Big 5 Construct Nigeria returns to Lagos connecting 140+ exhibitors with 8,000 construction professionals in its third edition

·      Nigeria’s construction market is projected to reach $127.7 billion in value, with an annual average growth rate of 3.2% by 2026

·      Exhibitors from 25 countries including 4 country pavilions, namely China, Türkiye, Egypt, and Austria to showcase cutting-edge products & services covering the full construction cycle

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Nigeria boasts Africa’s largest economy, surpassing $450 billion in GDP. Its thriving construction sector drives GDP growth, fueled by improved economic conditions, higher oil revenues, and significant government investment in infrastructure projects. Big 5 Construct Nigeria, which returns to Lagos and takes place from 5-7 September 2023 at the Landmark Centre, further bolsters the sector’s expansion.

According to ABiQ, Knowledge Partner of the event, the country’s construction sector has reached an impressive $127.7 billion, with an annual average growth rate of 3% between 2023 and 2026. With Big 5 Construct Nigeria, industry professionals get a chance to network and discover an abundance of business opportunities at the three-day exhibition. Registration is open to attend the event for free.

“In its 3^rd edition, as Nigeria’s largest construction event, Big 5 Construct Nigeria witnesses a remarkable increase in the presence of construction technology and digital construction companies, reflecting the industry’s growing emphasis on innovative solutions. Embracing technology not only signifies progress in the industry but also opens exciting possibilities for growth and efficiency of Nigeria’s construction sector,” said Ben Greenish, Senior Vice President – Construction, dmg events. “Some of the prominent names include Romanov Steel Detailing from the UAE and Stretford Hill from Nigeria.”

Big 5 Construct Nigeria will convene a comprehensive gathering of manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers, all in one place showcasing innovation and cutting-edge products & services in building interiors, finishes, materials, and tools to HVAC R, solar solutions, urban design landscaping, MEP services, digital construction, smart buildings, and much more.

Over 140 companies will be exhibiting at the event from countries including, Germany, Belgium, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, India, Poland, Singapore, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Netherlands. This year’s edition will host five country pavilions, namely China, Türkiye, Egypt, India, and Austria.

Local Nigerian exhibitors will include Armorsil, Likea Projects and first-time exhibitor, AVN Global Ventures (JAQUAR WORLD). BICC cables and Jadeel Steel are among Egyptian brands that will exhibit, while Neuce Ghana Paints Industry Limited will represent Ghana. Saudi Arabia’s National Panels Company for Industry and the UAE’s Roofings Middle East, Polymer Vision Technology and Age Steel will also be among exhibitors.

Further international brands to expect at the three-day event include Lu’an Intco Industries and Ningbo Holden Cable from China; Ficep from Italy; Buzon Pedestal International from Belgium; Forner from Poland; and Asona International from the Netherlands.

Big 5 Construct Nigeria will also host first-time exhibitors including German brands Masa and BAUER Maschinen; Boustani & Partners from Lebanon; Türkiye’s Wavin Tr Plastik San and Entegre Harc Sanayi Ve Tic; ALmix Asia Asphalt Equipment from Singapore; and India’s Bull Machines and Surie Polex Industries.

At Nigeria’s largest construction event attendees can engage in 22 CPD (Continuous Professional Development) accredited Industry Talks. By attending these sessions, professionals will get a chance to collect CPD points, which is an industry-wide requirement to build on practical knowledge applied to the construction profession. As well as project managers attending the Project Management Talks will receive exclusive PDU (Professional Development Units). Attendees will also get CPD points from Project Management Institute and Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors when attending their sessions.

These Industry Talks will feature 35 speakers and the insightful sessions will run under four key themes including technology, project management, architecture & design, as well as a significant new theme, facilities management. “The launch of Facilities Management Talks provides a platform for the industry to discuss measures to maintain existing infrastructure, including buildings, utilities, roads and public spaces (all facilities), as well as reducing downtime and enhancing overall efficiency,” Greenish noted.

Confirmed speakers include Patrick Ogunleye, Architect, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing; Dr. Ibikunle Dashur, President & CEO, CONSTRUCT MACHE GROUP; Arc. Omoyemi T. Olayiwola, Director, Policy and Advocacy, Green Building Council Nigeria; Taiwo AIYEPE, Principal Architect, Lagos State Ministry of Works, and Infrastructure; and Aderemi Dada, Founder & CEO, Spacefinish Africa.

Returning to Big 5 Construct Nigeria with a stronger presence, CDK Integrated Industries, a leading manufacturer of premium quality sanitary ware, ceramic and porcelain tiles, has joined as the Gold Sponsor. “Supporting the growth and quality of Nigeria’s construction sector is important to us. We’re looking forward to the event, which will provide a chance to foster collaborative business relationships, exchange ideas and stay informed about the latest trends and developments in Nigeria’s construction landscape,” said Abimbola Onagbade, Brand and Marketing Communications Manager, CDK Integrated Industries.

Associations and organizations, including The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), BIM Africa, Project Management Institute (PMI) and OSH Association are also supporting the event, in addition to ABiQ. Sana Group is the Lanyard Sponsor for Big 5 Construct Nigeria.

“We look forward to welcoming attendees to unlock the doors to growth and prosperity, and to engage with the key buyers and decision-makers shaping the future of mega projects in Nigeria’s construction sector,” Greenish concluded.

Are traditional executive structures equipped to keep pace with technology? There’s a case for businesses that want to get ahead to consider working with an Office of the CTO to bring a multidisciplinary approach to IT projects, says Wayne Yan, CTO at Dariel Software.

Consider the traditional executive structure: a CTO’s primary task is to exploit technology for the end customer’s benefit, distinct from a CIO who optimises tech for internal efficiencies. But is this sufficient in our rapidly evolving digital age?

As a software services company, Dariel navigates several industries, each with a diverse technological landscape. The skills, knowledge and expertise are simply too vast for a single individual. No one person can navigate the nuances of banking, healthcare, mining, insurance, and more. Nor can one person keep pace with the swift technological advancements across these sectors.

That’s where the Office of the CTO comes in. A multidisciplinary team dedicated to creating and commercialising disruptive technologies; it effectively breaks the mould of the typical C-suite structure wherein each executive is a specialist by nature. This team not only generates ideas for novel products and innovations but also brings these concepts to market, aiming to deliver profit and revenue. Customer-centricity is at their core – they aren’t just crafting technology for technology’s sake; they’re creating solutions that benefit the end user.

As we reconsider our management structures, it may be time to revisit, or at least reimagine the role of the traditional IT project manager. After the IT industry embraced Agile, project managers became increasingly rare and then entirely absent from many organisations. The industry sought agility, flexibility, and speed, which seemingly clashed with traditional project management.

The industry now seems to miss the steady hand of experienced project management. We are seeing a deficit in forecasting and tracking capabilities, and a lag in removing obstacles to progress. Was the exclusion of project managers the cause of this? Or perhaps the shift to Agile itself, or even a loss of IT skills to overseas markets? Whatever the reason, it appears the industry dispensed with project managers at a high cost.

The perceived lack of value due to poor-performing project managers led many organisations to disregard the role altogether. Still, the pendulum might be swinging back. We must remember that industries evolve cyclically, and just as the need for project managers was once questioned, their value could be re-evaluated.

Organising, managing, structuring, and orchestrating IT projects are invaluable skills. Many businesses are enticed by the notion of self-managed teams, but without appropriate guidance, these teams often falter, or worse. A project manager, juggling multiple tasks, maintains a consistent vision and ensures that the project stays on course.

The journey to reestablishing project management within the industry won’t be painless. However, navigating this challenge is essential to preserving the progress made and the future success of our industry.

As businesses grapple with how best to accelerate their digital journeys, it’s clear that a narrow, singular approach won’t suffice. The Office of the CTO offers a compelling, multidisciplinary approach that leverages the strengths of each team member and focuses on adding real value where it matters most.

The traditional sales model – sell them on the benefits, close the sale, deliver the product – is outdated in the digital world. Modern salespeople require different skills and far greater knowledge to sell the cloud, says Andrew Cruise, Managing Director of Routed, a local VMware Cloud Verified provider and VMware Principal Partner.

There can be little doubt that cloud computing is one of the key enablers of digital transformation. With its ability to enable businesses to modernise their IT infrastructure and adopt the latest technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), as well as to innovate more rapidly, it is no surprise that some in the industry have described it as the largest change in data centre infrastructure since the 1980s. 

This is borne out by statistics that show the local cloud computing market experienced growth of 38% last year, while the same report indicates that by 2027, the cloud computing market in SA should be worth some R79.7 billion.

While the impact of this growth is being widely felt, one group it has had a profound impact on is technology salespeople – changing both what, and how, they sell.

Offer a better experience

For cloud sales people, the first thing to recognise is that unlike in the past, you aren’t trying to sell a new product or new way of managing data, so much as you are focusing on the customer’s existing products and how your solutions can offer a better experience.

Selling the cloud to a customer is akin to selling them a car – your sales pitch would not be about explaining that a car is faster than using a bus. Rather, the pitch would focus on why they need a new model and why your brand is best.

It is also critical to have strong listening skills, and to listen carefully to your leads. Be willing to ask them key questions and listen intently to their responses, in order to clearly understand what they know and afford you the chance to speak their language. Remember, you don’t want your client to get lost in the jargon, but neither do you want to appear condescending when explaining it. 

Do your research

It should be obvious that a good sales pitch begins with quality research. This means not only understanding the cloud itself well, but also the specific client’s business. With such foreknowledge, you should be able to develop a plan to close the sale based on their current knowledge, language and needs.

Armed with effective research, salespeople can direct the client to focus on the tangible benefits and solutions that these services bring. You should be prepared to communicate the critical benefits succinctly, such as how the integration of cloud technology can deliver stronger security, improved cost savings, and better real-time collaboration opportunities.

If you hone in on the most practical advantages, you can more easily demonstrate how cloud services can revolutionise the way they do business. And achieving this will translate into stronger relationships with the client, that ultimately lead to further successful deals.

Tackle security concerns

Perhaps the single biggest concern for those not yet in the cloud is the perceived security challenge it represents. In fact, it has been reported that more than 60% of IT decision makers still consider on-premise security to be more effective than its cloud equivalent.

This creates a unique problem for cloud solution salespeople – namely that before you can make further progress with a sale, you will have to allay these concerns. The best approach here is to frame a move to the cloud as a strategic shift in risk, as opposed to additional risk. You want to sell the idea that by choosing you as a provider, the client is essentially offloading their risk onto your operation.

At the same time, you must make your point that cloud solutions consistently improve operational efficiency. This means that the client can leverage economies of scale in ways that were not possible before. Place the focus on the technology being evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. Ensure they understand the long-term benefits of the cloud – including the value of offloading risk – and position your business as one of the leaders in this ongoing evolution within the cloud space. 

Provide proof

Start small, to keep cost low for the client, and choose applications that, when improved by the cloud, will deliver value in the short term. Starting small also positions you to identify and address any implementation-related challenges, and be able to solve them on a more manageable scale.

With a smaller proof-of-concept approach, you help the client to become more at ease with the technology, while also demonstrating tangible benefits to them. As they begin to recognise the value of the investment, it becomes much easier to expand the scope of the engagement.

When choosing the pilot project, it should be something that addresses an obvious business need, and can thus establish an immediate benefit. If the scope is kept small, it will deliver value more rapidly. At the same time, remember that it must still be a big enough project that the client’s IT team is able to begin developing their foundational cloud skills.

Continuous learning

The cloud salesperson needs to understand the customer’s business even better than the customer, in order to identify opportunities to change the way the customer does business. Of course, cloud is constantly evolving, which means that to always be in a position to identify such opportunities, the need to remain ahead of the cloud curve.

The key to achieving this is for the salesperson to move beyond the traditional approach of building the relationship and knowing the product. While these remain important to the sale, the ability to solve the complex problems the client faces, and thus become a trusted member of the customer’s own IT team, is really what is key. 

And the best way to achieve continuous success is to stay ahead of industry trends – something that can only be done by inculcating a culture of continuous learning, and a dedicated focus on reading up on the latest trends and focuses in this arena. Keeping your knowledge on cloud up to date remains one of the best ways to position yourself as a knowledgeable and trusted advisor in the client’s eyes.

In an era driven by data and high-speed internet connectivity, Netfinity, Nigeria’s premier internet service provider, is revolutionizing the way businesses and households in Nigeria connect with the introduction of superfast internet services.

Netfinity’s cutting-edge internet solution boasts lightning-fast speeds of up to 1Gbps, enabling businesses and individuals to harness the power of the digital age. With a redundant core network that guarantees availability rates of up to 99.9%, Netfinity stands as the leader in providing reliable and secure internet access.

Unveiling a wide array of connectivity options, Netfinity offers both Fiber and Airmax radio last mile connections, seamlessly integrated into our robust fiber network. With no data caps and the fastest internet speeds in Nigeria, Netfinity ensures that your focus remains on your business, without worrying about connectivity disruptions.

Regardless of your industry, Netfinity has designed a comprehensive set of plans to provide your business with the competitive edge it requires:

• DIA (Dedicated Internet Access)
• NetAccess
• MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)
• BIA (Broadband Internet Access)
• Satellite

Our premium internet service, underpinned by our redundant core network and exceptional availability, guarantees you a consistent, high-speed connection that allows you to future-proof your business. Furthermore, our bundling options provide cost-effective savings when combining internet plans with other business products and services.

At Netfinity, we pride ourselves on being more than just a service provider; we consider you part of our team. Our dedicated team of IT professionals, from network engineers and account managers to systems integrators and application developers, are with you every step of the way. We understand the needs of businesses, and our 24/7 support team, renowned for their expertise and commitment to excellence, ensures your peace of mind.

Key Highlights of Netfinity’s Superfast Internet Service:

• Lightning-fast connectivity with upload speeds up to 7 times faster than competitors.
• 100% direct connection for a lag-free experience 24/7.
• Futureproof your business with a strong foundation for emerging services, capabilities, and technologies.
• Bundle and save on internet plans when combined with other business products and services.

With Netfinity, your business stays ahead of the competition, and we invite you to join us in this remarkable journey.

Netfinity’s commitment to superfast internet extends to residential customers as well. Our unlimited data plans enable you to stream your favorite shows without worrying about overage charges. As a Netfinity residential customer in our estates or multiple occupancy sites, you gain access to our world-class network with multiple redundancies, ensuring a reliable and uninterrupted internet experience.

Netfinity: Netfinity is a leading internet service provider in Nigeria, delivering superfast internet connectivity to businesses and homes. With a focus on reliability, security, and customer satisfaction, Netfinity offers a range of services designed to meet the diverse needs of its clients, ensuring they stay connected in the digital age.