrated infrastructure delivery company is ensuring it has the necessary staff and technical expertise to allow it to capitalize on growth opportunities.

“Africa remains a strategic and promising business region for AECOM. Growth on the continent is expected to continue into 2018. This is on the back of expected increases in commodity prices; better macroeconomic conditions; an improving business environment; investment in infrastructure; and increasing foreign direct investment and inter-regional trade,” Pone highlights.

“We are in the early stages of entrenching our footprint in Africa. However, we believe strongly in supplier development and localisation. We see it as aligned closely to the growth, procurement, and transformation objectives of any country, along with a strong element of job creation and enterprise development. The aim of localisation and supplier development is to increase competitiveness, capability, capacity and skills.”

In South Africa itself, Pone stresses that AECOM supports the procurement of goods and services in line with the government’s objectives for developing and transforming local suppliers. “Our objective is to assist in transforming the local supply base by engaging in targeted supplier and enterprise development initiatives that support localisation, while also providing meaningful opportunities.”

Read full article HERE.

By Crown Publications, March 2018