We’re the biggest company in Papua New Guinea you’ve never heard of, according to John Uthmann, CEO of PICSA Group PNG, and we are aiming to grow bigger.

PICSA’s John Uthmann

While many of PICSA (Pacific Industrial Corporation SA) Group’s businesses, such as Barlow Industries, and Plumbers and Builders Supplies (PBS), are recognisable brands, few people realise that the 19 local companies are part of the same entity, he tells Business Advantage PNG.

‘Until I got here, they were all working separately, but we’ve grown by about 28% in the last few years by working together and looking for bigger jobs,’ he says.

Uthmann says the newly-announced Total-led LNG project is the catalyst needed to take PICSA to the next level.

History

PICSA is part of the global Comcraft Group, founded by the Chandaria family of Kenya. Comcraft is one of the world’s largest privately-owned businesses, comprising more than 300 companies worldwide worth an estimated £60 billion (K258 billion).

The group has grown by a process of steady acquisitions: ‘If it’s a good price, we buy it and we never sell,’ says Uthmann.

‘We’re all about trying to give Papua New Guineans a chance. One day I want to make my job [as an expatriate CEO] redundant, I hope a national person will be here running everything’.

Story continues after advertisment...

The group’s philosophy, he says, is to provide for the most basic human need that’s not disposable: Shelter.

‘Our business aims to provide everything needed for a building from the ground up – earthworks, reo [reinforced concrete], building frames, plumbing and hardware, roofing.’

Localisation

PICSA’s businesses employ between 1800 and 2000 people in PNG, and the group aims to involve the community and help build the country’s capacity.

‘The reason we supply and manufacture is so we can employ people and contribute back to the economy,’ Uthmann says.

‘We’re all about trying to give Papua New Guineans a chance. One day I want to make my job [as an expatriate CEO] redundant, I hope a national person will be here running everything’.

PVC electrical conduits made by Pipemakers in Lae, Morobe Province

A large recent investment has been in developing an off-coil reo-bending facility and welded mesh plant, which leaves no scrap steel and is much quicker and more efficient than existing methods.

‘With all the building expected for the new LNG project, and the high-rises in town [Moresby], we’ll be the only people to come to because we have the latest and best-suited equipment.’

‘When I first came to PNG the boys were wearing shorts, thongs, no shirts on site. Now everyone’s in safety boots and hi-vis vests. When you start looking after your workers and safety, when you work like a professional organisation, that changes a place. Wages have increased, there’s a middle class developing, and housing for the locals is becoming a big thing.’

Uthmann has been working in PNG for the past eight years. He spent the first five years as head of Atlas Steel, which played a major part in construction of the PNG LNG Project.

He tells Business Advantage that his role at the head of PICSA Group is ‘top to bottom, you’ve got to know what the cleaner does. You go to every level. It’s not a typical CEO job’.

Maturing nation

As PNG celebrates its 40^th independence anniversary, Uthmann sees a maturing nation.

‘When I first came to PNG the boys were wearing shorts, thongs, no shirts on site.

‘Now everyone’s in safety boots and hi-vis vests. When you start looking after your workers and safety, when you work like a professional organisation, that changes a place.

‘Wages have increased, there’s a middle class developing, and housing for the locals is becoming a big thing.’

He also describes the Pacific Games as world-class. ‘The Games feel like real change for the country. You can feel the joy.

‘I’ve seen a lot of change in the time I’ve lived here, and it’s all for the better,’ says Uthmann.

Who’s who in PICSA PNG

Among the companies that form the PICSA Group are:

• Barlow Industries: ‘The flagship of the group,’ says Uthmann. Barlow’s business is merchant steel. Roofing, guttering, mesh for concrete, reo bending. Offices in Rabaul, Lae and Moresby, employing about 300 people;
• Readymix Concrete: Operates in Lae and Moresby. ‘Not the biggest in town but striving to get there’. A recent investment includes five new trucks and other new plant. A future development are garden supply depots offering topsoil and plants, serving the burgeoning private housing market;
• Electrical Wholesalers: Offers ‘everything electrical’;
• PNG Steel Corporation: It specialises in z-frame, free-span buildings, up to 80 metres free span, or as Uthmann describes them, ‘massive big sheds!’ It also has a general fabrication workshop for making truck bodies;
• Plumbers and Builders (PBS): A tradesman’s hardware chain, bulk selling to the trade, but also open to the public;
• Pipemakers: Offers poly and PC pipes. ‘The only ones who make poly pipes in PNG to Australian standards,’ says Uthmann;
• New Guinea Freighters: builds truck bodies and offers other general engineering services.
• Property: A K350 million property portfolio, which Uthmann describes as some of the ‘jewels in the crown of Moresby and Lae, but many of the buildings are under-developed. We’re spending money on upgrades to bring them up to scratch’.
• Fullerbourne Plantation: A massive coconut and copra operation.