The Business
Makinen Venture is a construction company that builds medium to large scale projects in Africa. Founded in 1998 in Genoa, Italy, the company now operates in many countries, such as Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Chad, Niger, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Uganda, Rwanda, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroun, and Morocco.
The company delivers turn–key projects like luxury housing, hotels, presidential palaces, sacred and public buildings. They have the expertise to build from the ground up to perfectly furnish and decorate any type of building. Makinen operates with a workforce of expats and local workers.
Makinen is also acting as a central purchasing service provider to African companies looking to import high quality and fairly priced construction materials.
The Project
The project was the construction of a three star hotel in N’Djamena, Chad in 2015 for the Ibis Hotel chain. The value of the project was EUR 9,000,000 and was financed by a private Investor. Makinen built the entire project from excavation to fully furnishing the hotel. The hotel has 100 rooms, a bar, a restaurant, and a pool.
The Goals
- Deliver the project within two years
- Deliver a hotel that would exceed three-star hotel standards
- Deliver within a limited budget
The Challenges
- Transportation of construction materials took a minimum of three months and as long as four to five months per container. Makinen couldn’t rely on local suppliers and had to import all of its material.
- The client had a limited budget and a tight deadline.
- Local manpower was unqualified.
The Actions
- Makinen decided not to use a door to door delivery service provider because none was able to guarantee a fixed delivery time. Therefore, the company decided to hire multiple logistic firms in order to have the best transportation company for each part of the route. That way, they were able to better control the arrival of goods.
- Very precise purchasing and logistics management in order to avoid expediting material by plane.
- Started the project with 30 field experts in order to train local workers.
The Results
- The hotel was built in 20 months, therefore fulfilling the goal of building it in less than two years
- Makinen was able to deliver the hotel within budget
- The hotel finishes exceeded three-star hotel standards
- This was the first Ibis hotel to have pre–fabricated bathrooms
- A team of 120 local workers and 20 expats executed the project
Why They Are The Best
- Makinen delivers high-quality projects
- As an SME, they have the flexibility and expertise to deliver on time and within budget
- Makinen is available – we go wherever the client wants to go ☺
The Member
