Interview with Aubrey Mc Elnea
Managing Director, Tsebo Facilities Solutions
What do you think is unique about Tsebo Facilities Solutions?
Tsebo is at its core a Pan-African company that is approaching its 50th year of operation. We have been around since the birth of outsourced Facilities Management (FM) in South Africa, and proudly used our expertise and high standards to grow our business across Africa and the Middle East.
Tsebo has achieved several firsts; We were the first FM company to be accredited as a Level 1 BBBEE company in South Africa, under the new DTI codes. We were also the first FM company to be accredited with the international quality standard ISO 9001. Since then, we have added ISO 14,001 and 18,001 to our list of accreditations. Now with the recent publication of ISO 41,001, the International Standard for Facilities Management, Tsebo can honestly back up their claim of African Expertise, Global Standards.
What role does innovation play in your business?
Innovation is essential in our industry, and the pace of technological change will mean that this will become even more important. The key, however, is to take a customer rather than a product-centric view.
Tsebo has a fully formed and structured innovation framework that underpins integration and the driving of additional and higher value for our customers. We believe in collaborating with our customers to find innovative solutions that would address their needs and add real value to their business.
What are the most significant challenges in your industry?
Facilities Management is about being the custodian of our customers’ most significant and expensive assets. In addition to buildings, fabrics and fixed assets, we also take great care of the people that work in those facilities and the environment that allows them to achieve their best every day.
The workplace is where the people and purpose of the business come together. Facilities Management is the enabler of the workplace and ensures an optimal working environment to allow the organisation to achieve its strategic objectives.
For more information go to www.tsebofs.com
