HOT SEAT
Bigen is involved in the Vaalharts Revitalisation Project to enhance water security in the Northern Cape.
Five decades of delivery
Celebrating 50 years of ‘doing good while doing business’, the Bigen Group is renowned for providing cost-effective infrastructure and socioeconomic development solutions across Africa. In celebration of Youth Month, IMIESA speaks to upcoming engineering and project management professional David Gopane, a senior engineer within the Group’s Real Estate Directorate.
What attracted you as a young engineering professional to the Bigen Group of companies? DG Being a typical millennial, I look for meaningfulness in my career and Bigen’s purpose of ‘doing good while doing business’ powerfully resonates with my way of thinking. Since its inception 50 years ago in 1971, the Group has managed to transform itself from a traditional engineering firm into an engineering firm with a conscience and, ultimately, an infrastructure development company committed to socioeconomic well-being wherever we work. Seeing the life-changing effects of the infrastructure we
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IMIESA June 2021
provide – not only in terms of providing impoverished communities access to basic services such as health, education, water and housing, but also the many jobs we create through our infrastructure projects – provides me with meaning and value for the role I play in this organisation. This is what attracted me to Bigen in the first place, and this is what has inspired me to stay with the Group for the past nine years. In the Real Estate Directorate alone, we have delivered more than 320 000 housing opportunities across the continent and we have also been involved with more than 42 000 school projects in South Africa.
How has the business evolved over the past 50 years? Our beginnings were humble. It started with the establishment of a small engineering consultancy in Polokwane, South Africa, in 1971. Over the past 50 years, we have grown and transformed from a traditional engineering consultancy operating from one office in Polokwane, to an engineering firm operating from eight regional offices in South Africa, and now to a truly African infrastructure development group of companies with headquarters based in Mauritius and South Africa, and country offices in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia. During the past five decades, Bigen has kept pace with the fast-growing infrastructure development needs of the continent and transformed itself into one of Africa’s leading engineering, advisory and infrastructure development company groups, working in Africa, for the people of Africa.
As the recipient of many prestigious industry awards, Bigen’s commitment to efficiency, transformation, development impact and quality is well acknowledged. Bigen has become a partner of choice for African governments seeking bespoke, cost-effective infrastructure development solutions, and has transformed lives and economies in 19 countries.
David Gopane, senior engineer: Real Estate Directorate, Bigen Group
