Bigen celebrates 50 years of “doing good.”

– infrastructure development to improve quality of life

The Bigen Group has, since its inception 50 years ago, earned a solid reputation as an innovative, solutions-focused engineering and infrastructure development partner and employer of choice, invested in the future of Africa. Powering social and economic growth by developing sustainable infrastructure across Africa, the Bigen Group is an influential contributor to socio-economic development (SED) across Africa, creating and sharing wealth for all its stakeholders. 

Humble beginnings

Bigen started from humble beginnings 50 years ago as a small engineering consultancy operating from Polokwane, South Africa. Throughout its journey of half-a-century, the group has grown and transformed from a traditional engineering consultancy operating from one office in Polokwane, to an engineering firm operating from 8 regional offices in South Africa, to a truly African infrastructure development group of companies with its headquarters based in Mauritius and South Africa and with country offices in Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia.

During the past 5 decades, the Bigen Group has kept pace with the fast-growing infrastructure development needs of the continent and has evolved to be a powerful change-maker in the agricultural, water and sanitation, real estate, transportation, energy, health, and development advisory sectors, responding to 

the continent’s socio-economic development needs with a blend of financial, technical, environmental, development impact and advisory and institutional services.

Profit with purpose

As an African group, working in Africa for the people of Africa, the Group has become extremely adept in achieving a keen balance between profitability and its passion for beneficiating community well-being aligned with helping the continent achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Achieving these goals has become especially critical since the outbreak of the COVID- 9 pandemic which, according to a World Bank Report, has forced up to 40 million people living in Africa into extreme poverty. This is severely impacting the achievement of the SDGs, of which SDG1 (no poverty by 2030) is suffering the largest setback.  

African governments cannot meet the growing infrastructure development needs of urban, peri-urban and rural populations, as well as their poverty alleviation goals, alone.  From the many lessons learnt over the past 50 years, the Group understands that in this era of socio-economic transformation, public and private enterprises need to partner with experienced service providers who can offer synergistic benefits, joint value creation and practical solutions to support the achievement of Africa’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Bigen, with its goal of maximising infrastructure development in Africa to boost socio-economic development outcomes, is regarded as a partner of choice for governments seeking to reach their SDGs. This is based on the Group’s “one-stop” capability, strong social and environmental conscience, and core vision to improve quality of life through infrastructure which provides sustainable social and economic benefits for countries, regions and communities. The Group’s philosophy is embodied in its creed of “doing good while doing business” which is consistently evident in the socio-economic impacts derived from every project the Group undertakes.

Touching lives through a legacy of quality projects

Building cohesive, resilient and prosperous societies, the Group has a rich legacy of quality projects in more than 19 African countries and a proven track record of providing socio-economic development impact solutions across the African continent increasing access to services, reducing poverty, building capacity and generating opportunities for increased economic participation and employment. 

Interconnectedness and accessibility are key economic drivers, and Bigen plays a key role in ensuring these through the development of roads, ports and communication network infrastructure, as well as the provision of services and facilities such as schools, hospitals and clinics. In vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, such infrastructure can revolutionise the quality of life and local economies.

During the past few years alone, Bigen has improved the lives of millions of people through its involvement in:

• The development and delivery of an excess of 320,000 housing opportunities across the continent.
• The delivery of various energy solutions to over 400,000 households across the continent. 
• The provision of access to economic opportunities, movement of goods and services through roads, rail and bridge projects over 4,500km
• The provision of clean drinking water and human dignity employing formalised sanitation solutions to around 600,000 households. 
• More than 42,000 schools projects in South Africa alone.
• In addition, Bigen continues to support national economies through expanding and improving port terminals; providing telecommunication services and completing feasibility studies such as for mines and hospitals.

Bigen is often described as “engineers with a conscience” producing top-quality projects on brief, on time, within budget and with development impact always top of mind. It is, therefore, no surprise that the Group has been appointed on many state of the art projects throughout the years, notably the award-winning North-South Carrier Water Transfer Scheme in Botswana, the Walvis Bay to Kranzberg Rail project in Namibia, the award-winning Klarinet Ministerial Integrated Housing Project and the prime Val de Vie Estate projects in South Africa.

More recently the Group was also appointed as civil & electrical engineers on the world-class Tambo Springs Logistics Gateway project. Strategically situated on the southern periphery of Ekurhuleni near the OR Tambo International Airport and several major road networks, the facility is expected to unlock economic growth and job creation of more than 8 000 direct jobs in the province. Seamlessly integrating road, rail, air and sea transportation of freight, it is a key platform for the manufacturing, distribution, warehousing and shipping industries, and will likely double the province’s freight capacity.

Further afield in other African countries the Group is making a remarkable difference in providing improved access to quality healthcare for thousands of people across the continent.  Through its involvement with many health projects such as the Konza Hospital in Kenya, Women & Children’s Hospital in Lesotho, Kampala Hospital in Uganda and the Riverside Private Hospital in Francistown, Botswana. The Group has assisted in bringing improved health care infrastructure to 1, 2 million people in one year alone.

Examples of Bigen’s commitment to improving quality of life is plentiful. Today, in a rural village in Africa, another husband and father has regained his dignity because he is now able to provide for his family, thanks to being trained in a skill on an infrastructure development project managed by Bigen. This man’s wife is able to spend more time with their young child and help him with his homework because she no longer has to walk long distances to fetch water – there is now running water in her home, designed and facilitated by Bigen. And no longer does her child have to study by candle light, thanks to a nearby energy source designed by Bigen.

Also in Africa, downstream farmers somewhere in Limpopo are now able to raise healthy crops for a sustainable living thanks to an irrigation pipeline that Bigen facilitated as a value add when it planned the raising of a nearby dam wall. 

Unskilled and semi-skilled labour is locally sourced and local sub-contractors are supported to do the work. Inclusivity, localisation, indigenisation and beneficiation are inextricably linked to the Group’s planning, design and execution of all its projects.

After half-a-century of working in Africa, for Africa, the Bigen Group has learned that they grow by uplifting others.