Wafa Dhifi Fekih: "Afrikisol Group, leader in Tunisia in thermal insulation and insulation."
Interview with Wafa Dhifi Fekih, CEO of the Afrikisol Group.
Can you tell us about your background and describe Afrikisol's activities?
I graduated from the Higher Institute of Management "ISG" in Marketing then from IHEC in Master In Marketing Intelligence and Strategic Intelligence.
Since 2010, I have held the position of manager within the company AFRIKISOL Industrie, a company that belongs to the AFRIKISOL group and operates in the industrial sector, precisely in insulation, industrial assembly of pipes and equipment.
Throughout my professional career within the company, I have been able to develop my skills and knowledge through interaction with different national and international organizations, in the world of business, management and leadership.
In addition, I managed to set up with my team the certification project for the Group and this, since 2012 until today, which has allowed me to modernize my management style and structure the company, I am also a third-party auditor according to ISO 9001:2015 by Bureau VERITAS.
"Choose a job you love and you won't have to work a single day of your life. » ; Confucius. This quote perfectly describes my passion every day because it alone sums up what our ideal life should be.
How is the Afrikisol Group managing the health crisis?
We are a company whose activity is essentially based on human capital, the number of our staff depends on the sites in progress, during the health crisis, we mobilized a hundred people on different sites, thus, for each site we have on the one hand an HSE manager who ensures the safety and health of the staff and on the other hand, customers provide them with an interlocutor in order to strengthen the safety of the staff,
we must not forget that the majority of our customers operate in the energy sector, the chemical, oil and food industry. The latter are also concerned and attach great importance to the safety of staff.
But fortunately, our international construction sites were received at the outbreak of the health crisis and we were able to repatriate all our staff just in time.
What are the challenges of the sector?
The work related to our sector is divided into two levels:
The first plan, the work related to investment as an example construction of power plants, refineries, agri-food plants or in the chemical industry, new oil fields … These are the projects with high added value, but unfortunately at the moment in Tunisia, these projects are very rare given the economic and political situation of the country; however, we are rather concentrated on the Libyan market like most industrialists in Tunisia.
The second plan, the maintenance work which is the most widespread but here again we work mainly with private companies such as the SFBT group, Shell, Ansaldo, Nestlé … Honestly, few public companies favor certified suppliers but they are rather in a policy of the least saying which, in my humble opinion, must be reviewed and quickly because selecting companies that respect quality will save the state a lot of money.
Are there any development projects?
Currently, our projects are focused internationally, mainly Libya, Algeria and Africa by promoting partnerships with multinationals.
In conclusion, what is your message to entrepreneurs?
In 2010, we launched the company with a capital of 10,000 Dinars, today, its capital reaches 1,250,000 Dinars, this is not a coincidence but the fruit of a lot of work and sacrifices, a united team that has a single goal and a dream in common.
Always believe in yourself. Try, fail, repair and then start again, Dare and above all: be humble because it takes everything to make a world.
