Zeb Ahmed is a businessman who believes in the power of diversification; it’s an approach that has seen Bouygues Energy and Services survive the ravages of recession and bounce back in spectacular fashion.
Now Deputy Managing Director, Zeb came to work for the company fifteen years ago and has played a key role in its transformation from a business working in a niche market to one operating in many different sectors.
Zeb himself started out working in a niche market. Educated at the University of Warwick – Warwick Business School, the College Des Ingenieurs and the University of Manchester – Institute of Science and Technology. His background is as a process engineer who gradually became involved in manufacturing.
His specialties now include everything from industrial biotechnology and renewable energy to pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, speciality chemicals and utilities and infrastructure, all areas in which the company operates.
Before he joined Bouygues Energy and Services and began his move up the ranks, he worked for, among others, Thermal Transfer and IVAX (Norton Healthcare).
His current employer is part of the Bouygues Group of companies, which operate in more than 80 countries. It entered the UK construction market in 1997 and has increased its presence and capability in the UK through organic growth and acquisitions.
During that period, it has diversified to provide engineering and service capabilities to many other sectors in the UK. Services include:
Consulting / Contracting – turnkey design and build solutions for critical, high tech facilities.
Facility Management – hard and soft facility management, life cycle planning and project delivery services.
Infrastructure Services – utilities services, civil and electrical engineering solutions in public/highways lighting, telecommunications, electrical and gas network infrastructure.
Energy Management – strategic carbon planning, energy compliance and procurement, infrastructure design, installation and maintenance
Construction – together with its partners and clients, Bouygues UK delivers award-winning construction, development and regeneration projects across public and commercial private sectors. Projects include mixed-used commercial developments, school, luxury apartments and signature public buildings.
Zeb said: “The key to the growth of the company down the years has been the way it has diversified.
“When I came to start working for the company we were basically in niche sectors but as a big company you have to diversify and we realised that our skills could be used in other sectors as well.
“The success we have had over the past ten-fifteen years is down to that ability to diversify.
“This is an approach that has allowed us to move from a company that was working in just a few sectors to one that uses its engineering capabilities and its skills in a range of markets.”
The approach came into its own when the most recent recession struck. Bouygues Energy and Services was not immune to the effects.
Zeb said: “In the first year of the recession we had a difficult time. A lot of our work was linked to investment and investment was the first thing that collapsed when the recession arrived.
“We had overheads that were too high and went from a business with an annual turnover of £75m to one with a turnover of £32m.
“However, our commitment to diversification over the years meant that we were working in different sectors and could recover.
“If we lost work in one sector, we could pick it up in others. The result was that after our turnover dropped, we very quickly built it back up to £55m and, by the end of next year, we will have not already returned to pre-recession levels but will be on track to go far beyond that.
“By the end of next year, we expect to have reached £100m and we have a long-term plan which will see us perform even better over the next few years as we use our skill in a range of sectors.
“As a company you do need to have a long term plan and that insistence on diversification will remain important to us in the years to come because some of the sectors in which we work are very volatile and we have to be in a position to respond.
“I think to survive and be successful as a business you need to constantly innovate and you need to always be flexible and we do that.“
“The success we have had over the past ten-fifteen years is down to that ability to diversify.This is an approach that has allowed us to move from a company that was working in just a few sectors to one that uses its engineering capabilities and its skills in a range of markets.“
