When Mwembe & Mwembe Limited, a building and civil engineering contractor, was named Best Contractor of the Year (Women Category) at the National Construction Authority’s Construction Excellence Awards 2023, the directors were pleasantly surprised.
Although they submitted their application for consideration fairly confident that their organization’s operations were professional and fully compliant with all regulations and therefore stood a good chance of winning, the announcement still caught them off-guard.
“There were many competitors, some of whom were more established and appeared to be doing better than us”, says QS Olivia Mwembe, a director of the firm. “It humbled us and gave us strength knowing that we are doing the right thing.”
Her co-director, Engineer Jacton Mwembe agrees. “When the industry and especially a regulator recognizes your work and processes, the public has more confidence in your organization,” he says adding that the award was a major morale booster and encouraged them to do even more.
The couple established Mwembe & Mwembe Ltd in 2012 but the firm was not active until the year 2015. Since then, it has grown fairly quickly, scaling NCA’s contractor hierarchies to become NCA 1 for Building Works and NCA 5 for Roadworks.
Both are construction industry professionals with substantial experience in the industry. Olivia is a registered Quantity Surveyor who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Building Economics from the University of Nairobi in 2006. She worked in a well-known quantity surveying firm before joining University of Nairobi as a Master’s Degree student and becoming part of the institution’s academic staff. “I started as a Graduate Assistant at the Department of Real Estate, Construction Management and Quantity Surveying before rising to become a Tutorial Fellow and later Lecturer in the same Department. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate Degree at the institution. Olivia now juggles management of Mwembe and Mwembe Ltd with teaching at the University while at the same time pursuing advanced studies and playing her rightful role in the family.
She is a corporate member of the Institution of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (IQSK) and the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK). She has also served as a board member of the Board of Registration of Quantity Surveyors and Architects (BORAQS).
Jacton, the immediate former Registrar for the Engineers Chapter of AAK and currently its Secretary, is a 2005 graduate of the University of Nairobi. He has extensive experience in civil engineering, having started as a field officer at the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company (NAWASCO). He went on to work on major projects including Sondu Miriu HEP, the new container terminal in Mombasa, Lappset Corridor, and Olkaria Geothermal Plant.
He is a member of the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK), the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) as well as the AAK (Engineer’s Chapter).
Humble Beginnings
Mwembe and Mwembe’s Ltd first job was a project management engagement at Ololo Lodge in Kajiado County. The lodge was undertaking extensive renovations including civil works.
“The experience we got from that served as a stepping stone to future jobs and provided valuable lessons in managing people and client relations,” remembers Jacton. He recalls facing several challenges on the project including site access, supervision of workers, and cash flow since they were just beginning.
Today, Mwembe and Mwembe Limited has accumulated a strong portfolio of projects ranging from residential and commercial to religious, educational, and office projects. “We have also adopted the Design & Build approach where we take charge of all construction processes and deliver the complete project”, says Olivia. Where they don’t have internal capacity, for example, architects, they engage competent professionals to be part of the delivery team.
Some of the projects the company has worked on include Lavington SDA Church, Tom Mboya University College, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) offices, Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO) commercial centre project and numerous residential projects in Nairobi, Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay and Nyamira counties.
Lately, the company has been undertaking jobs for international organizations such as The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). According to the directors, these kinds of jobs are a boon for the company especially since they are straightforward and involve no lobbying or underhand dealings.
Are these jobs hard to get? “At first we thought so”, says Olivia. “But we later realized that all one needs is to submit their bid in a professional manner and price competitively. If qualified, you’ll get the job. There are no other considerations.”
The same cannot be said of working with central government and counties where even payment can be a frustrating experience. “For instance, we are still pursuing payment from a certain county two years after completing the work”, reveals Olivia.
Industry
In recent months, the Kenyan media has been awash with cases of buildings coming down over lack of structural integrity. Several lives have been lost and many injuries sustained. In addition, millions of shillings have been lost by the affected developers.
Qs Olivia sees greed as one of the biggest problems facing the construction industry in Kenya today. “Greed has led to corruption and corruption has resulted in shortcuts where people want to make big profits at any cost”, she says. She however notes that the problem is not limited to the construction industry. “It is a Kenyan problem”, she observes.
“Another problem I have noted is human resource. The construction industry is skilled labour-driven. We have thousands of skilled people who are used by contractors. However, we find that often, they don’t do what is required of them, a situation that leads to project delays and budget overruns.”
Jacton stresses this point. “You can only do a design on paper as a professional”, he says. “The implementor is the one to ensure that the work is done according to the prescribed standards.” He says adequate training is key so that the workers carry out tasks based on knowledge and not necessarily the experience they might have acquired on the job.
Another challenge that Jacton highlights is the failure to enforce building regulations. “The reason for this is corruption”, he says. “That’s why you end up with collapsing buildings yet these incidents could have been prevented.”
Jacton also points a finger at manufacturers. “Some of them produce substandard building materials, be it steel, cement, machine-cut stones and so on. When these materials are used on site without proper evaluation, then you end up with problems.” He suggests that manufacturers should also give performance guarantees on their materials just as contractors give performance bonds on their work.
“Another problem we have in the industry is that many of those who come into the industry are not professionals in this area,” notes Eng. Mwembe. “In Medicine, we have doctors and in Legal Practice, there are lawyers. You cannot get into those professions if you are not qualified. But in the construction industry, as long as you have money, you can have a construction firm.”
Future
Mwembe and Mwembe Ltd Directors have big dreams for the organization. “We would like to go regional – Africa and beyond”, says Olivia. “We would also like to be Best Contractor, not just for award purposes but as a benchmark for others.”
“We also envision Mwembe and Mwembe Ltd being in a position to provide skilled workers to the construction industry,” adds Jacton. “In addition, we would like to venture into project development as opposed to the current situation where we are executing projects for clients.”
