Stakeholder: Transparency, compliance key to success

Advent Construction managing director Dhruv Jog speaks during an interview with The Citizen. PHOTO | GADIOSA LAMTEY

What you need to know:

  • The civil engineering and building construction firm grew its turnover from Sh6 billion in 2011 to over Sh20 billion in 2016 graduating to Club 101

Dar es Salaam. Transparency, compliance to regulations and the spirit of helping others grow are the main reasons behind the success of Advent Construction Limited.

The company, which has participated in the Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies Survey from 2011 to 2016, is a proud sponsor of the 2017 and 2018 Tanzania Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies Survey.

In 2016 the company graduated from mid-sized companies’ level to the 101 Club.

The civil engineering and building construction firm grew its turnover from around Sh6 billion in 2011 to over Sh20 billion in 2016 when it graduated to Club 101.

This is a good example of a great success story. For a company to graduate from a mid-sized level into Club 101, its annual turnover must surpass the Sh20 billion mark.

The firm is under the leadership of youthful managing director Dhruv Jog who believes that for a mid-sized company to grow transparency in the way it conducts its business is crucial.

Mr Jog says in competitive markets transparency and compliance are key, and he believes the two values have helped his company win the confidence of clients and the government.

The company, which is based in Dar es Salaam, was established in 1994, and is the first construction company in Tanzania to receive the international certification for standardisation (ISO) 9001:2015 in 2013.

Why they participated

They participated because they were looking for a strategy to grow. In 2011 Advent Construction was selected among the top 100 mid-sized companies. He says this achievement helped them to build confidence that they can partner or compete with any foreign company.

According to Mr Jog, when doing business at international level, for your company to be taken seriously it has to have a recognisable trademark.

KPMG is well known brand so we felt it good to be associated with it by taking part in the Top 100 Survey. Top 100 Survey is the branchild of Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) and a global audit and tax firm KPMG.

“When we were selected as one of the Top 100 firms in 2011, it was very timely because business was booming in Dar es Salaam at that time. So our participation and emerging as one of the winners helped us to get a lot of business and that was the beginning of our success story,” he said.

Discipline in the way a company conducts itself is key in the Top 100 survey. So if one wants to participate, financial records have to be in order. And this benefits companies that participate.

“I encourage more companies to participate in the survey, it will help them grow in the long run,” he said.

Talking about the Gala Dinner, an important event that brings together all the Top 100 participants marking the climax of the Survey, Mr Jog said the event is a good forum for learning and engaging with peers and other key players in the industry.

Participating conditions

Companies that qualify for the survey are those with a turnover ranging between Sh1 billion to Sh20 billion, audited financial records for the last 3 years, not listed on a stock exchange market and must not be a bank/ insurance company/Saccos /Law firm/Accounting or auditing firm. The Top 100 mid-sized companies are selected from all participating companies on the basis of their revenue growth.

The purpose of the Top 100 Survey is to identify Tanzania’s fastest growing medium-sized companies with a view to showcasing their business excellence and highlight their most successful entrepreneurship stories.

Contributions

After Advent Construction was promoted to Club 101 level, the firm started helping small companies by telling their success story, showing others that it is possible to grow and how participation in the Top 100 can help them succeed.

Mr Jog sees their reaching out to small construction companies, to help them grow, as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

“We have set aside a budget to help other companies grow. In our speech during the 2016 Top 100 Gala Dinner we told a story of where we had come from and how the Top 100 has been useful to us, to encourage other companies to also participate in the survey.”

Short and long-term plans

The MD said they plan to expand to five African countries where they have already registered their business. He mentioned the countries as Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique and Rwanda.

The company, that currently employs 1200 people, will focus in those countries for the next five years, but they are also eyeing the Chinese market in future.

Challenges in construction industry/way forward

He said the construction industry in Tanzania is vibrant and growing with massive infrastructure projects being undertaken.

However, he said, the projects benefits large international construction firms more than local companies some of which have closed shop.

There are no policies in place that protect local Tanzanian companies from having to compete for instance big State-owned Chinese construction companies that win most of the tenders.

He said Tanzanian contractors want policies and regulations that make it mandatory for all international contractors to partner with local companies when bidding for any construction projects in Tanzania.

“A mandatory joint venture policy and a financial margin of preference during evaluation for Tanzanian contractors is the only way the Tanzanian construction industry can ever be made to grow,” he said.

NMB Bank Plc is the main sponsor of the Top 100 event for the year 2018, other sponsors are Azam Media Group, Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) and Hyatt Regency Hotel Dar es Salaam to mention a few.