Going to the Gulf
Our Experience in Qatar
Sam Murdock – Director of Water Services
Enterprise Ireland GCC Trade Mission
7th January 2014
Outline of Presentation
• Introduction to Byrne Looby
• Our Middle East journey
• Lessons learned and benefits
Overview of Byrne Looby
2014
• 9 offices, 5 international
• Ireland – 4
• Middle East – 3
• UK – 2
• Middle East locations:
• Dubai
• Doha
• Jeddah
• Working in the water, marine
and heavy civil engineering
sectors
New Office - Dubai
Mesaieed
Industrial City
TSE (Qatar)
Our work in the Middle East
Aqaba Port
(Jordan)
World’s Tallest Flagpole
(Jeddah)
Lusail CP4 (Qatar)
Al Khor
STP,
Qatar
Hodariyat Bridge
(Abu Dhabi)
Internationalisation – taking the big leap
With contraction of the Irish market in 2008, we started developing new
international centres to generate revenues and spread risk
Libya
Growth…
2007 Sales
100%
Ireland
Now
25% of sales in Ireland
10 offices
100 employees (>250
with JV partners)
Current annual
equivalent revenue €10m
2007
- 100% of sales in Ireland
- 1 office in Dublin
- 40 employees
- Turnover €4m
25%
Ireland
36%
UK
2013 Sales
34%
ME
7% EU
Our Middle East Journey
2009 – Entered Saudi Arabian Market
• Selling our traditional specialist services
• Tried to replicate what we did in Ireland
2011 – Learnings 2 years on..
• Market needs were different from those in Ireland – needed value
focused client services suitable for the market
• Our traditional services - low volume and not scalable
• Higher trading overheads – need a bigger turnover to be viable –
work only on projects worth €20,000 or more in fees
Needed to diversify, win bigger projects and break even or leave
Water Services and Qatar
• Revised strategy 2011
• Diversified service offering
• Identified significant
opportunity to deliver water
services particularly in Qatar
• New business plan
• Supported by Enterprise
Ireland
Route to Market
1) Team building
- Build a water services team to supplement existing skills
working between Ireland and Qatar
- Purchased PH McCarthy Consulting Engineers in Ireland
to supplement capability in late 2012
Route to Market
2) Market entry – partnering, business development
- Partnered with local company ASCO
- New joint venture partners
- ASCO have over 40 years experience in the Qatari market
- Excellent understanding of local conditions, market, customs,
planning requirements as well as client expectations and Qatar
Construction Standards
Route to Market
3) Quick Wins
Initial
Short term
Mid term
Long term
- Design elements
- Small EPC contractors
- Stretched large consultants
RELIANT ON CONTACTS AND INTRODUCTIONS
- Small/medium design elements
- Medium/large EPC contractors
BUILDING ON EXPERIENCE AND REPUTATION
- Sole designer
- Water authority/large EPC contractors
CONTINUE BUILDING REPUTATION
- Clients advisor on asset management
- Water authority
ESTABLISHED REPUTATION
Route to Market
4) Win Bigger Projects
Lusail Expressway (Doha, Qatar)
• First service tunnel in Qatar
• Working with ASCO Qatar
Strategic Tunnel Enhancement
Programme (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
• Over 40km of sewers across the city
Treated Sewage Effluent Upgrade
(Mesaieed Industrial City, Qatar)
• QAR 7.5 million water infrastructure
project
• Working with ASCO Qatar
Our Vision
Top 10 middle east
water and
infrastructure
consultants in next 10
years
Ingredients for success in Qatar
• On the ground presence
• Careful partner selection
• Understanding the market
• Firm commitment to the market
• Cultural understanding and respect
• Clear understanding of financial
model and strong financial
management
Ingredients for success in Qatar
• Need great people committed to the
cause – Qatar is a complex market with
global players, staff work very hard
• Willing to travel and live abroad
• Relevant technical expertise
• Non-technical management/leadership
skills
(sales, business development)
• Opportunity for staff to up-skill through
working on projects beyond scale in
Ireland
Ingredients for success in Qatar
• Enterprise Ireland
• Networking (Irish Diaspora)
Benefits
• Developing new skills which can benefit the Irish
market in the future
• Recently announced 50
new jobs
• Grown to 90 people
• New opportunities which
allow for future growth of
the business
Thank you