Risks of working abroad.............

Risks of Working Abroad?


Sorry for the dramatic photo however, my brief blog relates to my approach to work in Libya.

In mid 2010, I was approach by a government funded organisation to consider working in Libya and Dubai to provide building services, having worked in Dubai, Trindad and America, I am not adverse to working abroad.

Having taken a business trip in July 2010 to Dubai to meet some former colleagues, it was clear the market was still struggerling. Whilst my company did not incur any bad debts in Dubai the stories I heard following the collapse of the property market in Dubai were Horrific. The Sunday Times reported on 14th December 2009 that UK contractors lost £250 million, this does not include all the Turkish, Indian and US contractors working in this region as indeed others.

Back to my Blog, I did not take up the immediate offer of exploring work in Libya but kept my eye on progress and I was looking at Mexico due to potential growth in that region too.

I continued doing some basic research and the organisation remained in contact and they convinced me to attend a networking event regarding business in Libya in Pall Mall. I was personally very confident of my understanding of the status of Work in Dubai, but having not ever been to Libya before, I was apprehensive and keen to understand more. I attended the networking event and meet a large number of contractors and consultants, some of which were working in Libya already, also a number of extremly diligent experienced professionals who were attending the exploration trips which were run on a monthly basis to Libya through this organisation.

I was left convinced this would be a great oppertunity for our firm, so three weeks later I was in Libya. You can't get Libyan currency in the UK, which I thought was odd but managed to purchase some at Tripoli Airport. I caught the group coach to our Hotel where I managed to converse allot of interesting people, mainly Architects and Consultants. I was the only Contractor on this trip.

The organisation arranged for meetings for us all to attend during our trip, my first day was interesting. I had meetings with developers and other contractors and we did a couple of presentations and the day finished that evening around 11pm. What was very evident from the meetings, was payment was a big issue. One Indian contractor, claimed they were owed £180 million from 3 months ago, however this was usual practice of late payment.

They were confident that payment would be made but needed a number of "fees" to be paid in order to gain payment. This specific contractor had been working in Libya for over 25 years so they were very experienced in dealing with these issues and can only assume this was factored in there pricing. Another consultant I saw explained "it's a who you know policy" in order to get paid and indeed gain work. "It's customary that you get paid a 20% desposit but you need to work hard to be paid the interim payment thereafter under the contract (sic)" Said another consultant.

I had offers from people who could introduce me to work, and others wanted to partner with me, I had various other potential opportunities to report back home. Aside from the payment issues, all seemed fairly positive about business development and working in Libya. I had lots of ideas, some of which were even outside of the construction industry from spa products to basic material supplies such as concrete blocks.

The clear undertone (to me although not said directly) of the entire trip was that the Libya economy relied heavily on Government business and trade, even private companies had direct links to the government and they needed these links to enable to trade successfully.

Within the party I was with, there were lots of consultants whom were extremly motivated about working in Libya to the point they would walk or travel for miles to attend a meeting for the other party to not even turn up or leave them waiting for hours.

I booked my tickets for December 2010 to go on a trip without the government organisation as I felt it would be better to do the next trip alone. I never took my flight due to work commitments...........

Again, I did not attend in January or February due to work commitments in the UK.

The story of how Libya progressed since February does not need explaining it has been reasonably well covered in the UK and International press, There is now no construction work, most if not all (expat) contractors and consultants have moved out of Libya and construction sites are at a standstill, I have had this confirmed by contacts in the region.

I never worked in Libya in default because of commitments in the UK albeit I was extremely keen to work in the region, Notwithstanding, I was being consistently enticed by this government agency to commence operations in the region.

Now here is the backlash that I personally know about from those who actually gained work in Libya.

An Architect from Kent, who had worked in the UK for 12 years, expanded into Libya 3 years ago and went from 4 staff to 19 just last year. They were owed £343,000 for professional fees, the firm is now in Administration.

A Surveyor in Central London, Appointed on a £42 million scheme,was owed £938,000 in professional fees. This firm I understand is large enough to possibly cope with the debt.

An Architect in Oxford,with a practice of 47 staff had only worked in Libya for 5 months, they were owed £138,000, I understand this will not effect this firm either.

A Componates contractor working in the oil fields was owed £689,000 but apparently last week was somehow paid £138,000.

This is to name a few, I also know via 3rd parties of many many more incidences of payment issues.

On this occassion, I am pleased to have not been working in Libya, but how does one plan for such `political` events. Upto and including February, the government organisation were promoting working in Libya and enticing business in the region.

Reflecting on this I do recall a friend of mine John Cowell (of the Cowell family) told me that "if you need to ask lots of questions in a business deal, don't bother and stick to what you know and feel comfortable with"

This is not something I 100% agree with, but I do give this view some credence.

More recently, I received an email shot from a marketing agency stating Libya still open for business........... is it?

One would imagine once the political situation is resolved, the markets may open again but I am sure this will take along time from now.

This is my personal experience and not reflective of everyones experiences and interested to hear your thoughts.