Consulting group expands Gauteng operations

2nd August 2013 By: Samantha Herbst - Creamer Media Deputy Editor

Consulting group expands Gauteng operations

OPERATIONS EXPANSION:From left: Bosch Stemele regional director Lourie Geldenhuys, Namai Consulting director Nicky Naidoo, Bosch Holdings chief executive Mike Gibbon, Bosch Projects director Guy Perrins, Bosch Munitech director Anton du Toit and Bosch Stemele national operations director Sid Turner at the launch of Bosch Holding’s new Bryanston offices

Multidisciplinary consulting, engineering and project management specialist Bosch Holdings has expanded its Gauteng operations, with a recent move to new offices in Bryanston, Johannesburg.

CEO Mike Gibbon says the consolidation of Bosch Holdings’ operations enables the company to improve its services with an experienced team of specialists permanently based in the Gauteng region.

“Bosch Holdings plans to focus on growing its diverse Gauteng-based client base, while continuing to support strategic growth initiatives nationally and internationally.”

Gibbon adds that the expansion programme follows the company’s 2010 rebranding initiative, which involved the consolidation of different specialist companies into a single, unified brand.

Bosch Holdings, which has expanded significantly over 52 years, currently has offices worldwide, including South Africa and Africa, and has completed projects in more than 35 countries.

Over the last five years, the company has mobilised engineering, construction and commissioning teams in several countries, including Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Egypt and Brazil. In addition, a new East African regional headquarters is being established in Nairobi.

Gibbon further notes that, since 2002, the group’s turnover has increased tenfold, which he attributes to the enhanced marketing of specialist services, good corporate governance and effective planning.

Bosch Holdings is currently designing a multibillion-dollar sugar and ethanol estate, in Angola, following the recent success of the Mvoti river pipe-bridge crossing project, in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Mhlabatshane bulk water supply scheme, in the same province, which will provide potable water for 100 000 people.

Other significant projects include a water and wastewater plan in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and the implementation of a national waste-collection training programme throughout South Africa.

Meanwhile, Bosch Holdings group member Bosch Munitech’s current initiatives include an increased focus on assisting municipalities in overcoming service delivery backlogs in the water, wastewater and solid-waste management sectors.

A key element of this is the integration of technical solutions, knowledge transfer, skills development and institutional capacity building to enable municipalities to develop sustainable services for their communities.

The Bosch agriculture team continues to provide pioneering irrigation solutions throughout Africa. Noteworthy projects include the Mtibwa agriculture expansion project and the Kagera rehabilitation project, in Tanzania, which earned Bosch Projects the South African Institute of Civil Engineering national award for the most outstanding civil engineering achievement in the technical excellence category.

Another key development is the establishment of Bosch Ulwazi, which provides transformation solutions for enterprise, socioeconomic and skills development. Through Bosch Ulwazi’s enterprise development programme, the group strives to develop black-owned businesses that operate in the engineering sector.