Sekagya Muhammad talks to the CEO of Averda about the company’s long term
expansion prospects and his opinion on the regional waste management industry
In lieu of its recent acquisitions of the major players in the waste management and cleaning industry; averda, a leading regional environmental services company specializing in the cleaning, collection, recovery and disposal of waste; has identified itself as one of the industry forces to reckon with. The company is clearly aiming to come up with a solution to address the regional demand for commercial waste management services, despite the economic situations.
In one of his recent statements, the CEO of averda, clearly spelled out the company’s long term regional expansion of the waste management front; saying that the “demand for waste management services and products have been affected by the recession, but are now showing signs of recovery. The global waste management sector is currently in excess of USD 20 billion, and should start growing again in 2010.”
Sekagya Muhammad of Clean Middle East magazine talked to Malek Sukkar, the CEO of averda, about the company’s long term expansion prospects and his opinion on the regional waste management industry.
Tell us about averda, as one of the vibrant players on the waste management front.?
We are a full-service integrated waste management company specialized in the cleaning, collection, recovery and disposal of solid waste. In short, we aim to solve waste problems intelligently and efficiently.
averda is a company that always acts responsibly and works hard for the communities it serves and the environment we share. Our operations extend from Lebanon to Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
averda was established in Lebanon by Maysarah Sukkar in the 1970s and was originally called Sukkar Engineering Group. In the early nineties and in the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon urgently needed to rebuild its infrastructure. We won the rights to implement an integrated plan to solve the then unorganized waste collection system.
We managed to set action plans, take prompt decisions, provide a modern fleet and equipment, and establish state-of-the-art facilities. As a result, we succeeded in restoring waste-free surroundings to the Mount Lebanon area and the capital Beirut, which has become one of the cleanest cities in the Middle East.
averda has made quite a number of acquisitions in the industry, despite the pinching credit crunch. Was this planned way back, or you sighted some opportunities in the industry that needed to be exploited?
We made a decision two years ago to expand our innovative environmental services across the MENA region and we set out a plan of investment that is very much on track today. The onset of the credit crunch only strengthened our resolve to invest because we believe in the fundamentals of the region and see it as a sustainable market unlike some of our competition who ran away at the first signs of financial difficulty.
We recently announced the acquisition of Al Ghadeer Waste Company (GWC), a Sharjah-based waste management company. GWC provides municipal solid waste collection and transportation for the Sharjah Industrial Areas, free zones, airports, seaports and other public and private organizations.
We also recently invested in Oman-based Technique Waste Management (TWM), a company that delivers first-class cleaning and waste collection services to Oman’s commercial, industrial, residential and public sectors.
We have plans to expand our regional presence with further investments in the region which the market will hear of very shortly.
In your opinion, which regional state harbors the most opportunities in the waste management sector and why?
I think it unfair to single out any given state. Each country has a specific niche that provides very interesting opportunities if approached properly. Our strategy has been to invest in local companies and partnerships so that our platform can better understand and serve those specific niches whether they be in the public or private sector. We spend a lot of time researching the cause of the waste problems so that when we propose a solution it is all encompassing and not only a surface treatment. These niches can be domestic, medical, hazardous and/or liquid waste.
The recent regional acquisitions that you have made imply that you are strengthening your presence in new markets. How do you aim to dominate these markets?
We have plans to have presence throughout the region whether we achieve this through acquisitions or through partnership with existing players in the waste management field.
Our objective is not to dominate any market, but to serve it. We aim to give this region what it deserves, the best waste management that 21st century technology has to offer. We have big plans for this region and this includes the introduction of innovative environmental solutions. We would like to establish new standards to the cleaning, collection, recovery and disposal of waste.
We also aim to establish a new mindset throughout the MENA with educational programmes – delivered through our averda Learn programme – to engage with communities and inspire fundamental change in people’s approach to what they discard or throw away.
Clinical and medical waste being some of the virgin sectors in the region’s waste management industry, how do you plan to plough into them?
Medical waste has been a significant focus of averda’s over the past few years. The process must start with the law makers and governments who need to draft, pass and enforce water-tight legislation regulating the whole process of medical waste from the point of generation through to final disposal. This is only present in a very few number of countries and until such time opportunities in the medical waste remain very limited.
It was recently reported that Yemen is in urgent need of a waste management plan. Do we see any possibility of servicing that country?
We are already in talks with a number of local partners in Yemen and are awaiting the result of these discussions.
This is why at averda, we are taking action to ensure sustainable growth by setting standards to the cleaning, collection, recovery and disposal of waste in the region.
We are working towards changing people’s view of waste. To many, the word ‘waste’ conjures negatives—nasty, smelly, dirty, worthless and burdensome. At averda, we look through the other end of the telescope. What most people refer to as ‘waste’, we call a ‘resource’. It is our responsibility to change people’s perception of waste, and help them see it as an opportunity — a chance to turn a problem into a solution and bring some balance to our ecosystem.
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