Dietsmann Is In Africa For The Long Haul-CEO Cesare Canevese

By Ajong Mbapndah L

Events like the African Energy reassure us at Dietsmann that our decision to focus on the African business and continent was always the right one, says Cesare Canevese Speaking to PAV on the sidelines of the ongoing 2024 AEW in Cape Town, the CEO of Dietsmann, says he saw significant signs of growing progress and importance for the event.

The outlook that you can get is extremely consistent with what is happening in Africa, it is a very transparent event. It is very industrially driven and commercially driven and there is a good feel of the flavor and flow of business, says Mr. Canevese.

“The AEW is important because networking is immense, and the look you can get is real as it is not so much politically driven. The flavor of business is real. Networking is immense, we can get in touch with many clients and businesses, with partners, and if one wants to be compliant with the local content,” said Mr. Canevese.

Mr. Canevese revealed that Dietsmann will not only be on board for 2025 when the AEW hits the symbolic 5th anniversary mark but may also join the exhibition booths to further network and market its services.

May we get the Overall impression of the 2024 African Energy Week?

My impression is that this event is growing in terms of visibility, in terms of importance. Quite a few new players are joining the event. It is good for people to know what is taking place in Africa. From the corporate perspective. It gives the opportunity for people to meet, of course, from a commercial perspective. Every time I come here; I get reassured that our decision to focus on the African business is always the right one. From the corporate perspective, it is a very very important one.

This is the second time to are attending African Energy Week, how important are events like this to the overall business in Africa?

There are very important for two factors mainly. First of all, the outlook that you can get is extremely consistent with what is happening in Africa, it is a very transparent event. It is very industrially driven and commercially driven, the people attending the panels are transparent and of course, there is space for contractors like us to get the flavor of business. Secondly, it is important because the network is immense, and the look you can get is real, it is not so much politically driven. The flavor of business is real. The networking is immense, we can get in touch with many clients and businesses, with partners, and if one wants to be compliant with the local content.
Will you give us an overview of the Dietsmann operations in Africa?

Dietsmann has been operating in Africa for the past 40 years, today we are active in seven countries; Congo, Gabon, Angola, South Sudan Libya, and Uganda. We have small operations in Senegal and Ivory Coast. Dietsmann deals in maintenance and service providers on oil and gas and power plants, and we of course operate and maintain offshore and onshore.

What makes the services of Dietsmann unique compared to those of other competitors?

Thank you for this question because it gives me the opportunity to explain a little bit further what our unique value provisions are. We started some years ago. We are implementing advanced technology, and we have a classical maintenance engineering point of view. This is a model that is still working, and I think that our clients are evaluating this as another value of having advanced technology into this business.
What are the strategies to expand services in Africa?

Basically, we trust a lot the local content. Every time we have the target in mind, always have local relationships with people who know the context. First, we operate in line with the local content. We trust the local people who know the context. We never enter a new country without knowing the local people involved. The business is always on at the corporate level by means of my collaborators. We know it may take long but we assure you it is very reliable and very fruitful.

What do you have in mind in Africa when seeking businesses to work with?

Usually, we have a very straightforward rule, either we know the client, the county or we know the business. We choose out of the two. This is a very important rule for this management. Of course, in most countries, it is very important to have local content, and this is part also of the explorations if we want to choose a specific partner, this can be a group of people in the oil and gas business in the private sector who must be very collaborative and they must share what our main pillars are; safety, security compliance and of course business development.

How has the experience been for you, what are the fascinating things, and what proposal to make business climate more friendly?

First, I think one of the most fascinating things about having a business in Africa, you can train people, get educated people to join your organization, and be effective workers in your organization and here I am not talking about people in the field but even at the organizational level but at the management level and this is very unique in Africa. We would like to invest more and more in this field. Our partners are also there to guide us through the different specificities, and different tenders in the local market from the labor point of view or financial point of view. There are several initiatives in place, our staff is very committed to environmental activities, cleaning the beaches, cleaning the open spaces, reducing the emissions by having a good plan and we reduce the mobility of people as much as possible. I think we are very much committed to reducing environmental hazards.

How do you give back to the Community?

There are mainly two aspects; there are of course donations to local hospitals and especially the local community. There are initiatives for the community closer to the business, especially power plants, and off-shore plants located remotely from the big towns and this is where you can feel how closer we are with the local communities. The most powerful way of getting closer to them is having 68% of people hired from the local community, of course, this may not be the finish line it keeps increasing in terms of local content year after year.

You were here in 2023, and you are here in 2024 will you be here in 2025 for Africa Energy Week?

The answer can only be yes, I think as I said before this event is growing in terms of visibility, in terms of importance and it needs to get more visible I think next year we will be there and I think entertain the idea of renting the exhibition floor, the exhibition area.

*Courtesy of November Issue of PAV Magazine

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