Seeing opportunity, not just the threat

Written by Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent

Wednesday, 05 November 2008 19:51

IT will definitely be a more challenging period for construction and architecture in 2009, given the universal forecast that the full effects of this year’s global financial crisis and economic slump will be felt in the next one. However, a top executive of a local architectural firm prefers to look at the opportunities out there. As far as Aidea Philippines Inc. is concerned, the key is to be more strategic in approaching the business. Its president and chief executive officer, Abelardo Tolentino Jr., explained what this means: Aidea will continue to strengthen its local base and at the same time continue to expand its operations overseas. “We will retain our strategic position in the local market by being selective in the projects and expand outside because we believe there are opportunities outside,” said Tolentino. “Before, it was a 50-50 ratio. We want to increase our international market portfolio to 60 percent to 70 percent next year,” added Tolentino. He said Europe and the Middle East have the biggest potentials. North African countries like Libya, Algeria and Djibouti have also shown good potentials. The former Soviet republics near the Caspian Sea such as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have also good potentials because these countries are rich in oil. “I think the challenge here for Philippine companies is how to penetrate these markets,” he said. Aidea shows it’s ready to take up the challenge to explore new markets: it has already done Procter and Gamble (P&G) projects in Almaty and Baku, the capitals of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, respectively. Aidea also did some P&G projects in Riga, Latvia and Warsaw, Poland. He said Dubai and Saudi Arabia will still be good markets for architectural projects. In the Philippines, Aidea is doing the architectural works for Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) projects. It has designed the highly successful Alveo (formerly Columns) I condominium (now known as Alveo) located in Gil Puyat and Ayala Avenues. It is also involved in another Columns project located on Arnaiz Road in Makati. Other ALI projects done by Aidea are Serendra, San Lazaro Towers, Avida (Malugay) the business process outsourcing component in Nuvali in Laguna, and the University of the Philippines Technology Park in Diliman, Quezon City. In the international scene, Aidea has been working with global manufacturing giant P&G for the last five to six years, designing its offices around the world. The partnership started when P&G’s Philippine subsidiary commissioned Aidea to do an architectural design for a small extension of their building in Cabuyao, Laguna. Despite the projected global economic slowdown in 2009, Tolentino said there will still be opportunities for companies like Aidea because companies will still search for quality in their projects. “In depressed economic conditions, I believe there are still things to be done and there will be always be room for quality, and at the same time cost-effective work,” said Tolentino. “It will also be a challenge for Aidea. The key for us is to create a market space that is more of a design work plus leverage on the technology,” he said. He said the technology being used by Aidea is comparable to global standards, which makes the company capable of slugging it out with international rivals. To maintain its competitive edge, Tolentino said Aidea organized courses in project management and English to enhance the skills of the staff. Tolentino also bared plans for an in-house Aidea University in the first quarter of 2009 as part of efforts to build the skills of their talent pool.