Hillcrest Private Hospital
The new face of healing With a new hospital on the horizon, Hillcrest Private Hospital and their team are driven by a strong, customer centric focus Writer Emily Jarvis Project manager Eddie Clinton Hillcrest Private Hospital is committed to nurturing an environment of health and healing through engaging relationships with patients, staff, doctors, the community, and beyond. Nestled in the leafy suburb of Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, Hillcrest Private Hospital provides quality health care driven by a strong, customer-centric focus. The hospital opened on the 1st July 2011 and is a new, fresh, inviting environment equipped with the latest medical instruments and facilities. The establishment boasts an extensive range of top medical facilities and offerings designed to meet the growing needs of the community and with another facility currently being built, the hospital continues to provide quality health care solutions with a dedicated team of doctors and nurses. From a day clinic to eight operating theatres, Hillcrest Private Hospital provides patients with a wide array of medical facilities staffed by professional, friendly, and approachable personnel who share the vision of moving beyond health care in both service delivery and customer relations. The staff at Hillcrest Private Hospital aim to deliver a fresh and comfortable hospital experience while adhering to international standards of quality care. Integral to their philosophy of providing quality health care solutions is their 3Cs motto: Customer, Care and Comfort. Hillcrest Private Hospital's unique geographical positioning allows patients and visitors the convenience of a world-class medical facility set in peaceful, tranquil natural surroundings. They are the…
Bigen Africa
Leading infrastructure development solutions for Africa Bigen Africa's vision is to improve the quality of life for all through the development of sustainable infrastructure solutions Writer Annette Van Zyl & Emily Jarvis Project manager Stuart Shirra Bigen Africa, established in 1971, has evolved into a leading infrastructure development company operating in the health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, property, energy, road, rail and mining sectors. The company has successfully expanded the delivery of infrastructure projects from its original South African base into other African countries – first expanding into neighbouring countries and, during the past few years, in line with its Africa expansion strategy, into West Africa, which will be followed by ventures in East Africa. The company now operates from sixteen offices across Africa, including South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Ghana, with formal representation in Kenya, Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Madagascar and Mauritius. The company's in-house capabilities and strategic partnerships enable it to integrate the entire value chain in the infrastructure process – from feasibility studies through project preparation, management and implementation to development finance and ongoing asset management. this approach creates cost effective, sustainable projects and sets it apart from other engineering companies. Sustainability is further entrenched through its principle of "doing good while doing business", which aims to improve the quality of life of all stakeholders in its infrastructure solutions. Optimum impact on community stakeholders is ensured through the Intuthuko Foundation, a non-profit organisation Bigen Africa established in cooperation with other project stakeholders. Intuthuko addresses socio-economic development imperatives by acting as a…
Lewcor
One hundred percent Namibian As uranium and gold prices saw a decrease in 2013, Lewcor explain how they are overcoming the challenges of Namibian mining Writer Emily Jarvis Project manager James Mitchell Lewcor are a mining and civil services company, founded in the 1980s by mr C.J Lewis. As a family owned and run business, Africa outlook spoke to eldest son Helmuth Lewis, one of the Directors at Lewcor along with his younger brother. The company started as a building contractor, evolving into a fully-fledged civil services company supplying products such as pipelines, building roads and other such services. The change to establishing themselves in the mining service came as a result of the amount of work they were able to successfully secure through civil services contracts, as Helmuth Lewis explains: "There were a significant number of construction contractors, whereas the civil services sector was more of a niche back then. moving into this sector was the ideal move for us." Lewcor also laid almost 2000 km of fibre optic cable for the local telecom, and was a fore runner in the design and specs written with telecom to get Namibia up to standard in the optic technology. Additionally they built several large earth dams in rural areas where water was not easy to come by and when it comes to mining, they have their own fleet of mobile crushers and screening plants. All of this combined with its own fleet of small to large transport, means that Lewcor are able to offer a wide variety…
The Sarit Centre
Bringing retail to East Africa first We chat to Peter Moll about The Sarit Centre, the first ever shopping mall in East Africa which opened its doors in 1983 Writer Emily Jarvis Project manager Sheridan Halls The Sarit Centre was the first-ever shopping mall in East Africa, which was opened in 1983. The concept for the design was based on the Brent Cross Mall in London, which the developers visited shortly after it opened its doors in the late 1970s. They shared the vision that this new retail concept could be successfully implemented in Nairobi. Construction commenced in 1981 but was halted by political instability. As a result, around 200 applications for retail units were stunted and many business families left Kenya, meaning only two units were in place on the opening day in April, 1983. These were the Uchumi Supermarket, which is still there today, and Text Book Centre. The objective of the centre has remained the same over the years; to provide a comprehensive one-stop shopping experience with a diverse range of retail and service tenants, providing everything under one roof," Peter Moll, Public Affairs Coordinator added "city within a city is the centre's slogan, and a concept that complements our plan for the future of the Sarit Centre and all developments, which we aim to fulfil." Family Histories The idea for the shopping centre was developed by two Indian families from Murng'a and Karatine, two small towns in Central Kenya. At Independence in 1963, unlike thousands of Indians and Europeans who left the…
Belo & Kies
South Africa's hands on construction company With a focus on a continued reputation for quality and efficiency, Belo and Kies adopt a hands-on approach to construction Writer Emily Jarvis Project manager Arron Rampling Belo and Kies is a privately owned construction company that was formed in 2000 by the two directors: Wimpie Kies and Victor Belo. As the company structure firmed up, other members of the Kies and Belo families joined the management team of the company and its current structure positions it well for further growth. Up until the company's inception, Wimpie and Victor were employed by one of the major construction companies in South Africa. Boasting a wealth of experience in both academic and practical settings, the directors are highly experienced and competent team leaders, who like to adopt a hands-on approach with all their construction projects. This mix of qualifications is what has stood Belo and Kies in good stead and allowed it to progress to become the award winning company it is today. "The key to good quality is a hands on approach by myself and Victor. We set the correct standard and then ensure that the standard is achieved by managing it carefully, we never leave a team on their own. That is one of the contributions that has helped the company become a success; we like to be as involved as possible," explains Mr Kies, one of the company directors. Management consciously cultivate adherence to a daily activity cycle, paying close attention to the planning, organising, action and control stages…
Lithon
Namibia's one stop shop for project consultancy In an industry that demands perfection, Lithon Project Consultants is striving to become the preferred company of choice in this ever-competitive field Writer Matt Bone Project manager James Mitchell Lithon Project Consultants are an established and highly sought after engineering firm that provide project management, multi-disciplinary consulting engineering and mining services to their clients. they have a highly skilled and qualified professional team of more than 65 people that serve clients from 4 offices in Namibia and 2 offices in South Africa. Directors Jan Fourie and Frikkie Holtzhausen, describe the company as a "one stop shop" for engineering and mining projects: "We offer a fully multi-disciplinary project management service that enables us to have all our clients' bases covered. The client can then be assured that everything to do with their project is dealt with by the same team and that team can be reached at any time." Lithon aim to provide their clients and the communities with whom they work across Africa with excellent professional engineering service. Lithon are not just focusing on one type of engineering but they work on all types of projects, from the concept planning stages through to completion, with a highly skilled professional team supported by state of the art office equipment and software. Substantial Growth The majority of companies see their profit year on year as a good indicator of business growth and sustainability. Fourie explains how the growth of Lithon has been such that they no longer look at profit as…
Stefanutti Stocks Botswana
Building Southern Africa Stefanutti Stocks are always looking for new and exciting construction projects to work on Writer Matt Bone Project manager Stuart Shirra Stefanutti Stocks is one of South Africa's leading construction groups, with over 12,000 employees and the capacity to deliver a range of projects of any scale to a multitude of clients in diverse markets. All South African operations are divisions of Stefanutti Stocks (Pty) Ltd, a Level Two B-BBEE contributor. The company have a Grade 9 rating from the South African Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) provides us with unlimited tender capability. Despite a stagnant market and an industry that has been plagued by Governmental cutbacks and project shortages, Tim Stow, General Manager of Stefanutti Stocks, is confident the company will weather this storm and continue to offer the same world class market leading quality construction. "The industry as a whole has been affected by the Botswanan Government's reluctance to put more work into the public domain, whether in the form of short to medium projects or long term tenders. There is very little private sector work going on and even when a tender does arise, there are so many companies going for it that realistically it is very difficult to win that project." But there is a potential light at the end of the tunnel as Mr Stow goes on to explain: "Of course every industry has lean spells, but it is how you cope with the lack of work that defines you as a company. We have had to tighten…
