Not many people speak with positive conviction about Nigeria, especially if they are non-Nigerians. But the Managing Director of Provast, Andrea Geday, an Italian National from Lebanon did not mince words. Nigeria is the best country to be, he declared. In conversation with AJIBOLA AMZAT, Geday recollects his experience as a sojourner in Nigeria for the past 32 years, and the achievements of his company, Provast Nigeria Limited.SOME people are born Nigerians, some will have honorary citizenship of Nigeria thrust upon them, but some will achieve Nigerian citizenship through their contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. Mr. Andrea Geday, the Director, Provast Nigeria Limited belongs to the latter group. For the past 32 years, Geday, an Italian national from Lebanon has been a top player in the Nigerian construction industry.With his several companies already offering integrated construction solutions across the country, Geday has demonstrated confidence in the economy that many foreign investors have avoided like a leper. Yet Geday did not airlift all the pounds from the Central Bank of Lebanon to set up business in Nigeria. Rather, he started small here in Nigeria like all big dreamers sold on the conviction of their dream. So far he had participated in setting up successful firms such as EL-ALAN, VACC Technical Limited, Soft Solutions Nigeria Limited, Panther Investments Nigeria Limited, Provast Limited and Alan Caray Limited.His success story started when a benevolent Lebanese businessman in Lagos discovered the talent in Geday and sponsored his university education in the United Kingdom. After graduating from Nottingham University, England in 1979 with a B.Sc in Production Engineering, and an M.Sc in Construction Management from the University of Loughborough, England, his benefactor invited him to work in Nigeria. He obliged. But his employment was short-lived because the company folded up in the aftermath of the 1983 military coup. Now, Geday had two options: To stay back in a country bogged down by political instability or to go back home in Lebanon, or UK where sanity was still a reality. Yet, as a young engineer with a lot of skills and capacity, Geday needed to be at a place where he could continue working' of course for a good fee. And Nigeria was it. Did he get rewarded for staying back' The answer could be found in the success of Provast, the company set up in 1997 and his other companies.Setting Up ProvastProvast, a child of necessity, was founded as a joint venture with Shell Pension Funds. The company came at the time when the concept of building infrastructure facility management was new. According to Geday, Nigeria is not a country where you can just go to the Yellow page and see who can fix your AC and you call them. That doesn't happen in Nigeria, whereas, in Europe and elsewhere you have people managing maintenance of buildings and infrastructures. The countries have the database of the people who do this and that.'But when we started in Nigeria, nobody was thinking of maintenances. The typical Nigeria landlord would say, 'I build my house, and the people who rent it will maintain it and it will run itself.'' But for the multinational clients like Shell, Schlumberger and Halliburton, Provast might have struggled too hard to survive the economic challenge of that period. Presently the facility management company handles the maintenance of about 700 to 800 units (residential and offices) in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, as well as over 30 field logistics bases in Warri and Port Harcourt.The operations are run on the latest technology acquired by the company. 'We have bought and developed in house specialized software that keeps track of all our operations and we have set standard systems and procedures'. Facilities Management is a service industry, its all about people and processes, it is a process driven business. We manage the life cycles of our clients assets, we act as their partners and our objective is to maximize the value of their assets. We have a passion for excellence, we try to exceed our customers expectations.'Challenge'Despite its modest achievement in the last 16 years, Provast is not immune to challenges besetting most technical companies in Nigeria, especially the lack of skilled manpower. Too many certified engineers and very few skilled technicians, competent hands are few a far in between. 'I don't need desk men, I need men who can do the job and who impart their knowledge to others.'To this end, Provast has brought in a number of expatriates to train their workforce. They are also participating in setting up a training school, an effort spearheaded but one of their associated companies (VACC). But this bears awfully on the overheads. Geday says there are many initiatives he knows of heading in that direction. As for him, he says it is not their core competence. The best he tried to do was to invite some South African schools to come and set up in Nigeria, but the problem of insecurity scares them away.'But you see Nigeria is the best place to be on earth. Yet many people don't know it. Even Nigerians don't know it unfortunately. Rather you hear people running down the country. It's easy to shoot down your place, but this is a really good place. There is great potential in this country, huge opportunities, the population is expanding, the people are clever and they are good people. The best place to be now is Nigeria.'The problems here are huge, though. If you don't have enough money to live in Nigeria, you will have a terrible life. I have a lot of Nigerian friends who studied abroad who want to come back home because they don't want their children grow in foreign places, they bring them back home and they face huge challenges because of the infrastructure problems. You live abroad you don't worry about electricity, water, hospital and what have you. This is the real challenge that people have here. But they need to come all the same because if they don't come back the situation will not improve. This is your place, you just have to come and contribute to this effort.'Geday is not patronizing anyone; he has indeed filed for Nigerian citizenship. Soon, he will become a Nigerian himself. 'Though, with the colour of my skin, I can never be seen as a local. But Geday thinks it is good enough to claim the citizenship of the country that has done so much for him.SOME people are born Nigerians, some will have honorary citizenship of Nigeria thrust upon them, but some will achieve Nigerian citizenship through their contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. Mr. Andrea Geday, the Director, Provast Nigeria Limited belongs to the latter group. For the past 32 years, Geday, an Italian national from Lebanon has been a top player in the Nigerian construction industry.With his several companies already offering integrated construction solutions across the country, Geday has demonstrated confidence in the economy that many foreign investors have avoided like a leper. Yet Geday did not airlift all the pounds from the Central Bank of Lebanon to set up business in Nigeria. Rather, he started small here in Nigeria like all big dreamers sold on the conviction of their dream. So far he had participated in setting up successful firms such as EL-ALAN, VACC Technical Limited, Soft Solutions Nigeria Limited, Panther Investments Nigeria Limited, Provast Limited and Alan Caray Limited.His success story started when a benevolent Lebanese businessman in Lagos discovered the talent in Geday and sponsored his university education in the United Kingdom. After graduating from Nottingham University, England in 1979 with a B.Sc in Production Engineering, and an M.Sc in Construction Management from the University of Loughborough, England, his benefactor invited him to work in Nigeria. He obliged. But his employment was short-lived because the company folded up in the aftermath of the 1983 military coup. Now, Geday had two options: To stay back in a country bogged down by political instability or to go back home in Lebanon, or UK where sanity was still a reality. Yet, as a young engineer with a lot of skills and capacity, Geday needed to be at a place where he could continue working' of course for a good fee. And Nigeria was it. Did he get rewarded for staying back' The answer could be found in the success of Provast, the company set up in 1997 and his other companies.Setting Up ProvastProvast, a child of necessity, was founded as a joint venture with Shell Pension Funds. The company came at the time when the concept of building infrastructure facility management was new. According to Geday, Nigeria is not a country where you can just go to the Yellow page and see who can fix your AC and you call them. That doesn't happen in Nigeria, whereas, in Europe and elsewhere you have people managing maintenance of buildings and infrastructures. The countries have the database of the people who do this and that.'But when we started in Nigeria, nobody was thinking of maintenances. The typical Nigeria landlord would say, 'I build my house, and the people who rent it will maintain it and it will run itself.'' But for the multinational clients like Shell, Schlumberger and Halliburton, Provast might have struggled too hard to survive the economic challenge of that period. Presently the facility management company handles the maintenance of about 700 to 800 units (residential and offices) in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, as well as over 30 field logistics bases in Warri and Port Harcourt.The operations are run on the latest technology acquired by the company. 'We have bought and developed in house specialized software that keeps track of all our operations and we have set standard systems and procedures'. Facilities Management is a service industry, its all about people and processes, it is a process driven business. We manage the life cycles of our clients assets, we act as their partners and our objective is to maximize the value of their assets. We have a passion for excellence, we try to exceed our customers expectations.'Challenge'Despite its modest achievement in the last 16 years, Provast is not immune to challenges besetting most technical companies in Nigeria, especially the lack of skilled manpower. Too many certified engineers and very few skilled technicians, competent hands are few a far in between. 'I don't need desk men, I need men who can do the job and who impart their knowledge to others.'To this end, Provast has brought in a number of expatriates to train their workforce. They are also participating in setting up a training school, an effort spearheaded but one of their associated companies (VACC). But this bears awfully on the overheads. Geday says there are many initiatives he knows of heading in that direction. As for him, he says it is not their core competence. The best he tried to do was to invite some South African schools to come and set up in Nigeria, but the problem of insecurity scares them away.'But you see Nigeria is the best place to be on earth. Yet many people don't know it. Even Nigerians don't know it unfortunately. Rather you hear people running down the country. It's easy to shoot down your place, but this is a really good place. There is great potential in this country, huge opportunities, the population is expanding, the people are clever and they are good people. The best place to be now is Nigeria.'The problems here are huge, though. If you don't have enough money to live in Nigeria, you will have a terrible life. I have a lot of Nigerian friends who studied abroad who want to come back home because they don't want their children grow in foreign places, they bring them back home and they face huge challenges because of the infrastructure problems. You live abroad you don't worry about electricity, water, hospital and what have you. This is the real challenge that people have here. But they need to come all the same because if they don't come back the situation will not improve. This is your place, you just have to come and contribute to this effort.'Geday is not patronizing anyone; he has indeed filed for Nigerian citizenship. Soon, he will become a Nigerian himself. 'Though, with the colour of my skin, I can never be seen as a local. But Geday thinks it is good enough to claim the citizenship of the country that has done so much for him.
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