Season 2 Episode 5 - Building Growth: The Future of MENA‘s Construction Sector with Samer Khoury
Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) Chairman Samer Khoury joins Atlantic Council empowerME Conversations host Amjad Ahmad for a conversation about the future of the construction industry, how companies can partner with and support startups, policies needed to boost the region’s economic growth, and ways to improve the talent pipeline and bring more women into the workforce.
Key Takeaways:
0:00 Intro
1:36 Samer gives an overview of the region as it comes out of Covid and the push for megaconstruction across the Mena region
3:19 Samer talks about civil infrastructure and big commercial cities on rise like Neom, and how they are pushing towards greener energy
7:13 Samer explains how Covid slowed the process of project completion due to materials having slower transport times and being stuck outside of the countries
10:58 Samer talks about the countries currently with the highest FDI and how they are opening up to be more attractive to investors
12:50 Samer talks about how companies are creating STEM programs through universities to help college graduates enter the field of work with the knowledge needed to succeed
16:48 Samer talks about how Covid changed the work from home model and how online meetings can truly save on time and travel expenses and be beneficial to many companies
19:03 Samer breaks down the number and percentages of women in the workforce and how they are trying to grow with more women in the industry
21:52 Samer talks about the use of small companies and their partnerships so they can help develop their products in a beneficial way for both parties
27:27 Amjed raises a question on geopolitical risk and temperatures in certain regions being a risk factor for investments
30:17 Samer gives his three general trends that have him excited for the future
35:46 Samer gives his predictions and updates on where he see's his company CCC moving in the next decade
Resources Mentioned:
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/
CCC: the largest construction company in the Middle East and ranks among the top 25 international contractors with a revenue of US$5.3 billion in 2013 and 7.4 billion by 2017.
FIFA World Cup: an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport's global governing body.
ExxonMobil: an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil.
Chevron: an American multinational energy corporation. It is the second largest oil company in America. One of the successor companies of Standard Oil, it is headquartered in San Ramon, California, and active in more than 180 countries.
Quotes Mentioned:
"Women are more meticulous, they're more hardworking, and they care a lot about their continuity because they have a family to care for. So I think this is a trend in the Middle East that we have lagged behind. And I can see it accelerating in the next few years somewhere."
"This is where you help your small, innovative ideas. You are their pilot projects and you can then scale them up. When they go out and they say we tried this on this project with CCC and now it's very good and we have all the data, all the history. They can get other clients and they can get more capital and then they can grow faster."
"There's a lack of cash, lack of funds. So basically, when you are on a limited budget, rather spend it on your own people rather than spent it somewhere else."
Guests Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.ccc.net/
Info: https://www.mei.edu/profile/samer-khoury
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samerkhoury/?originalSubdomain=gr
Key Takeaways:
0:00 Intro
1:36 Samer gives an overview of the region as it comes out of Covid and the push for megaconstruction across the Mena region
3:19 Samer talks about civil infrastructure and big commercial cities on rise like Neom, and how they are pushing towards greener energy
7:13 Samer explains how Covid slowed the process of project completion due to materials having slower transport times and being stuck outside of the countries
10:58 Samer talks about the countries currently with the highest FDI and how they are opening up to be more attractive to investors
12:50 Samer talks about how companies are creating STEM programs through universities to help college graduates enter the field of work with the knowledge needed to succeed
16:48 Samer talks about how Covid changed the work from home model and how online meetings can truly save on time and travel expenses and be beneficial to many companies
19:03 Samer breaks down the number and percentages of women in the workforce and how they are trying to grow with more women in the industry
21:52 Samer talks about the use of small companies and their partnerships so they can help develop their products in a beneficial way for both parties
27:27 Amjed raises a question on geopolitical risk and temperatures in certain regions being a risk factor for investments
30:17 Samer gives his three general trends that have him excited for the future
35:46 Samer gives his predictions and updates on where he see's his company CCC moving in the next decade
Resources Mentioned:
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/
CCC: the largest construction company in the Middle East and ranks among the top 25 international contractors with a revenue of US$5.3 billion in 2013 and 7.4 billion by 2017.
FIFA World Cup: an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport's global governing body.
ExxonMobil: an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil.
Chevron: an American multinational energy corporation. It is the second largest oil company in America. One of the successor companies of Standard Oil, it is headquartered in San Ramon, California, and active in more than 180 countries.
Quotes Mentioned:
"Women are more meticulous, they're more hardworking, and they care a lot about their continuity because they have a family to care for. So I think this is a trend in the Middle East that we have lagged behind. And I can see it accelerating in the next few years somewhere."
"This is where you help your small, innovative ideas. You are their pilot projects and you can then scale them up. When they go out and they say we tried this on this project with CCC and now it's very good and we have all the data, all the history. They can get other clients and they can get more capital and then they can grow faster."
"There's a lack of cash, lack of funds. So basically, when you are on a limited budget, rather spend it on your own people rather than spent it somewhere else."
Guests Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.ccc.net/
Info: https://www.mei.edu/profile/samer-khoury
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samerkhoury/?originalSubdomain=gr
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