ENHL Bonatti is a Mozambican Company contracted by CCSJV, with a majority ownership by Mozambican shareholders. It is fully licensed to perform projects country wide, with a head-office in Maputo, a logistic base in Temane, a camp in Palma and a yard in Pemba. ENHL Bonatti is present in different provinces of Mozambique.
When and how did ENHL Bonatti become a CCS JV subcontractor and what are your main activities or services provided to the Project in Afungi, Cabo Delgado?
“After we went through a strict selection process from the EOI (Expression of Interest) to the final stage of the RFP (Request for Proposal) Process in 2020, ENHL Bonatti finally got the opportunity to be the preferred bidder for the Site Preparation Project of CCS JV.
Melvin Chiziane, the Commercial Technician of ENHL-Bonatti, stated that the scope for this project covers the provision of materials, labour, temporary facilities, surveying, safety, construction equipment, consumables, testing and inspection. “Our work with CCS JV started in October 2020 and it is foreseen to close by Q2 of 2021.”
How many Mozambicans are working for ENHL Bonatti? In the Site Camps and how is the recruitment process done, especially in Cabo Delgado?
“Up to date we have over 80% Mozambican workers performing in our projects countrywide. For the ongoing scope with CCS JV, we have over 89% of Mozambican workers operating in the project. ENHL Bonatti has strong capabilities to recruit and manage Mozambican candidates countrywide.
This is facilitated due to our strategic positioning and our extensive data base upgraded over the years of operation in the field.
Our recruitment process is based in following approaches:
- Engagement with local communities.
- HR-Database.
- Engagement with technical & professional training centers, namely: IFPELAC – Instituto Formação Profissional e Estudos Laborais Alberto Cassimo & INEP – Instituto Nacional do Emprego.
- Advertisement through recruitment agencies and media platforms.
To date, we have successfully covered almost all the districts within the area of influence of our projects, thanks to both (a) continuous engagement with local leaders and (b) good knowledge of the area & experience in the field.”
On the point of your recruiting strategy and approaches, it came to our attention that ENHL Bonatti has partnered with IFPELAC correct? Tell us how this come about, what are your expectations? Has there been any highlight moment since this partnership started?
“ENHL Bonatti has entered in an agreement with INEFP – Instituto Nacional de Emprego e Formação Profissional, a Mozambican entity dedicated to providing training and employment to Mozambican young people.
The partnership started in 2016, when ENHL Bonatti was looking forward to having as part of its staff young candidates coming from technical schools.
We were pleased to find that INEFP could support us in this process at the time and from this partnership, we successfully recruited about 10 trainees whom some became permanent staff and others also acquired good experience which led them to other recruiters. We have also recruited other field positions who are now working with us in different projects countrywide.
Our expectation with this partnership, is to continuously employ as much Mozambicans as possible to perform in our projects and contribute with the transfer of knowhow to young Mozambicans throughout our operations.”
We understand that your training program is divided into 2, Heavy Equipment Operations and Civil Works, are these available for newcomers?
“Our approach is to dedicate 10% of each unskilled and semi-skilled employee working time to learn. For a better understanding, our training program depends on the scope of the project. For the scope of the site preparation the focus is on Heavy & Light Equipment as well as Civil Works.
These trainings are conducted for every newcomer (operator and civil employee) in the first weeks of employment and throughout the project execution, when deemed necessary.”
Do you think the training can add value to Mozambican workers? How many workers have you trained so far, in terms of percentages?
“In general, our numbers of Mozambican trained workers to date exceed 60% of our total Mozambican manpower. As stated above, we dedicate 10% to each unskilled and semi-skilled employee working time to be trained.
The training will add value to Mozambican workers, as an opportunity is given to the workers to be exposed to an industrial environment while leveraging to the experience of our skilled supervisors. This approach will guarantee them future employment, opportunities in projects within the Oil & Gas sectors and other industries.”
Does ENHL Bonatti have a forecast to recruit more Mozambicans in the next years? Do you foresee any leading positions? Can you state any recent recruitments?
“Our concept as a Mozambican Contractor is the localization of our activities, that is, to have our current percentage of Mozambican staff increasing from the actual 80% to 95% in a medium-term view.
Through our Localization approach, we indeed foresee leading positions, our subcontractors are also encouraged to sustain this belief and we have experienced this in the Pioneer Camp Project, where we had a considerable number of Mozambican employees in leading positions. A recent recruitment was conducted in Afungi, for the Site Preparation Project (Scope mentioned above for CCS JV), where we successfully had in less than two weeks over 152 Mozambicans recruited, which represents 89% of the overall directly manpower allocated to the project by Bonetti.”
How does ENHL Bonatti engagement with small and medium enterprises contribute to the socio-economic development of the country?
“Our engagement with local SME’s plays a key role in the life of the communities and the national economy since it helps generate employment and quality work to locals, promote local development while fostering innovation as it enables them to adapt and prosper more actively in the diversification of their products/services, which is essential for boosting economic growth and delivering a more inclusive development. For example, if we source products from small suppliers, we help increase the demand for such product and enable a subsequent growth and more employment opportunity to local Mozambicans from surrounding areas.”
Would ENHL Bonatti recommend any of the local suppliers in the acquisition of new contracts in international Market?
“Indeed, there are several suppliers who reached technical and commercial standards acceptable to the international market. Should they succeed to acquire new contracts even in the international market, they would be able to offer to their Mozambican customers a full range of services. Cooperating with international firms would also help to maximize their performance and improve their competences to operate in this industry.”
Do you have any advice to these Suppliers? How can they do better to succeed.
“The biggest problem for local suppliers is to comply with the standards required in this industry. New opportunities can help improve their standards and response capabilities; therefore, we would advise them to spend as much time as possible learning, to increase their understanding in line with the business they perform. Local Suppliers need to improve their response capabilities with regards to quality and time of delivery, since these are very critical aspects in the Industry. Moreover, wise partnerships/ joint ventures can allow them to improve their performance capabilities, said Melvin Chiziane – ENHL-Bonatti.”
