Wadi Degla Developments announces new turnaround strategy sets “The Way Forward”
By Eman Hamed
Wadi Degla Developments, during a press conference held at Abdeen Palace, announced a new turnaround strategy that will serve as a catalyst for the transformation of the company. The strategy, launched in 2018, aimed at ensuring Wadi Degla’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.
“The current market realities require a different highly-focused strategic approach in order to increase the organizations agility and improve efficiency,” said Raymond Ahdy, Deputy CEO of Wadi Degla Developments. 2022 has been a difficult year for all sectors with escalating inflation reaching 18.7% (YoY) in November of 2022, the highest reading recorded in the last 4 years. Cumulatively leading to a surge in operational and financing costs, in turn increasing 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 a continued instability in the geo political scene. “This is a reflection of the same market conditions in 2018 that have led Wadi Degla developments to embark on a turnaround strategy. The result of which is that today Wadi Degla is well positioned to proactively adapt and respond progressively to these market externalities and most importantly to fulfill its commitments to its customers,” added Ahdy.
The turnaround strategy represented, for Ahdy, a significant step toward streamlining Wadi Degla Developments 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 centers of excellence driven by highly qualified caliber 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 more significantly customer satisfaction” added Ahdy.
The progressive changes have set WDD on the path towards a continued growth projectory since establishment in 2005. “Over the strategic transformation period we have successfully delivered 1,400 units in 2021 and 1,660 in 2022…… a phenomenal progress towards our goal within extremely challenging market conditions” says Ahdy. In addition, November saw the launch of its latest project Club Town aligned with its new value proposition “family” which according to Ahdy 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 topline performance with the company recording sales of EGP 1.4 billion 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 targeted for 2023. Moreover, an aggressive topline target will be bolstered with new product launches into new asset classes along with increased focused on assets with recurring income. This will be supported by a strong expansion plan that foresees potential opportunities, that align with the government’s urban expansion plans, across Greater Cairo, Upper Egypt, as well as North Coast and Red Sea cities. An ambitious plan set by WDD aptly termed “The Way Forward”