Wadi Degla Developments (WDD) recently revealed its turnaround strategy, which has served as a catalyst for the transformation of the company.
The strategy — which was quietly launched in 2018 — aims to ensure WDD’s performance and sustainability, allowing it to deliver upon its mandate by strengthening its governance controls, ensuring its financial viability, and allowing it to meet its customers’ expectations through a value driven offering.
In a press conference, Raymond Ahdy — Deputy CEO of WDD said: “The current market realities require a different highly-focused strategic approach in order to increase the organisations’ agility and improve efficiency. 2022 has been a difficult year for all sectors, with escalating inflation reaching 18.7% y-o-y in November of 2022 — the highest reading recorded in the last four years. Cumulatively leading to a surge in operational and financing costs, which in turn increased construction costs with an average of 33%.”
This, he explained, created an increasingly challenging business environment for developers that continues to evolve as a result of new market entrants, escalating costs and creating instability in the geo-political scene.
“This is a reflection of the same market conditions in 2018 that have led WDD to embark on a turnaround strategy. The result of which is that today, WDD is well positioned to proactively adapt and respond progressively to these market externalities and most importantly to fulfil its commitments to its customers,” added Ahdy.
The turnaround strategy represented a significant step toward streamlining WDD’s operations in a way that has improved operational capability through improved resource allocation. Additionally, part of the transformation WDD has been working on was the development of a more balanced diversified portfolio, reducing the risks associated with specific asset classes, propelled by and aligned with market dynamics supported by a structure divided into centres of excellence driven by a highly qualified calibre of market experts.
Moreover, the transformation initiative tackled areas of suboptimal performance with an eye to improving service quality supported by digital transformation through the integration of “new platforms, such as Salesforce and SAP Rise, which allow for improved decision making, enhanced operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction,” he added.
The progressive changes have set WDD on the path towards a continued growth trajectory since its establishment in 2005.
“Over the strategic transformation period, we have successfully delivered 1,400 units in 2021 and 1,660 in 2022, says Ahdy. Additionally, November saw the launch of our latest project Club Town which targets families and is the result of an expansive market survey.”
The new project, which was sold out in a matter of days, is a reflection of the positive strides made in top-line performance, with the company recording sales of EGP 1.4bn for the year.
The strategic blueprint, the implementation of which continues to be a work in progress, will see WDD continuing in its ambitious timeline for delivery with the delivery of 2,000 units in 2023, he concluded.
