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2014 FIDIC GAMA Annual Conference:

Local Involvement in Major Projects for

Sustainability

successfully. This point was illustrated through a
soccer team analogy. Examples of programmes
around the world are available. These demonstrated
that other regions and countries are adapting their
training of engineers in order to ensure their local
firms have access to engineering leadership talent.
A specific example is the Gordon-MIT Engineering
Leadership Programme. This programme combines
the engineering education from one of the premier
engineering schools in the world with leadership
development from MIT’s Sloan Business School, also
a world class business education institution.

Research carried out by the Gordon-MIT institution in
2007-2008 revealed that at the time there were no
CESA representatives attended the GAMA conference programmes in Africa providing leadership education
in Maputo, Mozambique (23-26 March 2014). The specifically designed for the engineering sector.
GAMA Conference is the biggest annual networking In the time since that study there have likely been
event for consulting engineers in Africa. It is a forum developments in this regard across the continent.
where various entities share and exchange ideologies One example of a programme developed to address
and methodologies for the provision of consulting this is the CESA Business of Consulting Engineering
engineering services. The conference theme: “Local Programme that has been in existence for 2 years.
Involvement in Major Projects for Sustainability” It provides exposure to the functional competencies
provides an opportunity for the delegates to discuss required over the entire project lifecycle with significant
the role of the African Engineers and the contribution emphasis on the business aspects. A leadership
of Consulting Engineers in the development of their component is under development. This will have a
countries. stronger focus on leadership philosophy as opposed
to functional skills.
YPF at GAMA 2014 - Prepared to Lead?

Tafadzwa Mukwena, Treasurer of CESA’s Young Clearly the need for leadership development efforts
Professionals Forum (YPF) presented a paper to the exists. In order to grow the competitiveness of African
FIDIC-GAMA 2014 Annual Conference on the topic consulting engineering firms, world class technical
of the need for leadership development in the African ability needs to be coordinated and deployed through
Consulting Engineering Industry. One of the themes world class business leadership.
for the conference was “Competition and Cooperation
between Local and Foreign Companies” and this is
informed his presentation.

The new reality is that there is now global competition
for engineering consulting work on the continent. In
order to be competitive African consulting firms need
world class human capital. A lot of focus has been
placed on developing technical capacity in terms of
increasing skills and capabilities as well and numbers
of engineering professionals. One aspect that, in his
opinion, has been neglected is the need to develop
world class leaders for African engineering firms.

Technical capacity needs to be complemented with
leadership in order to position firms to compete

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