BIGEN AFRICA opens new headquarters at The Innovation Hub

	Minister Trevor Manuel congratulating the BIGEN AFRICA Chairperson, Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu and the CEO, Francois Swart, on the opening of the new head office at The Innvoation Hub. Dr Neville Comins, CEO of The Innovation Hub (left) and Mr Francois Swart, CEO of BIGEN AFRICA at the signing ceremony.

New headquarters for leading consulting engineering group, BIGEN AFRICA, were officially opened by Minister Trevor Manuel at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria in April this year. Due to its continued growth, and its positive view of the future and further development at The Innovation Hub, BIGEN AFRICA has applied for a second phase building on the precinct.

According to BIGEN AFRICA CEO, Francois Swart, at the opening ceremony, taking up residence in the new 5 300 m² headquarters building at The Innovation Hub - Africa's first internationally accredited Science & Technology Park - was a momentous occasion in the company's 25 year history in Pretoria.

Rated as one of the top 500 best-managed companies in South Africa, BIGEN AFRICA has won some of the most sought after infrastructural development contracts in the country. This includes the current R550 million pier construction at the OR Tambo International Airport to create the infrastructure needed for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFIA World Cup.

"From humble beginnings in 1971 BIGEN AFRICA's engineering, management consulting and project finance services have played a meaningful role in some of our country's most significant and challenging engineering projects," Swart said. One of these is the Moretele Water Scheme which plays a key role in South Africa's support of the millennium goal of providing water to all households in the country by 2014.

Other engineering projects include the R530 million Temba Roodeplaat Water Supply Scheme which provides water to the developing areas in northern Tshwane, and the Olievenhoutbosch Ministerial Housing project on the outskirts of Centurion, which will deliver 5 436 housing products in a single, integrated development. Uniquely, it includes the social and economic integration of communities.

The company's management services range from project and institutional management to labour and materials management across 13 offices in South Africa alone, and as far afield as Mauritius and Nigeria. Since 2000, BIGEN AFRICA has received more than a dozen accolades and awards from the engineering industry, government and professional bodies nationwide.

The rapid growth that BIGEN AFRICA experienced has resulted in a number of expansions and new endeavours, including the establishment of an electrical engineering division, a separate management consulting division as well as a mining consulting division and a successful venture into project financing. In October 2006, Pan-African Capital Holdings acquired a 30% stake in the merger between iNtatakusa Consulting - the 2003 winner of the SAACE Young Company of the Year award - and BIGEN AFRICA, in a deal funded by the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

Pan African Capital Holdings is a black-owned and operated financial services and investment company chaired by Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu, former Economic Advisor to the President of South Africa and head of the secretariat for NEPAD. Nkuhlu also chairs the Board of BIGEN AFRICA.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nkuhlu said that the partnership has created a formidable entity in the Southern African consulting engineering fraternity that will contribute towards the government's infrastructure rollout targets. "While BIGEN AFRICA's socio-economic development policy, launched in 2003, seeks to address the economic disparity and help build Africa's future, the partnership with Pan Africa Capital Holdings demonstrates a renewed commitment to also fulfill the transformation requirements that government has set out to right the wrongs of the past."

Swart said. "Our new home here at The Innovation Hub symbolises our move into the future, with The Innovation Hub and its governmental partners as neighbours and allies. We plan to take full advantage of the networked environment that this location provides. We believe that our approach to engineering makes us a suitable player in the melting pot of creative thought and innovative endeavour at The Innovation Hub. Our presence on the precinct can add tremendous value to the mandate of increasing the wealth of the local high-tech and knowledge intensive community."