Betts & Townsend, one of South Africa’s most established project and construction management consultancies, is on an exciting new growth path. The company, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this coming January, has enjoyed steady growth combined with stability and a good reputation under the leadership of founder Howard Betts, and his first business partner, John Townsend. Now, in the company’s 25th year, some important changes have been made which will take the business into the future and position it for further growth.
The most significant of these changes is the appointment of Nick Demain as managing director. Nick’s leadership brings a fresh new energy and perspective to the business – something which Howard welcomes as he steps back from the daily nitty-gritty of running of the company and returns to a more hands-on role managing projects. Howard remains as involved in the business as ever – being chairman and joint head of operations with John as technical director – but he points out that as far back as 2007 he identified the need to plan for the future and bring fresh talent and leadership into Betts & Townsend to take it into the future.
With this objective in mind, he started discussions with several companies in the UK in 2008, during which time he met Nick, who until his move to Betts & Townsend, ran the sub-Saharan African branch of the international construction company and consultancy, Mace. “I put some of our plans on hold when the global financial crisis struck in 2008, but I’ve been talking to Nick for several years and finally persuaded him to join us in mid-2018,” says Howard. “I identified the leader in him and believe that this, together with his international experience and expertise, would be ideal for a local company needing to grow.”
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