LAFARGEHOLCIM GUINEA
DEVELOPING A GREEN GUINEA We speak to Bruno Silete Hounkpati, CEO of LafargeHolcim Guinea, regarding the supply of sustainable construction products and solutions in Africa Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Joshua Mann
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CONSTRUCTION
H
olcim Group (formerly known as LafargeHolcim) is a globally recognised name in the international construction space. With sites and offices worldwide, it comes as no surprise that the company is a major player in African construction, spanning multiple countries with its high-quality products and solutions characterised by innovative thought and expert leadership, as well as existing as a world industry leader in sustainable construction solutions. Africa Outlook issue 92 | 3
LAFARGEHOLCIM GUINEA LafargeHolcim Guinea is one of the longstanding subsidiaries of the group and enacts the wider company’s mission across the country in accordance with the specific situational needs of clients therein. The company has approximately 250 permanent employees and contractors, and a customer base split between the four regions of the country. “We’ve achieved strong financial results with a team of young Guineans over the past three years, despite a turbulent period in 2016 and 2017 beforehand,” says Bruno Silete Hounkpati, CEO of LafargeHolcim Guinea. “We have successfully turned around our business and consolidated our position in the market with our million-tonne capacity plant. “I am really proud of the team and the success we achieved so far.” According to Hounkpati, the cement market in Guinea has recorded steady growth in the past three years and is expected to grow
at an average rate consistent with the country’s GDP. This upwards trajectory is fuelled by the demand from the building and residential sectors and to some extent, continued investment in mining and infrastructure projects. “We are the reference for infrastructure and retail customers in Guinea with our diverse products portfolio for all construction applications and digital services that address our customers’ pain points,” Hounkpati explains. “We are the first and only producer of higher cement grade 52.5 and ready to use mortar products – tiles adhesive and waterresistant wall protection mortar - in the country to date.”
WORKING WITH EXPERTISE LafargeHolcim Guinea encourages its employees to behave impeccably in their dealings with suppliers and other business partners. Each employee must demonstrate a high sense of ethics and integrity in their business
AFRICA OUTLOOK: HOW DID YOU COME TO WORK FOR HOLCIM GROUP? Bruno Silete Hounkpati, CEO, LafargeHolcim Guinea: “I am in my 6th year as CEO in the Holcim Group after joining 11 years ago in our regional office in Cairo. “I joined the Holcim Group from the petroleum industry where I spent 10 years working for Shell and Chevron in various countries within supply chain and engineering functions across Africa. This included key markets of Nigeria, Ghana and many others. My journey in the Holcim Group started in the Middle East and Africa Regional office in Cairo in Egypt followed by various senior management roles in France, Malawi, Nigeria and now in Guinea. “My initial interest was in the areas of supply chain and logistics; backbones of every manufacturing business which are common to both the petroleum and the cement industries. Both industries are capital and logistics intensive businesses, and I got the opportunity to join and helped to address supply chain challenges in Africa and the Middle East region. I had the privilege to work with the group’s top executives and moved into the general management role, regional function roles and back to a general management position in Guinea. It’s an exciting journey so far and continues to be.”
BATIPRO WHO ARE WE ? BATIPRO SA is a company of Construction in Building and Public Works and Provision of Personnel. We have the ambition to become and remain the most efficient company in its areas of expertise. To achieve this goal, Our Management ensures the commitment of each of its members to promote team spirit in all working circumstances. This approach represents the best guarantee of continuous improvement in performance. With the registered office of the company in Conakry, Batipro has subsidiaries registered in Senegal, Sierra Leone and Mali and generates nearly 300 permanent jobs. Since its creation in 2001, Batipro has more than 150 finalized construction projects for the largest mining companies, telecommunications companies and NGOs in Guinea. OUR MAIN ASSET The combined experience of our employees, trained in grandes écoles in different countries, provides our company with a strong wealth of skills in the civil engineering and construction industry. Our company policy emphasizes rigorous quality control of our production processes, to ensure that customer needs are met, results are achieved and that the highest quality standards are maintained. Our expertise and knowledge ensure that clients are exposed to the latest and most innovative practices in the construction industry. In addition, Batipro has a wide range of construction equipment and tools enabling proper and timely performance of our projects.
www.batiprotp.com
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COMMITTED TO REINVENTING AFRICA
OUR MISSION We strive to create a trusted partnership based on credibility and continuous innovation, between our passionate customers, our talented people and our valued communities in order to set ourselves apart as a provider of superior products and services.
OUR VALUES INTEGRITY: Respect and honour our commitments to maintain trust and good relations. PROFESSIONALISM: Collaborate with appreciation, care, empathy and openness. INNOVATION: Always pushing back the limits of search for new, adapted, appropriate solutions, and keeping one step ahead. SOCIAL WELL-BEING: Develop a professional, secure, protected and valued environment, conducive to the well-being of all our employees.
OUR SERVICES
• Bridges and Roads • Green Space • Sanitation Urban Hygiene • New Construction • Renovation Site supervision contact@batiprobtp.com www.batiprobtp.com
LAFARGEHOLCIM GUINEA relationships and must comply with the rules contained in the Code of Business Conduct of the Holcim Group. This code sets the rules of behaviour for all of the company’s employees, managers and suppliers. It aims to establish a climate of trust at all levels. The parties involved in the act of purchasing undertake, with the purchaser, to show fairness in the treatment of suppliers, in particular
by respecting rules such as supplier treatment equality and confidentiality, as well as a mutual understanding and commitment to sustainable development. LafargeHolcim Guinea’s success is largely due to its employees and supply partners, as well as the quality products themselves, but also the support the company provides its customers. In a country with promising construction potential,
ENVIRONMENTALLY DRIVEN
Groupe SCF Groupe SCF is the pioneer in the automotive industry in Guinea. For more than 30 years, we have been proud of our attention to details and selection of quality vehicles. For Nissan, “Innovation that excites” is the cornerstone and the guiding principle of all of its activities, product development and corporate culture. “We are proud of the successful relationship that we’ve built with Lafarge Holcim since 2017”. Hadiatou Diallo (Manager, Nissan Guinea)
Holcim Group aims to be a leader in sustainable development and sets new standards in this area. To achieve this objective, the Holcim Group has developed a 2030 Sustainable Development Plan which is based on four pillars - climate, circular economy, water and nature, populations and communities - supported by a common engine. WHY THE 2030 PLAN? As a leader in the building materials industry, the group has the opportunity and the responsibility to make a positive difference, because: • Global challenges require comprehensive and coordinated responses • Holcim Group’s responsibility is to drive change in the construction chain • Sustainable development is one of the company’s key values and a growth engine for the group.
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www.nissanguinea.com
READY TO WORK GROUPE SCF Route du Niger, Km9, Matam, BP 710 / Conakry, République de Guinée T + 224 620 47 12 12 | info.nissan@groupe-scf.com www.nissanguinea.com
LAFARGEHOLCIM GUINEA
strengthened by an international network and years of experience, the company’s unique offering of premium products allow it a competitive position in the market. “The loyalty we get from our customers comes from our attention to their needs and our drive to help them grow their businesses,” Hounkpati elaborates. “We provide technical support to our infrastructure customers, and our recently introduced mobile concrete laboratory with a dedicated team to help customers build in confidence. “We have also introduced digital tools to improve our customers’ experience. We’ve made it easier and simpler for customers to interact and get instant feedback from us, they can place their orders by just pressing three numbers on their feature phone” 8 | Africa Outlook issue 92
AFRICA OUTLOOK: HOW DO YOU RECOGNISE THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES? Bruno Silete Hounkpati, CEO, LafargeHolcim Guinea: “My philosophy has always been to take good care of employees, so they take exceptional care of our customers. “Our employees have made this company a success so far and I am sure their motivation and commitment will continue. Our health and safety policy framework allows us to take care of our employees and ensure a safe work environment for everyone. “We’ve demonstrated our duty of care to our employees and their families during the COVID-19 crisis. We do not only take care of their physical wellbeing but also their mental well-being. We provide adequate protection, closely supported by our company health adviser to all, as well as regular checks, the sharing of prevention information on a company employees family platform, the distribution of medicines and much more. “We keep the momentum going when it comes to the pledge to protect each other, and I am happy to say we’ve had 80 percent of our employees and contractors working on our sites already vaccinated!”
CONSTRUCTION
Africa Outlook issue 92 | 9
LAFARGEHOLCIM GUINEA
VISTAGUI VISTAGUI has been present in Guinea since 1985, a limited company with a capital of 100 billion GNF (around 11 million euros) is a banking network 28 (twenty-eight) branches with forty-four (44) Automatic Bank Machines (GAB) at serving more than 83,981 individual, professional and corporate clients. It has 320 employees. The bank’s shareholders are broken down as follows: Lilium Capital 55.63%, Private 28.57%, PROPARCO: 4.32%, UGAR: 3.96%, Guinean State 7.52%. VISTAGUI operates in growth sectors: mining, agriculture, import of petroleum products, etc.
www.vistabankgroup.com
DIGITALISED ECOSYSTEM LafargeHolcim Guinea helps its customers develop and rewards them via a loyalty programme supported by Yigui, an in-house app that allows them to access a complete view of their individual transactions, claims, incentives, accumulated points and expected monthly, quarterly and yearly benefits. “Our initiatives leveraging the digital ecosystem in the group will continue to prioritise our core and customer facing processes and our backend support key functions,” Hounkpati says. “We will make available to our customers in the coming weeks a one-stop shop online solution that allows them to buy in bundle all their main building materials and get them delivered to 10 | Africa Outlook issue 92
their project’s site. We’ve started the process of connecting our plant’s equipment to improve its availability and overall performance. “Our in-house team of developers and data analysts are at the forefront of our digital transformation aiming at making us an agile and a more datadriven decision-making business.” And on top of this, LafargeHolcim Guinea is moving forward with an increased sustainability and community-driven set of initiatives to facilitate its progressive operations. The company has planned to introduce solar energy to power its primary dispatch plant, as well as low-cement bricks at a reduced cost, to promote sustainable construction in the region. LafargeHolcim Guinea helps take care of the community
through various donations in the support and improvement of education and healthcare for those who live around the plant. “We believe in growing with our customers and our digital products help them as well on that journey,” Hounkpati tells us. “We are also expanding our footprint in the region starting with a new mortar production plant to be commissioned in Upper Guinea in November. “We believe in the potential and opportunities in this country.”
Tel: +224 628686000 commercial-gin@lafargeholcim.com www.lafargeholcim.com
CONSTRUCTION
SERVICE STRENGTH VISION After several months of negotiations, the Vista Group acquired the majority stake of BNP Paribas in the capital of the International Bank for Trade and Industry of Guinea (BICIGUI). This acquisition expands Vista’s bank network in Guinea, Sierra-Leone, Gambia and Burkina Faso. Building a pan-African financial institution of global stature that promotes financial inclusion and stimulates the economic development of the continent, this is our vision while being the benchmark bank for the emerging middle class and the bank of preference for the main economic operators.
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LAFARGEHOLCIM GUINEA Cement factory - Sonfonia, BP 3621 Conakry, Guinea Tel: +224 628686000 commercial-gin@lafargeholcim.com www.lafargeholcim.com PRODUCED BY AFRICA OUTLOOK MAGAZINE