Real estate growth to top agenda on Alpha Mead Facilities Management roundtable

In its quest to ensure Facilities Management (FM) further boosts Ghana’s rapidly growing Real Estate market, one of Africa’s leading Facilities Management Company, Alpha Mead Facilities & Management Services Limited (AMFacilities) is set to hold the first Ghana FM Roundtable in Accra on May 17, 2017 at Kempinski Hotel, Accra.

The roundtable, which according to Alpha Mead Facilities Ghana, is established to be an annual FM and Real Estate Business-to-Business policy and strategy forum, is in commemoration of the World FM Day – a day earmarked internationally by Global FM, a worldwide alliance of member-centered Facilities Management organizations, providing leadership in the advancement of the FM profession; through FM institutions such as the BIFM, IFMA International, F.M.A, Australia and many others around the globe

According to Ekow Woode, Ghana Country Manager of Alpha Mead Facilities, the goal of the roundtable is to help increase awareness and deepen understanding of Facilities Management as a Real Estate process that can support business profitability, people productivity and environmental responsibility in Ghana.

“It is an obvious fact that our Real Estate sector is growing at a very impressive pace. In the past 10 years, we have seen influx of foreign portfolios and business interests. The attendant demand for prime office spaces, high-end apartments and growing urbanization in our country has also blessed the industry with steady increase in construction activities and rental income in virtually all sectors of our Real Estate market”.

“These are obviously good signs for the market and the economy. But if we do not take the maintenance of these asset seriously, they will not return value to their promoters and this will continue to discourage investment. So our goal is to ensure that we grow this understanding that a thriving FM industry is necessary for our Real Estate sector to get to the point where it becomes a major contributor to our GDP”, Woode explained.

Speaking on the theme of the Roundtable Enabling Positive Experience, Femi Akintunde, Group Managing Director of the company said: “giving the roles of FM as a business and environment support service that focus on people, process and place; this theme seeks to consider how FM can enable positive experience for people where they live, work or play”

He furthered: “we also consider this theme very apt because of the roles Facilities Management can play in helping businesses hedge against risk. In the face of dwindling business revenue occasioned by the dip in global oil prices and the current economic realities, it is now important that business rethink strategies of pressure points such as FM and outsource them to professionals who have all the expertise and systems to help them maximize their Real Estate assets”.

“Real Estate constitutes up to 40% of business overhead, and in spite of taking this huge spend annually, most businesses still do not get value for money. The quest to change this tide has seen many business executives focusing on non-core issues such as FM; while lagging behind in defining and leading strategies that should give their core businesses competitive advantage in the market”.

Akintunde said, with roundtable like this, the market can be fully aware of the benefits of FM to businesses. He stressed that the importance of this awareness is the attendant confidence that it will build in FDIs coming into the Real Estate sector, the employment it will generate for people and the contributions that these will bring into the Ghana economy.

Speaking on the key highlights of the event, Country Manager, Ekow Woode, said with the growing interest and potentials in commercial office spaces, retail centres and luxury apartments, the roundtable has been structure to speak to key issues in the markets.

“So what we have done is to confer with carefully selected top executives and professionals within Ghana’s business environment to come together and deliberate on how Facilities Management can continue to help business stay resilient in the face of global economic realities. So our focus on May 17 will be”:

COMMERCIAL AND RETAIL REAL ESTATE

This session will focus on the roles of Facilities Management in the growing opportunities of investing, developing and sustaining asset value in Ghana's prime Office space and Retail Real Estate market. It will host business leaders and C-Suite executives in Ghana's telecommunications, financial services, oil & gas and business support services sectors.

Key discussions here will include: the roles of FM in Real Estate overhead cost reduction, operational efficiency and in delivering value for strategic business metrics such as people productivity, environmental responsibility and business profitability.

PRIVATE & RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

This session will feature strategic contributions from Real Estate investors, owners, developers, end users and support services professions as they discuss the best strategies to increase occupancy of their apartments, cost reduction opportunities in building operations and service efficiency; at the lowest possible cost without compromising quality.

PUBLIC SECTOR

The rise in the Real Estate profile, especially the increase inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into prime office spaces and luxury residential apartment has necessitated the need for government to improve infrastructure. With a Public Private Partnership fund of $30 billion from the World Bank, government must work with private sector to ensure that the necessary infrastructure are not just created, they are maintained and they contribute to the economic prosperity of the nation.

This session will have top government officials from relevant agencies, members of the academia, public analysts, etc to assess the different infrastructure policies of the government and how to ensure they help asset deliver on their life cycle.