It’s a tough remit and one of the most complex undertakings someone in his position can agree to.
To the east of his geographical responsiblity there’s the Middle East, a region that has enjoyed an economically fractious couple of years with Dubai faltering and Saudi surging, and now Qatar looming over the horizon and social unrest everywhere.
But then that’s relatively calm compared to North Africa which is tearing itself apart and putting itself back together from one hour to the next.
To the west there’s the logistical, political, and sometimes dangerous sub-Saharan Africa. Further south there’s the perpetually churning states of southern Africa and the economic enigma wrapped in a mystery of South Africa.
David Semple could’ve been forgiven for regarding his domain as a poisoned chalice rather than a golden goose. But his career to date has been built on taking on the challenge of such tricky markets.
“I have a real passion for this region,” he affirms. “Yes, it is a large area in terms of geography. But yes it can be difficult to get around.”
“In fact, I think transportation is one of the big challenges in Africa. “For example, some time ago we decided to open a small office of engineers and sales people in Ghana which could support Nigeria (an unsafe and difficult place to convince people to stay).
“From an image stand point it is fantastic – we are in Africa – but from a connection standpoint unless you are going to Europe or Nigeria it is a nightmare. If our French sales guy wants to go to Algeria he has to go to Rome first. The connections are really difficult.”
Semple’s own journey has been convoluted but driven by a passion for the Middle East. Instead of doing his national service in France in 1996, he was offered a post in the French embassy in Damascus.
“I had many distant destinations in mind like the US and Australia,” he explains. “But they asked me: was there anywhere I wouldn’t go and I answered ‘no’. I honestly believe that’s one of the reasons I got a call back.”
When he was asked whether he would take a post at the embassy in Syria he admits that he was opening that page of the map for the first time.
After some thought he took a gamble and the position and has never looked backwards. In fact, when he returned to France, it was clear that there was only one place he would like to go work in.
“Before Damascus I had no idea about the Middle East,” he admits. “But aftwerwards I was looking for the next opportunity to get back.”
That opportunity came at Potain in 1998 (then not part of Manitowoc) where he became the first of his peers to succeed his mentor and become a senior export manager.
In 2000, he left France and opened a small office in Lebanon, which was rebuilding after the civil war and, he says, “we saw the benefit of getting to the emirates and Saudi.”
“I was basically working from my home office. I’m pretty sure we got some business four competitors purely from being close to our customers, embedded in their region and their culture.
“To do that you need to be a certain style of person. You need to be autonomous. Today as a manager I’m telling my guys you need to get out in the marketplace, where our cranes are needed – take a flat in Nairobi or Cairo and visit your customers from there.”
It is telling that Semple sees his brand of adventuring entrepreneurial replicated by those that are working the African markets for Manitowoc.
“Under my new role I’m overseeing what used to be our Africa only team. I will go to our key countries markets of Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa, but I don’t want to be travelling to Africa too much myself,” he explains. “You need a balance of people that are independent but not completely cut-off from the organisation.
“We have a bunch of people that are thoroughly engaged in Africa, they’ve been in there for several years, they love it, and they’ve been to each of these countries,” he points at the map.
“I learnt from Lebanon that you need to be embedded in the marketplace and I want to be able to run the Middle East and Africa through a team of equally engaged people who know the markets they are covering for the company.”
A Veteran’s perspective Although still a relatively young man, Semple casts a veteran’s eye over the market. Turning into his 15th year in the region, Semple has an enviable grasp of many of the issues afflicting his domain.
He talks lucidly on the problems affecting Libya and Egypt, a country that he says business is almost back to normal because: “it’s the one country that had a revolution but they decided that they couldn’t afford to stop the economy.
“It’s a relief that we’re seeing orders and tenders coming back. Mubarak and Ben Ali had the sense to step down, when you don’t have that then you have the situation like Libya. I was surprised with Bahrain, for me that was one of the more stable countries and progressive.”
Closer to home he predicts that despite its cooling off, Dubai can remain a critical axis on which the industry can spin in the region.
“In 2006 and 2007 we felt like it was going too fast and we were not doing the proper job in terms of getting the proper resources and people.
“Now I think we’ve gone through the falling of the cliff stage and the order cancellations, and we have a more normal and manageable situation.”
“One of the reasons Dubai and the UAE in general will remain a hub is all the fantastic connections to the Middle East. Clearly the concept of having places that are well connected to the region is important.”
“This region will continue to have uncertainty and instability and we have to recognise that. At Manitowoc we have a lot of focus on the emerging markets and that’s why I believe in our approach.”
Expanding horizons
Manitowoc's David Semple takes on a new continent and new challenges
It’s a tough remit and one of the most complex undertakings someone in his position can agree to.
To the east of his geographical responsiblity there’s the Middle East, a region that has enjoyed an economically fractious couple of years with Dubai faltering and Saudi surging, and now Qatar looming over the horizon and social unrest everywhere.
But then that’s relatively calm compared to North Africa which is tearing itself apart and putting itself back together from one hour to the next.
To the west there’s the logistical, political, and sometimes dangerous sub-Saharan Africa. Further south there’s the perpetually churning states of southern Africa and the economic enigma wrapped in a mystery of South Africa.
David Semple could’ve been forgiven for regarding his domain as a poisoned chalice rather than a golden goose. But his career to date has been built on taking on the challenge of such tricky markets.
“I have a real passion for this region,” he affirms. “Yes, it is a large area in terms of geography. But yes it can be difficult to get around.”
“In fact, I think transportation is one of the big challenges in Africa.
“For example, some time ago we decided to open a small office of engineers and sales people in Ghana which could support Nigeria (an unsafe and difficult place to convince people to stay).
“From an image stand point it is fantastic – we are in Africa – but from a connection standpoint unless you are going to Europe or Nigeria it is a nightmare. If our French sales guy wants to go to Algeria he has to go to Rome first. The connections are really difficult.”
Semple’s own journey has been convoluted but driven by a passion for the Middle East. Instead of doing his national service in France in 1996, he was offered a post in the French embassy in Damascus.
“I had many distant destinations in mind like the US and Australia,” he explains. “But they asked me: was there anywhere I wouldn’t go and I answered ‘no’. I honestly believe that’s one of the reasons I got a call back.”
When he was asked whether he would take a post at the embassy in Syria he admits that he was opening that page of the map for the first time.
After some thought he took a gamble and the position and has never looked backwards. In fact, when he returned to France, it was clear that there was only one place he would like to go work in.
“Before Damascus I had no idea about the Middle East,” he admits. “But aftwerwards I was looking for the next opportunity to get back.”
That opportunity came at Potain in 1998 (then not part of Manitowoc) where he became the first of his peers to succeed his mentor and become a senior export manager.
In 2000, he left France and opened a small office in Lebanon, which was rebuilding after the civil war and, he says, “we saw the benefit of getting to the emirates and Saudi.”
“I was basically working from my home office. I’m pretty sure we got some business four competitors purely from being close to our customers, embedded in their region and their culture.
“To do that you need to be a certain style of person. You need to be autonomous. Today as a manager I’m telling my guys you need to get out in the marketplace, where our cranes are needed – take a flat in Nairobi or Cairo and visit your customers from there.”
It is telling that Semple sees his brand of adventuring entrepreneurial replicated by those that are working the African markets for Manitowoc.
“Under my new role I’m overseeing what used to be our Africa only team. I will go to our key countries markets of Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa, but I don’t want to be travelling to Africa too much myself,” he explains. “You need a balance of people that are independent but not completely cut-off from the organisation.
“We have a bunch of people that are thoroughly engaged in Africa, they’ve been in there for several years, they love it, and they’ve been to each of these countries,” he points at the map.
“I learnt from Lebanon that you need to be embedded in the marketplace and I want to be able to run the Middle East and Africa through a team of equally engaged people who know the markets they are covering for the company.”
A Veteran’s perspective
Although still a relatively young man, Semple casts a veteran’s eye over the market. Turning into his 15th year in the region, Semple has an enviable grasp of many of the issues afflicting his domain.
He talks lucidly on the problems affecting Libya and Egypt, a country that he says business is almost back to normal because: “it’s the one country that had a revolution but they decided that they couldn’t afford to stop the economy.
“It’s a relief that we’re seeing orders and tenders coming back. Mubarak and Ben Ali had the sense to step down, when you don’t have that then you have the situation like Libya. I was surprised with Bahrain, for me that was one of the more stable countries and progressive.”
Closer to home he predicts that despite its cooling off, Dubai can remain a critical axis on which the industry can spin in the region.
“In 2006 and 2007 we felt like it was going too fast and we were not doing the proper job in terms of getting the proper resources and people.
“Now I think we’ve gone through the falling of the cliff stage and the order cancellations, and we have a more normal and manageable situation.”
“One of the reasons Dubai and the UAE in general will remain a hub is all the fantastic connections to the Middle East. Clearly the concept of having places that are well connected to the region is important.”
“This region will continue to have uncertainty and instability and we have to recognise that. At Manitowoc we have a lot of focus on the emerging markets and that’s why I believe in our approach.”
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