Belhasa Projects may not be a household name, but the company has built more than 3,400 swimming pools and water features throughout the Gulf, including many for Wild Wadi Waterpark in Dubai and for luxury hotels across the Emirates. But the gusher of projects has turned to a trickle. Greg Garner, the company's chief executive, talks about slimming down what had become a bloated business.
You're new to the pool construction and maintenance industry. What were you doing before this?
I was working for a private utility company in Bahrain. Previously, I was working as a consultant for several years. The consulting industry does train you to zoom in to critical areas. I started here in July 2010. I've looked at the financial reporting, the quality of reports and have been taking the opportunity to look at the downturn and our productivity.
And what have you found?
Basically, we've been like many other companies in the region: we had been lucky but became bloated like a fat cat. We've had to have a major slimming.
In which areas?
What we're doing is looking at productivity. In the heady days of 2008, we would [get requests for work and] say "as long as it's tomorrow". Instead of just throwing people at the situation now, what we have to do is look at our bottom line. We are the biggest in the region in the industry; therefore, we're the biggest target for competition. We have people nipping at our heels. Given that we have a much more substantial cost basis, we have to become far more productive.
How do you go about convincing more than 3,000 workers to do that when you're the new guy in town?
The first thing I had to do for slimming this thing was get my general management on board. … I had to outline the strategy as I saw it and get them to buy into it. An element of the strategy is how we need to improve management, financial reporting and how we look after our people. Motivated people on-site with good supervision leads to productivity gains. Those gains will assist us in securing not only existing markets but externally in other markets.
I take it you're probably not the most popular guy when you enter the room?
You can't be all things to all employees. My mission is to grow the bottom line of Belhasa. When I'm successful, then the benefits of that will filter down to everyone. People are feeling threatened. There is no choice: you have to make this big animal more productive. If we don't, we'll lose market share and the inevitable will be to lose jobs.
Has your strategy been successful?
It's still too early to say, but there are some very promising signs.
